Video · Lesson 3.4
How to Choose an Auto Captions AI Tool: A Scorecard
Search for auto captions AI tools and you will find dozens of ranked lists. Most cannot be trusted, because the tools change often and your footage is not the footage they used. This post does not rank anything, and it makes no claim to have tested any tool. Instead it gives you a scorecard so you can compare any tools yourself, on your own videos, in an afternoon.
The scorecard works for a standalone captioning app, a feature inside your video editor or the built in captions of a platform. Lesson 3.4 shows the routine that sits on top of whichever you choose: Captions in your style, automatically.
Choose the tool that gives you correct words, a saved style and the export you need on your own footage, not the one with the longest feature list.
Where captions can come from
You have three broad choices.
- Built into the platform you post on. YouTube, for example, publishes automatic captions on videos when they are available and lets you review and edit them in YouTube Studio under Subtitles. This is often the lowest effort option for one platform.
- A feature inside your video editor. You caption while you edit, and can often style the text and render it into the picture.
- A separate captioning service or app. You upload a video and get back text or a file.
None of these is best in general. The right one depends on where you post, how you want the captions to look and how much you want to control.
The scorecard
Score each tool from 0 to 3 on each line, test with the same clip every time, and add up. The weights below are suggestions: change them to match your priorities.
| Test | What to check | Score 0 to 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Word accuracy | Count errors on your own 60 second clip, with real names and numbers in it | |
| Tricky words | Can you add custom words, or fix a word once and have it stick? | |
| Style control | Can you set font, size, colour and position and save them as default? | |
| Export options | Burned in video, caption file, or both? Which file types? | |
| Fix speed | How easy is it to edit a wrong line and see the result? | |
| Languages | Is the language you speak supported? | |
| Batch handling | Can you process several videos together? | |
| Privacy and terms | What does it do with your uploads? Read the terms |
How to run a fair test
- Pick one test clip. Around a minute, in your normal voice, with your business name, a product name, a price and a sentence containing the word "not".
- Use the same clip in every tool. Otherwise the scores mean nothing.
- Count mistakes on a fresh read. Write each error down and mark whether it changes meaning.
- Time the whole path. From opening the tool to a finished export, including your fixes.
- Check the export on a phone. Make sure the captions are readable and not covered.
The W3C example is a good model for your test sentence: "Broil on high for 4 to 5 minutes. You should not preheat the oven." Its automatic caption became "45 minutes" and "should know to preheat". Build a similar line from your own business, with a number range and a negative, and see what each tool does.
What to look at beyond accuracy
Language support. Platforms publish lists. YouTube's automatic captions cover a long list of languages, and for videos with more than one audio track they follow the default language. Check any tool against the language you speak.
File types. If you want to upload a caption file, check what the platform accepts. YouTube lists SubRip (.srt) and SubViewer (.sbv) among its basic types, with no style information recognised for those and plain UTF-8 required. The W3C names WebVTT as the most common caption format on the web.
Style that survives export. A style you cannot export is only useful for preview. Test the finished file, not the editing screen.
Review tools. You will be fixing text. A tool that lets you click a line, correct it and see it in context is worth more than a small accuracy gain.
Terms and privacy. If your videos include clients, customers or children, find out what the service stores and who can see it. Do not guess. Read the terms.
How to avoid common traps
- Judging on the marketing demo. Demos use clean audio and common words.
- Trusting an accuracy figure. Claims depend on accents, noise and vocabulary. YouTube itself says automatic captions may misrepresent speech because of mispronunciations, accents, dialects or background noise.
- Skipping the check. No tool removes the need to read. The W3C says automatic captions usually need editing.
- Choosing on price alone. Prices change, so look at current plans yourself, and weigh them against the minutes the tool saves you.
A decision rule
Add up the scores. If two tools are close, choose the one that is faster to fix and easier to batch, because you will spend more time fixing than generating. If you post on a single platform and its built in captions score close to a paid option, the built in route has the advantage of no extra tool to learn.
Questions people ask
Which tool is the best?
There is no honest single answer. It depends on your voice, vocabulary, platform and how you want captions to look. Use the scorecard on your own clip.
Should I pay for a tool?
Only if it clearly scores better on your test and saves you real minutes. Check current pricing yourself.
How often should I re-test?
When your needs change, or every few months. Tools update, and so does your own content.
Keeping the scorecard honest
A scorecard is only as good as the test behind it. Resist adjusting scores because you like a tool's look. Write the numbers down as you go, such as the count of errors and the minutes taken, and score afterwards. If you test again in a few months, reuse the same clip so the results can be compared.
It is also fine to end with a tie. In that case, choose the tool that fits the way you already work, since a tool you will actually open every week beats a slightly better one that you avoid.
Where to go next
Run your test clip through two tools this week and fill in the scorecard. Once you have chosen, the routine for saving your style, fixing names and batching a week of videos is in Lesson 3.4 walks you through it step by step: Captions in your style, automatically. You might also like 10 auto captions AI strategies that actually work.