What is OpenShorts used for?

OpenShorts is an open-source AI tool that cuts long videos into vertical 9:16 clips with captions and hooks for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. It is a good fit for repurposing podcasts into short clips, cutting webinars and livestreams for social, and self-hosting a clipping pipeline for private footage.

Yes. OpenShorts has a free plan. Free and open source (MIT) to self-host. Cloud: free tier with a watermark, paid plans from $12 to $59 per month.

Is OpenShorts open source?

No. OpenShorts is proprietary (closed-source) software. In the Video Editing category, open-source options include OpenCut, Cap and Kdenlive.

Can I self-host OpenShorts?

Yes. Although OpenShorts is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.

What are some alternatives to OpenShorts?

OpenShorts competes with Opus Clip, Vizard and Klap.

OpenShorts: features, pricing and alternatives

About OpenShorts

OpenShorts turns long videos such as podcasts, webinars, livestreams and interviews into short vertical clips. You paste a YouTube link or upload a file, and the AI picks 3 to 15 moments of 15 to 60 seconds, reframes them to 9:16 around the speakers, and burns in subtitles so the clips are ready for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

Under the hood it uses faster-whisper for word-level transcription, PySceneDetect for scene boundaries, Google Gemini to score the transcript, FFmpeg for cutting, and MediaPipe face tracking with a YOLOv8 fallback for stable reframing. Extra options include AI hook text overlays, Gemini-generated FFmpeg effects, and voice dubbing in more than 30 languages through ElevenLabs. Claude, ChatGPT and n8n can drive it over MCP.

The project is MIT licensed and can be self-hosted with Docker using your own API keys, with no watermark or usage cap. A cloud version runs the same software: your first video of up to 60 minutes is free, then 20 free minutes per month with a watermark, and paid plans run from $12 to $59 per month without one.

Key features

AI detection of the strongest video moments
Face-tracking 9:16 vertical reframing
Word-level automatic burned-in subtitles
Voice dubbing in 30+ languages
AI-written hook text overlays
MCP access for Claude, ChatGPT and n8n
Docker self-hosting under MIT

Good fit for

Repurposing podcasts into short clips
Cutting webinars and livestreams for social
Self-hosting a clipping pipeline for private footage

Tags: video-clipping; ai-video; shorts; reels; tiktok; open-source; self-hosted; subtitles

OpenShorts: questions and answers

What is OpenShorts used for?: OpenShorts is an open-source AI tool that cuts long videos into vertical 9:16 clips with captions and hooks for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. It is a good fit for repurposing podcasts into short clips, cutting webinars and livestreams for social, and self-hosting a clipping pipeline for private footage.
Is OpenShorts free?: Yes. OpenShorts has a free plan. Free and open source (MIT) to self-host. Cloud: free tier with a watermark, paid plans from $12 to $59 per month.
Is OpenShorts open source?: No. OpenShorts is proprietary (closed-source) software. In the Video Editing category, open-source options include OpenCut, Cap and Kdenlive.
Can I self-host OpenShorts?: Yes. Although OpenShorts is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.
What are some alternatives to OpenShorts?: OpenShorts competes with Opus Clip, Vizard and Klap.