What Each Tool Costs
| Tool | Price | Free option | Exports | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut Video Gaps | Free public beta, 15 free hours/month | 15 free hours/month, no watermark, all exports | Final Cut Pro (FCPXML), Premiere Pro XML, After Effects script, trimmed video or audio | macOS 13+ on Apple Silicon (Windows in development, Intel Mac planned, waitlist open) |
| Recut | $129 one-time or $15/month | 3 free exports, no watermark | Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, ScreenFlow, CapCut, MP4/WAV/M4A | Mac and Windows |
| PauseSweep | $5.99 one-time (+ tax) | 7-day full trial, preview free forever | Trimmed video or audio file (no editor timeline export stated) | macOS 13+, Apple Silicon and Intel |
| Gling | Plus $20/month ($10/month billed yearly), 10 hours | 1 hour/month, watermarked MP4 export | XML to Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve; MP4/MP3 | Desktop only (download link sent by email) |
| AutoCut | Basic $9.90/month or $79/year; AI plan $19.80/month or $178.80/year | 14-day free trial, no card | Edits directly in your Premiere Pro or Resolve timeline | Mac and Windows |
| Premiere Pro Text-Based Editing | Included with a Premiere Pro subscription | Premiere Pro free trial | Already in your Premiere Pro sequence | Mac and Windows (wherever Premiere Pro runs) |
What TimeBolt Charges
TimeBolt Pro is $17 a month, $97 a year or $347 once. Every paid plan unlocks XML and plugin export, but filler-word removal (UMCHECK) is pay-per-use at $0.03 per minute of video, so an hour-long recording adds $1.80 each time you run it. The free tier lets you try the editor, with watermarked exports and no XML export.
Source: timebolt.io/pricing. Check each tool's site for current pricing.
The 6 Alternatives
1. Cut Video Gaps
Best for: Talking-head footage where silence, filler words and bad takes should go in one pass
Costs nothing during the public beta, and nothing extra for filler words: Whisper runs on your Mac, so there is no per-minute transcription bill. Silence, filler words, repeats and bad takes go in one pass, and FCPXML and Premiere XML exports are not watermarked.
- Type
- Desktop app for Mac
- Platforms
- macOS 13+ on Apple Silicon (Windows in development, Intel Mac planned, waitlist open)
- How it finds cuts
- dB threshold (Fast Cut) or on-device Whisper speech detection (AI Auto Cut)
- Where processing happens
- On-device
- Exports
- Final Cut Pro (FCPXML), Premiere Pro XML, After Effects script, trimmed video or audio
- Price
- Free public beta, 15 free hours/month
- Free option
- 15 free hours/month, no watermark, all exports
2. Recut
Best for: A one-time silence cutter that exports to almost any editor
A one-time $129 license is the classic answer to subscription fatigue, and the 3 free exports are watermark-free, so you can judge real results. It cuts on volume only; there is no filler-word option to pay for.
- Type
- Desktop app
- Platforms
- Mac and Windows
- How it finds cuts
- Silence detection with adjustable sensitivity, multi-track
- Where processing happens
- Not stated
- Exports
- Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, ScreenFlow, CapCut, MP4/WAV/M4A
- Price
- $129 one-time or $15/month
- Free option
- 3 free exports, no watermark
3. PauseSweep
Best for: Batch-trimming pauses from finished files without opening an editor
The lowest price on this list: $5.99 once. It trims pauses and saves a new file, with no editor timeline export, so it replaces TimeBolt's quick-render use rather than its XML workflow.
- Type
- Desktop app for Mac
- Platforms
- macOS 13+, Apple Silicon and Intel
- How it finds cuts
- Silence detection with 4 sensitivity modes and preview
- Where processing happens
- On-device
- Exports
- Trimmed video or audio file (no editor timeline export stated)
- Price
- $5.99 one-time (+ tax)
- Free option
- 7-day full trial, preview free forever
4. Gling
Best for: YouTubers who also want captions, titles and chapters generated
Priced by hours of footage per month. Filler words and bad takes are included rather than billed per minute, but footage is uploaded to Gling and the free hour is watermarked.
- Type
- AI editor for YouTubers
- Platforms
- Desktop only (download link sent by email)
- How it finds cuts
- AI transcript: silences, filler words, bad takes
- Where processing happens
- Cloud
- Exports
- XML to Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve; MP4/MP3
- Price
- Plus $20/month ($10/month billed yearly), 10 hours
- Free option
- 1 hour/month, watermarked MP4 export
5. AutoCut
Best for: Editors who never want to leave Premiere Pro or Resolve
A subscription plugin inside Premiere Pro or Resolve. Silence-only Basic is the cheaper plan; repeats and the other AI tools sit on the AI plan at roughly twice the price.
- Type
- Plugin for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve
- Platforms
- Mac and Windows
- How it finds cuts
- Silence removal (Basic); AI features incl. repeats on the AI plan
- Where processing happens
- Not stated
- Exports
- Edits directly in your Premiere Pro or Resolve timeline
- Price
- Basic $9.90/month or $79/year; AI plan $19.80/month or $178.80/year
- Free option
- 14-day free trial, no card
6. Premiere Pro Text-Based Editing
Best for: Premiere Pro subscribers who are happy deleting pauses by hand from a transcript
If you already pay for Premiere Pro, Text-Based Editing can find pauses and filler words in the transcript and delete them in bulk at no extra cost. You review and delete them yourself rather than getting an automatic rough cut.
- Type
- Built into Adobe Premiere Pro
- Platforms
- Mac and Windows (wherever Premiere Pro runs)
- How it finds cuts
- Transcript: detect and bulk-delete pauses and filler words
- Where processing happens
- Not stated
- Exports
- Already in your Premiere Pro sequence
- Price
- Included with a Premiere Pro subscription
- Free option
- Premiere Pro free trial
When TimeBolt Is Still the Better Choice
- You need Windows or an Intel Mac today, which Cut Video Gaps does not support yet. (You can join the Windows & Intel Mac waitlist for Cut Video Gaps.)
- You finish in DaVinci Resolve.
- You need team seats or on-premise deployment today.
- You want to pay once for a lifetime license rather than use a free beta.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest TimeBolt alternative for Mac?
While the public beta lasts, Cut Video Gaps is free with 15 free hours/month, including filler-word cuts and XML export. If you only need pauses trimmed from finished files, PauseSweep is a $5.99 one-time Mac app.
How much does TimeBolt cost compared to Cut Video Gaps?
TimeBolt Pro lists $17 per month, $97 per year or $347 lifetime, and filler-word removal (UMCHECK) is billed separately at $0.03 per minute. Cut Video Gaps is currently a free public beta with 15 free hours/month, and filler-word cuts are included.
Does the free version export to Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro?
TimeBolt's free tier is watermarked and has no XML export. The Cut Video Gaps beta includes FCPXML, Premiere Pro XML and After Effects exports with no watermark.
Does Cut Video Gaps upload my footage?
No. Silence detection, Whisper transcription and every export run on your Mac. The only network call is a small account check that tracks your monthly beta quota.