Questions
Everything people ask before buying
Straight answers, including the ones where the answer is "not yet". If something here isn't clear, that's a fault in this page — tell us and we'll fix the wording.
Getting started
Before you install
Do I need to know how to edit video?
No, and that's the point. You cut by selecting words in the transcript, not by dragging clips on a timeline. Pick a clip type and a template and the captions, framing, thumbnail and pacing are already decided — the first render is postable, and you change things only if you want to.
What computer do I need?
Any Mac from the last five years, or a Windows 11 machine with 8GB of RAM and a few gigabytes free. Larger Whisper models and 4K sources want more memory and time. Linux isn't supported at launch.
How long does a run take?
On a recent laptop, roughly: a one-hour talk transcribes in a few minutes on the small Whisper model, clip finding takes under a minute, and each finished clip renders in well under a minute. Nothing waits behind other customers in a queue, so the only variable is your machine.
Can I try it first?
Yes: three days of the whole app on your own recordings — every clip type, the editor, and as many unwatermarked exports as you want. It starts with the $15 monthly plan, and cancelling inside the three days costs nothing. Scheduling and posting need the Connected plan, so they're not in the trial. After that, carry on monthly or buy the licence outright; either way there's a 14-day refund.
Is there anything to set up?
Install, activate with your licence key, open a video. ffmpeg and Whisper are bundled, so there's nothing to install separately. Adding an AI key or a local model is optional — built-in scoring needs neither.
Making clips
What it can and can't cut
What do the clip types actually change?
What the search looks for. Message follows an argument to its landing; Movie reads pacing and dialogue for the turn and the quotable line; Songs marks hooks, drops and the space before them; Highlights weighs reaction and energy as much as words; Complete context gathers related moments from across the video and stitches them in order.
Can it pull a setup from earlier in the video?
Yes — that's Complete context. If the payoff at 48:12 depends on a story told at 11:40, both are in the clip, so it stands alone on a feed.
The captions got a name wrong. Can I fix it?
Double-click the word in the transcript, type the correction, and re-render that clip. Every other clip stays as it is.
Does it follow the speaker's face when it crops?
Not yet. Framing is Fill with a crop you position yourself, or Fit on a blurred bed or black bars, which keeps the whole frame. Automatic speaker tracking isn't in the app today.
Can I make a video when I have no footage?
Yes. Script to video takes your text plus images — yours, or ones it finds and shows you before rendering — and produces a narrated, captioned video.
Does it really turn videos into a book?
It produces a chaptered manuscript from a run of videos: organised, written into prose, ready for you to revise. A strong draft, not a finished book.
Which languages does it caption?
90+ — the Whisper set, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Hindi, Arabic and Mandarin. Set the language when you know it; detection handles the rest.
Files & privacy
Where your footage goes
Do you see my videos?
No. Video, audio and transcripts stay on your machine. Our backend handles licences and device seats — nothing else.
What leaves my computer, exactly?
A licence check: the licence key, a device id and a version number. If you choose a cloud model to find moments, the transcript text you approve goes to that provider under your own key. Choose a local model and even that stops.
Where do finished clips end up?
In a folder on your disk: an MP4 with cover art, an SRT beside it and a JPG thumbnail. Ordinary files you can move, back up or delete.
Can they sync somewhere automatically?
Yes — to storage you own: an S3-compatible bucket (AWS, Backblaze, Wasabi, R2, self-hosted MinIO), Google Drive, Dropbox, WebDAV, SFTP or a NAS. Files go from your machine to your account, and we never hold a copy.
Does it work offline?
Fully, once activated — with a local model or built-in scoring. It needs the internet only to activate or release a seat, for a periodic licence check, and for cloud AI or posting if you use them.
What happens to my files if I stop using Ariloop?
Nothing. They were never ours to hold. Uninstall, and every project, render and brand kit stays where it is.
AI & costs
Which model, and who pays for it
Which models can I use?
Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral, DeepSeek, xAI, Together, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or a local Ollama model. The choice is per generation, so a keynote can use a strong model and a bulk pass a cheap one.
Do I need an API key at all?
No. Run a local model, or use built-in scoring that finds clips with no AI involved. The app is fully usable without ever entering a key.
What does the AI cost?
Whatever your provider charges, billed by them — we don't resell credits or take a margin. As a rough guide with a top-tier model, finding clips in a 15-minute video runs about $0.10, and an hour $0.20–0.40. A local model costs only your electricity.
Is transcription done by an AI service?
No — Whisper runs on your machine. Audio never goes to a transcription API.
Publishing
Getting clips out the door
Where can it post directly?
Direct posting to YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook, X and LinkedIn arrives with the scheduler in 3.1, channel by channel as each platform approves the app — each reviews on its own schedule, so we publish which channels are live rather than promising dates that aren't ours to set. From 3.2 you can hand the queue to a tool you already run instead, Buffer first.
What are integrations, and how do they work?
An integration hands a finished clip to a tool you already run instead of posting it ourselves. Buffer is the first: connect it once and clips land in its queue with their captions attached, while your schedule, approvals, analytics and channel connections stay where your team already has them. Others follow on the same hand-off, and there's a webhook for your own systems. Integrations arrive in 3.2.
Do scheduled tasks run when my laptop is closed?
Posting does — once a clip is rendered and queued, delivery doesn't need your machine. Making a video is local work, so a task that renders something needs the machine awake at that time. Overnight tasks are the usual answer.
Can I schedule a month at once?
Yes, from 3.1. Finished clips drop onto a calendar, and a generation's output can be spread across days and times in one sitting — posted directly, or from 3.2 handed to a tool like Buffer.
Licences
Buying, seats and upgrades
What exactly is a seat?
One machine with Ariloop activated on it. A seat isn't tied to a person — an editor with a desktop and a laptop uses two. Release either from Devices and it's free immediately.
Can I rent instead of buying?
Yes — month to month at $15 for Individual or $45 for Group, cancelled whenever you like. Renting is a rental, not a payment plan: it doesn't turn into ownership, and when it ends the app stops opening. What you already cut stays yours — finished files sit in your folders, and you can still export the projects you'd already made. Buying outright at $149.99 is the one that never expires.
What is the Connected plan, and do I need it?
It covers the parts that run on our servers: the scheduler and direct posting, integrations like Buffer, scheduled tasks that fire without your machine, and brand kits and templates synced across seats. $9/month or $79/year, from $6/seat for teams — a little cheaper alongside a rental. Everything else — cutting, captions, rendering, storage sync — works without it, forever.
Does syncing to my own storage need a plan?
No. It's free on every licence, because the upload runs from your machine to your own bucket with your credentials. We never hold a copy, so there's nothing for us to charge for.
What counts as a major version?
A change of the first number: 3.7 to 3.8 is free, 3.x to 4.0 is a paid upgrade at a holder's price. Skipping is fine — your version keeps working, keeps your projects and keeps rendering.
Some features are tagged 3.1 or 3.2 — do I pay again for those?
No. Launch is 3.0: every clip type, the editor, captions and title styles, watermarks, image layers, inserts, intros and outros, and templates. The thumbnail generator, script to video, storage sync and the social scheduler with its first direct channels land in 3.1; Mix, the viral hook library, integrations like Buffer, scheduled tasks and watch folders in 3.2; video to book in 3.3; the command line and the Android and iOS apps in 3.4; One-Take ads in 3.5 — all inside the 3.x line, so they're free updates for anyone who bought or was renting before they arrive. We tag them with a version rather than saying "soon" so you can hold us to it, and we'd rather ship them late and good than early and embarrassing.
Can I move up a tier later?
Yes, and you pay the difference rather than the full price. Your brand kit, projects and seats carry over.
Is anything limited per month?
No. Clips, minutes, exports and projects are unlimited on every licence, because the work runs on your hardware.
How do teams pay?
Card for Individual and Group. Corporate can be invoiced against a purchase order, and we'll answer a security questionnaire before you buy.
Refunds?
14 days, no questions. Run a real recording of yours through it first — that's the only test that counts.
Support
When something goes wrong
How do I get help?
Email support on Individual, priority email on Group, and a named contact plus an onboarding session on Corporate. Bug reports reach someone who can fix them.
How often does it update?
Regularly within your major version, and every 3.x update is free — new templates, caption and title styles, platform fixes and speed work.
Something rendered wrong. What do you need from me?
The clip, the settings you used and the source file's details. Everything runs locally, so we'll usually ask you to run one command and send its output rather than upload footage.
Still deciding?
Try it on your own recording
The trial runs the whole pipeline on your footage. If it doesn't find the moments you'd have picked yourself, don't buy it.