No media-minute limits
Record, transcribe, edit, caption and export as much as you like. Your Rooster bill won’t grow with your workload.
Download free trialNative for Mac
Edit your video by editing the words.
Rooster is a transcript-first video editor for Mac. Delete a sentence and the video cuts with it. Record, edit, caption and export as much as you like for one flat price, because it all runs on your Mac.
14 days free, no card, then $4.99 a month at the founder price, locked in for as long as you stay subscribed. Open to the first 250 subscribers who join by 10 January 2027. Once it closes, new subscribers pay $9 a month billed annually or $12.99 billed monthly.
Built for Apple silicon Macs running macOS 26 or newer.
Faster, because it’s local
Nothing uploads before you can start. Transcription begins the second you stop recording, with NVIDIA’s Parakeet model running on your own Neural Engine, and your finished video renders on your Mac too. Your footage never leaves your Mac unless you deliberately connect a cloud provider.
Yours to keep
Your projects stay on your Mac. No account is needed to open your own work, and no library sits behind a storage cap if you stop paying.
What we believe
Your Mac is already an AI computer
Many everyday AI jobs, like transcribing a recording or cutting out the ums, don’t need a data centre. Doing them on a Mac you own, instead of paying by the minute for someone else’s servers, is cheaper, faster and better for the environment. Cloud-based AI is for the jobs a Mac can’t handle.
Three steps
Record, edit by transcript and export
Three steps from a rough take to a finished video, without a Rooster meter running underneath them.
Your original recordings are never rewritten.
Record or import
Camera, screen or both, straight into a Rooster project, with a teleprompter and framing guides when you want them.
Edit the transcript
The transcript appears as soon as recording stops. Click a word to seek. Select words and delete to cut the media. Correct a word without touching the picture.
Export
A finished video saved to Downloads, with captions on the picture or in a separate file. Everything renders on your Mac.
The core loop
Edit words, not timelines
Select words to find the matching moment, then delete them to cut the video. Correcting a word fixes the transcript without touching the recording. Text and timeline stay in sync, and Rooster keeps natural pauses at every join.
In the app
What Rooster does
Everything from first recording to finished export, with tools to clean up your voice and picture on your Mac.
Recording suite
Record your camera, screen or both, with teleprompter, framing, resolution and countdown controls.
Local transcription
An NVIDIA Parakeet speech model runs privately on your Mac, in English and 24 other languages. Switch local engines or connect your own service when you need one.
Transcript editing
Click a word to find the moment. Delete words to cut the video, or correct the transcript without changing the recording.
AI cutting tools
Find filler words, long pauses, dead air and, in English, takes you said twice and false starts in one pass. Untick what you want to keep, cut the rest in one undoable step, then check each cut.
Studio Voice
Remove background noise and reduce room sound and hiss in your voice, on your Mac. A switch compares the result with the original.
Eye Contact
Look into the camera while you read from the screen, corrected on your Mac with Apple Vision. In beta, with a switch to check the result.
Green Screen
Remove the room behind you without a green screen, on your Mac. Your canvas colour, a picture or a layer behind you shows through.
Captions
Style captions in a live preview, burn them into the video or save a separate subtitle file.
Export
Export a finished video ready to publish, with captions on the picture or in a separate file. Save video, audio and transcripts to Downloads.
Everything else
The details, done properly
Crash-safe takes
A camera or audio take cut short by a crash is saved when Rooster next opens.
No Save command
Every edit is written to your Mac within a second.
Every cut comes back
Click the mark a cut leaves, then Restore, however long ago you made it.
Find in the script
Every match listed with the time it was said, ready to correct or cut.
Zoom on the words
Select words and the picture zooms in for as long as they play.
Speaker names
Name who is speaking, and the names reach your subtitle files.
Audio only
Record a podcast or a voiceover and edit it by its words.
Titles and lower thirds
Text layers on the canvas, each with its own style and length.
Volume and fades
Per clip, for your recording, B-roll and music alike.
Match loudness
Raise or lower the mix toward -16 LUFS as you export, unless you turn it off.
Subtitles and transcripts
SRT or VTT subtitles, and the transcript as text or Markdown.
B-roll over your words
Select words in the script and cover them with footage or a still.
Music that ducks
Loop a track to fill the video and have it dip while you speak.
Vertical and square
Portrait, square or your own size, with safe-area guides.
A timeline when you need one
Trim and move clips, and split the recording where the script cannot reach.
Unlimited, structurally
Why your Rooster bill stays flat
Rooster is unlimited because the work happens on your Mac. Transcription, effects, preview and export all run on your own processor, so there is nothing to meter by the minute or the action. Cloud editors work the other way round: their costs rise with every minute and every AI action, which is why their plans are built around media minutes and credit balances.
Rooster is $4.99 a month at the founder price or $9 a month billed annually ($108 a year), or $249 once for a lifetime licence, each after a 14-day free trial. The founder price is locked in for as long as you stay subscribed and is open to the first 250 subscribers who join by 10 January 2027. Once it closes, monthly billing for new subscribers is $12.99. Your price stays the same however much you record, edit and export.
Where your work goes
What stays on your Mac, and what doesn’t
The same design that keeps your bill flat keeps your footage private. Here is everything that stays, and the few things that cross the network.
On your Mac
- Your recordings and imported media, unless you choose cloud transcription
- Transcripts, captions and every edit
- Studio Voice, Eye Contact, Green Screen and Blur Background
- Preview and export
No account and no cloud library.
Over the network, and when
- The speech model, once. It downloads to your Mac the first time you transcribe. Nothing about your work goes up.
- Update checks, after you say yes. Rooster asks first. The request carries the version you run, nothing about your work.
- Your licence. The key, your Mac's model, the Rooster version and a random installation ID when you activate, then a daily or monthly check. Never your media.
- Feedback, when you press Send. The box shows what it sends before it goes.
- Crash reports, when you say yes. After a crash Rooster shows you the report and sends it only if you press Send, or turned on sending by itself. No names, paths or identifiers.
- Cloud transcription, with your own key. Off unless you set it up. The recording's sound then goes to the service you chose, and no other.
The privacy policy lists every case and exactly what each one sends.
Before you decide
Compared honestly
See how the leading tools compare on workflow, pricing and limits. Every price links to the vendor page it was read from, with the date.
Alternatives
Descript alternatives
Eight real Descript alternatives compared by the job you need done, with metering, platforms and pricing checked against each vendor's own page in October 2026.
Head to head
Descript vs Riverside
A straight comparison of Descript and Riverside for podcasters: recording, text-based editing, meters, pricing and where each falls down. Checked August 2026.
Alternatives
Loom alternatives
Six real Loom alternatives compared by the job you need done - share links, polished demos, free tools, full editing - each with a dated price from the vendor.
The essentials
Questions about Rooster
- What does unmetered mean?
- No media-minute limits. No top-ups. No overage maths. Record a short clip or a two-hour episode - your Rooster bill stays the same.
- How does transcript-first editing work?
- Rooster turns speech into a transcript. Select words and delete them to cut the matching video, or correct the text without touching the recording. Reading replaces most of the hunting and trimming on a timeline.
- What does Rooster cost?
- Rooster costs $4.99 a month at the founder price, locked in for as long as you stay subscribed, or $9 a month billed annually ($108 a year), or $249 once for a lifetime licence with every future update, each after a 14-day free trial. The founder price is open to the first 250 subscribers who join by 10 January 2027. Once it closes, monthly billing for new subscribers is $12.99. The pricing page explains each option.
- Can I connect external AI tools?
- Yes. You can send transcription to a compatible cloud service of your choice using your own API key. It is optional, uses your own provider account and is billed separately.
- Which Macs does Rooster support?
- Apple silicon Macs running macOS 26 or newer. Transcription and local effects use Apple’s Neural Engine, which is why the requirement is that specific.
Writing
From the blog
Notes on transcript-first editing and what cloud editors actually charge.
How to cancel a Descript subscription and keep your work
The steps to cancel Descript, what happens to your projects and credits afterwards, refunds, and what to download before you go - from the Descript help centre.
Descript discounts, promo codes and Black Friday in 2026
Every real way to pay less for Descript in 2026 - annual billing, the education plan, referrals, promo codes and Black Friday - from Descript itself.
Descript review 2026 - an honest look from a competitor
An honest Descript review from a competitor - what it does best, where its meters and cloud cost you, our measured tests, and who should use it.