Captions (now Mirage) vs service as software: which one a business actually needs

Two kinds of AI product get compared all the time, and they are not the same thing. One is a tool that makes you faster at a job you still do. The other is a service that does the job. Captions is a very good example of the first. VEXI is the second.

This is a fair look at both. Prices were read on October 28, 2026, from each company's own page, and they change. For the full feature-by-feature table, see Captions vs VEXI.

What Captions (now Mirage) does

Captions began as an app for adding subtitles to talking videos. In September 2025 the company renamed itself Mirage and pushed into AI video research. The app kept the name Captions.

Today it is an AI video editor on phone and web. Its help center lists the main jobs. AI Edit: upload raw footage and get back an edited video, with the cuts, captions, music and formatting done. Captions: generated in one tap, and translated into more than 100 languages. Prompt to Video: a talking-head video from a script, with a built-in actor or your own AI Twin. Publishing: export at 1080p and publish straight to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and more.

It also has a camera with a teleprompter, and an Eye Contact switch that redirects your gaze toward the lens after you record.

Where Captions is the better choice

Credit where it is due. For talking-head video, Captions is among the best tools you can buy.

Avatars and AI Twins. If you want a video of a presenter without filming, Captions does it. Its Max plan lets you create digital twins or custom AI actors. VEXI does not make avatars.

Eye-contact correction. Read a script off screen, and Eye Contact makes it look as if you were looking at the lens. That is a hard problem, and Captions solves it well.

Hands-on talking-head editing. If you like to shape every cut yourself, with a chat-based editor and a library of AI Edit styles, Captions gives you that control, from a company now doing AI video research of its own.

Price. Paid plans start at $24.99 a month (Max, 500 credits, as listed for iOS). That is a fraction of what VEXI costs.

What service as software does instead

Service as software starts from the result, not the edit. With VEXI, you type what you want in one chat, the way you would say it to a person. It comes back finished: reels, posts, captions and scripts, plus long-form videos on every plan.

It writes. Tell it what the script should do and it writes it. Your script rolls on screen while you record. It also writes the post captions.

It designs. Posts come back with your logo, colors, fonts and the way you write. Tap anything on the design to change it: the headline, the photo, the logo.

It edits your own footage. Videos come back cut, with B-roll and captions, sized for each platform. Upload a long raw recording, like a podcast, and get back the clips that work best, captioned, with music under each cut.

It posts. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads and your Google Business Profile, posted for you. Autopilot writes, designs and puts out your week ahead, at the times your audience shows up. It can wait for your approval on everything, or run on its own.

Side by side

Editing your talking-head video: both. Captions gives you more hands-on control and the eye-contact fix. VEXI returns the cut without you opening an editor.

Avatars and AI presenters: Captions. VEXI does not make them.

Writing the script: VEXI writes it from what you say the script should do. Captions gives you a camera with a teleprompter to read it.

Design posts and feed captions: VEXI makes both. Captions' "captions" are on-screen subtitles, and our comparison found no design posts and no feed caption writing.

Posting: Captions publishes a finished video straight to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. No scheduling was found. VEXI schedules and posts to every account above, and Autopilot plans the week.

Who does the work: with Captions, you. You film, pick the edit, write the post, choose the time and come back tomorrow. With VEXI, you ask and approve.

What each one costs

Captions: Max is $24.99 a month with 500 credits, Frontier is $69.99 with 1,400, and the plans run up to $279.99. Each AI action spends credits: an AI Edit costs 10 to 40, depending on the video. Some reviewers on Trustpilot, where it rates 4.5, report app freezes and credits running out fast.

VEXI: $199, $399 or $599 a month, and every plan starts with a 15-day trial. Autopilot posts five times a week on Creator, every day on Pro and twice a day on Max.

So VEXI costs more. It does not win on price. It wins on the work you no longer do: the script, the design, the caption, the schedule, and remembering to post next Tuesday.

Four questions to ask before you pick

1. Who will be on camera? If it is you, often, both work. Captions polishes the take. VEXI writes the script, rolls it on screen while you record and returns the cut. If nobody wants to be on camera, Captions' avatars are the answer. VEXI can start from a photo, a clip, a link or nothing at all, but it does not make a presenter.

2. Who writes the post? A video needs a caption, a time and a place to go. With an editor, that is still your job. With a service, it comes with the video.

3. Is it only video? Most businesses also post designs: an offer, an event, a new product. Captions makes video. VEXI makes posts and designs alongside the videos.

4. How many hours a week do you have? Be honest. A tool saves time on each video you make. A service makes the videos you never got to. If your answer is "almost none", that settles it.

Which one does your business actually need?

Pick Captions if you enjoy being on camera, you want to polish your own talking videos, you want an avatar or eye-contact correction, and you are happy to write, post and plan yourself. It is a great tool, and it is cheap.

Pick service as software if social media is a job you want off your list. You want posts and videos made, in your brand, and put out every week, whether or not you had time to think about it.

A quick test: look at last month. If the problem was that your videos looked rough, a better editor fixes that. If the problem was that nothing went out, a better editor will not help. That is a time problem, and a service fixes it.

If you are weighing chat tools as well, our guides to making a video with ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini show what each route takes. Is AI replacing the videographer? covers the bigger shift.

Or just ask VEXI

If the job is a week of posts, not one better edit, try it. Type what you want, and it comes back finished, then posted. Say what you wanted instead and it remakes it. With approvals on, nothing goes out until you are happy with it.

Keep a tool for the edits you love doing. For everything else, just ask VEXI.

Compare Captions and VEXI in full, see what VEXI makes, or see the plans.