PricingClips in, finished video out
Three exports from Shorty’s Discovery gallery. Each caption quotes the saved brief; the footage link opens the original clip it was cut from. Turn the sound on.
Sources: Recorded test: six clips, a first cut and a timing revision. Shorty’s published examples, with original footage.
My little apartment
Brief: “Cozy thrifted apartment tour, native 16:9, 12s… nothing over her face.” A phone walkthrough with her own voice, turned into a finished tour with note-card and receipt graphics.
FPV explore
Brief: “FPV montage… titles pass behind the whale and the rider/kids; no repeated frames… no shake.”
Living room before and after
Brief: “Living-room renovation before/after, native 1:1, 12s… before/after slider wipe, checklist of changes… whip transitions.”
What Shorty does with your clips
You describe the video; Shorty makes the editing decisions an editor would.
| Job | What Shorty does |
|---|---|
| Choosing shots | Picks the strongest moments across your clips and skips the rest. Name any shot that must appear, and ask it to leave out shaky or repeated takes. |
| Story order | Orders the shots into an opening, middle and ending, or keeps your upload order if you ask. |
| Music | Cuts to the song you attach (MP3, WAV or M4A), keeps your own audio, or finds a track. |
| Captions and titles | Suggests captions when someone speaks and keeps titles off faces; text can sit behind a person or object. |
| Effects | Speed ramps, transitions, colour, cutouts and tracking labels, from the same written request. |
| Format | Exports 9:16, 4:5, 3:4, 1:1, 4:3, 16:9 or 21:9 at the length you ask for. |
Sources: Shorty News: Shorty Nitro · Shorty News: Shorty asks before it edits · Which files to add. Shorty release notes and help.
Built from the footage you filmed
Shorty edits what you upload. The people, places and products on screen are the ones you filmed, which is the point when the video has to show your business, your trip or your event.
Since 29 October 2026 Shorty can also turn your photos into short moving shots, such as a slow glide through a room. It asks first and shows the cost in credits; nothing is generated unless you say yes or ask for it in your brief. If you have no footage at all, a text-to-video generator is the better tool.
Sources: Shorty News: Video Shots. Shorty’s Video Shots release notes.
How it works
- Add the clips you filmed on your phone or camera. One edit takes up to 150 clips and 8 GB in total; each video can be up to 1 GB. Photos work too.
- Say what the video is for: where it will be posted, how long it should be, what must be shown and how it ends. A reference video you want it to look like is optional.
- Shorty asks about anything your brief leaves open, such as the length, whether to keep your voice and whether to add captions. Pick an answer or type your own.
- Check the estimate and submit. The median edit was ready in about 17 minutes in Shorty’s October tests; the MP4 is kept in Edits even if you close the tab.
- Watch it and ask for changes by message: “open on the sunset”, “hold the last shot longer”. The parts you did not mention stay.
Sources: Shorty News: Shorty asks before it edits · Shorty News: Shorty Nitro. Shorty release notes; timings are from Shorty’s own tests.
Make a 30-second vertical Reel from my trip clips for Instagram. Open on the boat leaving the harbour, then the swim, lunch and the sunset. Cut to the song I attached, short white captions, never over faces. Leave out shaky or repeated shots.
What it costs
A typical edit on Auto, the default director, uses about 594 credits: $1.75 on Creator or $1.38 on Max, billed annually. Plans start at $19 a month, and the editor shows the estimate before you submit.
Generated shots from photos are charged separately and only when you approve them.
Where Shorty is the wrong choice
If you want to set every cut yourself, use a timeline editor such as CapCut or Premiere: Shorty’s timeline is for reviewing the rendered video, not for authoring it. If you have one long recording and want many short clips from it, a clipper such as OpusClip is built for that. If the edit is mostly about cutting what someone says, Descript edits by transcript.
Our shortlist compares eight tools that edit raw footage, with dated prices and the job each one fits.
Sources: The best AI tools to edit raw footage in 2026. Published by Shorty.