Claude Video Editor: What It Makes and What It Costs

Cut Express is a video editor you run inside Claude through MCP. It’s made by the nxcturnez studio, not by Anthropic. You upload footage and describe the video. Claude makes every edit decision, and Cut Express renders the MP4. It’s free for 14 days, then $19/month on Pro.

If you’re still weighing whether Claude can edit video at all, and which tools do it, start with can Claude edit videos. Other tools also work in Claude, including Descript, invideo and OpusClip. This page covers only what Cut Express does.

What can I make with this Claude video editor?

Cut Express renders two shapes: 9:16 vertical and 16:9 horizontal. Claude video editing covers these jobs within them.

Video	Format	What Claude does
Instagram Reels	9:16	Picks the hook line, cuts pauses, adds word-by-word captions
YouTube Shorts	9:16	Finds moments in long footage, cuts them vertical
TikTok	9:16	Fast cuts, punch-in zooms, sound effects on beats you name
YouTube videos	16:9	Drops false starts, adds lower thirds and a progress bar
Recreated reels	9:16 or 16:9	Rebuilds a reference reel shot by shot with your footage
Faceless videos	Either	Voices your script with AI, captions follow it word for word

Pro renders at 1080p, with videos up to 10 minutes. Ultra adds 2K (1440×2560 or 2560×1440) and videos up to 30 minutes.

What does an editing session look like?

A session is a conversation. A typical one goes like this.

1. Upload. In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop, an upload panel opens in the chat. Drop in your clips. See how to upload footage.
2. Ask for the video.

Make a 30-second Reel from these clips. Open on “I almost quit last year”, cut every pause, add pop captions in yellow and a warm golden hour look.

3. Claude looks first. It reads contact sheets of every clip (frames labelled with source time) and a timestamped transcript. Then it writes the edit as a small JSON timeline.
4. Watch the render. The video plays in the chat. A 30-second reel at 1080p is usually ready in well under a minute.
5. Revise in plain words.

The intro drags. Start on the second sentence, add a whoosh on the first cut and make the captions smaller.

6. Make other versions. Every version is kept, so asking for a new format edits the same timeline.

Now a 16:9 version for YouTube, with a lower third that says my name.

For a longer walkthrough, read how to edit videos with Claude.

What editing tools does Claude have?

• Cuts. Speed ramps, reverse, boomerang, freeze frames, punch-in zooms and 21 transitions.
• Captions. Word-by-word, timed to speech. Six styles, including pop and karaoke, in your fonts and colors. See word-by-word captions.
• Looks. 73 cinematic looks with intensity, plus color sliders from temperature to grain.
• Voice and sound. AI voice-over from a script, sound effects from a description, built-in free sound effects, and music that ducks under the voice.
• Layouts. Split screens, picture-in-picture, green screen, logos, arrows, lower thirds.
• Motion graphics. Animated titles and kinetic text, or charts and stat cards for numbers.

There are no templates and no beat-matching. Claude decides each edit from what it sees in your footage.

What can’t it do?

Cut Express is a good fit for social video and YouTube edits from your own footage. It’s the wrong tool in a few cases:

• Hands-on timeline work. There’s no timeline to drag. If you want to nudge clips by hand, a timeline editor like Premiere or CapCut suits you better.
• Generating video from a text prompt. Cut Express is built to edit footage, photos and audio you upload. If you need AI-generated scenes, use a video generator first and bring the clips in.
• Long-form over 30 minutes. Videos are capped at 10 minutes on Pro and 30 on Ultra.
• Formats other than 9:16 and 16:9. Square and 4:5 aren’t listed formats.

How much does Cut Express cost?

Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and nothing is charged.

	Pro	Ultra
Price	$19/month	$49/month
Render minutes	60	180
Credits (audio AI)	200	500
Resolution	1080p	2K or 1080p
Max video length	10 min	30 min
Media storage	25 GB	100 GB
Upload size per file	2 GB	4 GB

Ultra also runs three renders at once.

Render minutes are the length of the videos you render. A 30-second reel uses half a minute. Re-renders count. Failed renders never do.

Credits pay for audio AI only:

• Voice-over: 1 credit per 1,000 characters, about a minute of speech (2 with the Advanced voice).
• Sound effects: 0.1 credit per second.
• Transcripts: 0.1 credit per minute of audio, once per file.

Unused credits roll over for 3 months. Extra packs are 50 for $4 or 200 for $12, and they never expire. There’s no yearly plan, and you can cancel any time.

Claude’s own thinking runs on your Claude plan. Cut Express charges only for rendering and audio AI.

Where does it run?

• Claude.ai and Claude Desktop. Add a custom connector and sign in. The upload panel and video player show in the chat.
• Claude Code. One command with a key. Claude Code uploads local files and folders. See Claude Code video editing.
• ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code. Add it as a custom connector or in MCP settings. Upload through the web panel, or through Claude Code.

Setup steps for each are in connect Cut Express to Claude.

FAQ

Do I need to know video editing?
No. You describe what you want and judge the render. Claude handles the timeline.

Can I edit the result myself?
You change it by asking Claude. You can also download the JSON timeline, which lists every scene, text and audio track.

Is my footage private?
Files are stored privately in your account and used only to render. Delete them from the Media page or by asking Claude.

What if I don’t like the first cut?
Say what’s wrong. Claude edits the same timeline and renders the next version. Earlier versions are kept.

Edit your first video in Claude

Upload a few clips and describe the video you want.

Start your 14-day free trial

Free for 14 days, and nothing is charged if you cancel before it ends. Pro is $19/month after the trial, cancel any time.