CapCut alternative
Say the edit.
Selects cuts it.
Describe what you want in plain words. Selects watches your footage, makes the cut, and opens it on a timeline you can change by hand.
Free plan, no credit card required
Same footage, same prompt
Selects and CapCut on the same footage
We gave Selects and CapCut's EditPilot the same footage and the same prompt. Here are both cuts, side by side, with what we noted in each.
Camera switching
podcast, 30-second source
This demo shows how each AI picks the most natural camera angle, the way a human editor would. Every tool except Selects failed on footage longer than an hour, so all five ran on the same 30-second clip.
Prompt
Switch cameras based on speaker and reaction
Selectsours
- Switches camera naturally
- Shows close-ups with the best reaction shots
- Covers jump cuts with camera switches
CapCutEditPilot
- Reuses the same clips
- Awkward cuts
- Misses reaction shots
- Deleted and rearranged clips even when we didn't ask it to
Non-speech footage
parkour, 17-minute source
How each editor performs on footage with no speech to work from. The original footage is 17 minutes long.
Prompt
Create a parkour highlight using every parkour attempt, omitting none. Show only the action itself: start right when each move begins and cut just before the result.
Selectsours
- Finds 6 valid parkour attempts
CapCutEditPilot
- Catches only the end of 2 attempts
- Keeps mostly the conversation after an attempt
Tech review
product footage, 1-minute source
This demo shows how each AI picks the most natural camera angle, the way a human editor would for a tech review video.
Prompt
Edit this video by changing cameras naturally
Selectsours
- Cuts to the MacBook when the speaker looks at it
- Switches between the speaker and the MacBook at the right moments
CapCutEditPilot
- Deletes the part where the MacBook is shown
- Skips the MacBook
- Repeats the intro
- Jumps from “Number one is” straight to “Number two is”
- Skips the front camera that shows the MacBook
- Stays on the MacBook for over 10 seconds while the speaker talks
Scripted edit
talking head, 7-minute source
The original footage is 7 minutes 13 seconds long and full of retakes. A human editor's final cut runs 1 minute 58 seconds.
Prompt
Edit this video with the below script.
- fast pacing (short-form video)
- follow the script
- remove retakes and keep the best one only
Script
Forget what's trending. YC's new batch is the new crystal ball for tech. If you didn't know this already, tonight's the deadline for YC for their winter batch, and right now, the fall batch is fully on, so let's see what the future looks like with the fall batches. The current YC batch has hundred and forty-six startups: ninety-six B2B, seventeen consumer, ten healthcare, ten industrial, eight fintech, four real estate, and even one government. And as expected, AI dominates. But you see, here are the three startups that really caught my eye. Number one, Chat AI. This is the world's first brainrot IDE, integrated development environment. It basically allows developers to have integrated environment between the things that you brainrot with, like your TikTok scrolls, your Instagram, anime, whatever it is, into your developer code. How does this work? Instead of having developers fight their urge to brainrot, Chat actually embraces it. So for example, as you're building, AI model is thinking, and you sort of have to wait, and it actually prompts them to go and brainrot. It will show you to your Instagram, your favorite TikToks, so you're actually resting, and then by the time your AI model has loaded, then you're actually back to developing. Number two, Pixley AI. This one's my personal favorite. They're reinventing early education for children. You know when we go into a restaurant, and we see all these iPad kids, and we're like, “Oh my God, they're brain rotting”? Well, this AI tool is about to change it all. This is literally my dream come true. Imagine you draw an image, and then it becomes animation, and then a parent can even put morals or stories that they wanna tell. This makes screen time both educational and also super safe. This is one of the best use cases of video generation that I've seen. Thirdly, Exonic. This is the very first open source drug discovery. I know. When I first read it too, I was like, “What does that even mean?” This company is using AI to design synthetic DNA to help fight cancer. There's a no-code AI solution, and then you submit DNA designs, open source, open to anybody, and the best one gets tested in real cancer cells.
Selectsours
- 2:00 length (human edited version was 1:58)
- No retakes kept
- Chooses the best takes
CapCutEditPilot
- 3:30 length (human edited version was 1:58)
- Retakes and off-script takes kept
- Skips “If you didn't know this already, tonight's the deadline” through “the fall batch is fully on”
- Retake kept: “as expected, AI dominates” said three times
- Retake kept: “But you see, here are the three startups” said twice
- Retake kept: “Number one” said twice
- 43 seconds of off-script takes for the Pixley AI section (“early users say…”, “kids these days are on their iPad…”)
- Retakes kept: “so get this” and “any drawing that your child” each said twice
- Stumble kept: “immedi- immediately”
- Stumble kept: “and then, and then”
- Retake kept: “the best design gets” said three times
Where they differ
Templates and phones, or chat on desktop
CapCut lists editors for desktop, web, mobile and tablet, with AI effects templates. If you edit on your phone from a template, CapCut is built for that. Selects is a desktop app for macOS on Apple Silicon and Windows 11, and you start by describing the edit.
It watches the footage
Selects analyzes your shots, faces and speakers, not just the words, and groups retakes so chat can keep the best one. The edit is built on what you filmed.
Multicam, synced for you
Selects lines up 10 or more camera angles and separate mics by waveform or timecode, then switches cameras when you ask.
A handoff when the project grows
Any Selects edit hands off to Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Avid Media Composer as a project file, with its cuts and tracks intact, if someone else is finishing it.
FAQ
Is Selects a good CapCut alternative?
Yes, if you want to describe the edit and get a cut you can change on a timeline. Selects watches the footage, so it can find the best take, follow the speaker and switch cameras.
If you mostly edit on your phone from templates, CapCut has a mobile app and Selects runs on desktop only.
Can I post to TikTok and YouTube from Selects?
Yes. Publish straight from Selects to TikTok or YouTube, up to 10 videos at a time, each with its own caption and settings.
For vertical video, set the draft's frame size to 1080×1920.
Can Selects make word-by-word captions?
Yes. Style the spoken word apart from the rest of the line, start from one of 14 built-in looks, and save the one you like as a preset.
What computer does Selects need?
A Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later) or a PC on Windows 11. 16 GB of RAM or more and an SSD are recommended, and you need an internet connection.
Can I move a CapCut project into Selects?
Bring the footage rather than the project. Selects imports your video and audio files directly. It can also import an existing synced timeline from Premiere (.prproj) or Final Cut (.fcpxml or XML); CapCut projects aren't on that list.
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