CapCut

CapCut is ByteDance's video editing app, and the default editor for short-form video on TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Free to start and available on phones, tablets, desktops and the web, it is packed with templates, effects, auto captions and AI tools, and since August 2026 its desktop app has included ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 video model. In the United States, CapCut now operates under the TikTok USDS Joint Venture formed in January 2026.

History

CapCut began in China, where it is known as Jianying and was first released in 2019. Its international version launched as ViaMaker and was renamed CapCut in 2020. It grew alongside TikTok: by 2022 it had 200 million active users, and by January 2025 it had passed a billion downloads on Google Play. On January 18, 2025, CapCut went offline in the US along with TikTok under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act; service began returning on January 21, and Apple and Google restored it to their app stores on February 13.

The US joint venture that now runs it was formed in January 2026. ByteDance holds 19.9%, and Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX hold 15% each. The joint venture says its data safeguards cover CapCut and that US data is kept in Oracle's US cloud, and CapCut's US terms of service, effective April 15, 2026, name the joint venture as the contracting party. Outside the US, CapCut remains a ByteDance service.

Features as of October 2026

• Editing for the feed. Templates, trending effects, auto captions, text-to-speech, and background and object removal, built for vertical short-form video.
• Seedance 2.5. AI Video, AI Edit and AI Extend on CapCut's desktop app since August 7, 2026, for Pro and Ultra members, billed per second in credits; CapCut's pricing page quotes Seedance 2.5 "from $0.12/sec". Whether these features are available to US users has not been confirmed.
• Video Studio. Assembles a video from a chat conversation.
• Platforms. Windows, Mac, the web, iPhone, iPad and Android.

The free tier covers basic editing. Pro costs $19.99 a month or $179.99 a year, with 1 TB of storage and 1,200 AI credits a month; Ultra costs $79 a month; and a Teams plan costs about $12.49 per seat (prices as of October 2026).

Terms and Rights

CapCut's US terms grant it a license to user content that is "unconditional, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully transferable, sub-licensable, perpetual and worldwide", wording that drew criticism when an earlier version appeared in mid-2025. The terms also say no rights to sound recordings are licensed beyond what its materials license allows, so library music is not automatically cleared for commercial use. Businesses, and anyone handling client material, should read both clauses before relying on CapCut, and weigh the data questions that come with any service that crosses jurisdictions (see data sovereignty).

How It Compares

CapCut is cheaper than professional editors at every level and faster for social output, but it is not built for long-form timelines, professional camera formats, broadcast delivery or a finishing pipeline. Adobe Premiere has moved toward CapCut's territory with free mobile apps, while CapCut has added desktop features and paid tiers. Among creator tools, it competes with Kapwing, Captions and Descript, and its built-in Seedance model makes it one of the most capable generative editors available to consumers. See CapCut vs Adobe Premiere, AI video editing and the creator economy.