CapCut

What it is

CapCut is an AI-powered, all-in-one creative platform that offers video editing and image design capabilities. It’s available as a mobile app for both Android and iOS, a desktop app, and also featuring a web version.

Captions, trend templates and, increasingly, AI clips: what CapCut is for in 2026

CapCut is still where most short vertical videos for TikTok, Reels and Shorts get made. People use it for auto-captions, templates synced to trending audio, background removal and a multi-layer timeline that works on phone, desktop and web. That part is not new.

What changed is the reason to pay. Paid CapCut is now mainly about generative AI inside the editor, such as ByteDance's Seedance video model and its image tools. If you only trim clips and add text, the free tier or Meta's free Edits app may be enough, and paying for either plan would be a waste.

What changed in 2026

January 2026: TikTok's new US joint venture was set up, and its safeguards also cover CapCut, so the US ban question is settled for now. That same month, on the 25th, a power failure at a US data center took CapCut down for more than 17 hours. Paying users were told they had no Pro access.

March 2026: CapCut restructured its plans. The old Pro plan effectively became Standard, which removes watermarks and unlocks templates and effects but does not include the full AI toolkit. The new Pro sits above it, with more than double the AI points and much more cloud storage. The old terms are gone for new subscribers.

March–April 2026: Seedance 2.0 rolled out in phases, reaching the US in April. It is for paid users only. It blocks video generation from images or videos containing real faces and adds invisible watermarks, after Hollywood accused the model of copyright infringement.

April 2026: CapCut updated its Terms of Service.

July 2026: CapCut's release notes previewed image generation with Seedream 5.0 Pro.

Shared plan or full price?

Be clear about one thing first: CapCut's terms require you to keep your login details confidential and not disclose them to third parties. The only multi-user setup they explicitly allow is Apple Family Sharing or similar. A shared plan can therefore conflict with CapCut's own rules, and CapCut says it can suspend or terminate accounts that break its terms, with or without notice. If that happens, you lose access in the middle of a project, and you have no one at CapCut to complain to.

A shared plan makes sense for hobbyists and occasional creators who want paid features now and then and can live with that risk. If CapCut is part of how you earn money, pay full price on your own account. That covers client work, brand deals, agencies and anyone who keeps important projects in CapCut's cloud.

Before you buy

1. Ask which tier you are actually getting, Standard or Pro. The names changed in March 2026, and only Pro has the full AI toolkit.

2. Check that the AI features you want are available in your country. Seedance was rolled out one region at a time.

3. Ask how AI points are handled on a shared account. If other users draw from the same pool, it can be empty when you need it.

4. Keep local backups of anything important. January's outage showed that even people with their own paid accounts can suddenly lose access to paid features.

Announcement from the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC · Users say CapCut app down and not working for hours · Understanding the Pricing Change · ByteDance's new AI video generation model, Dreamina Seedance 2.0, comes to CapCut · Seedance 2.0: The Most Controversial AI Video Model in the World Just Landed in the US

2026-09-29