---
title: When to use ChatCut vs invideo
description: ChatCut edits talking-head video by editing its transcript. invideo adds a wide model catalog, stock, and branches for people and agents.
---
Use ChatCut when you cut talking-head video by deleting words from its transcript. Use invideo when the video also needs shots from many generation models, stock footage and music, and several people or agents working on one cut with branches.

## The same brief in both tools

The brief: a 10 minute interview cut down to a tight 3 minute version, with the ums and long pauses gone, captions, and two B-roll shots over the weak moments.

In ChatCut, the app transcribes the interview and gives every word a timestamp. You delete words in the transcript and the matching footage leaves the cut, with the gap closed. You can also ask in chat, for example to remove every pause over a set length. ChatCut turns the transcript into timed captions. For B-roll, it generates a clip with Seedance 2.0 and places it on a track above the cut.

In invideo, your agent reads every word with `media` `audio.transcript` and finds the silences with `audio.content`. It cuts on a branch from `timeline_history` with `split_clip` and `delete_clip`, or with `edit_time_range`. It adds captions with `add_captions`. For B-roll, it searches stock with `search_library` or picks a video model with `find_models` and runs `generate`. You review the branch in the editor, and the agent checks it with `capture` before `export`.

## At a glance

The rows below are the ones that change the choice for this job.

| | ChatCut | invideo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Transcript editing | Delete words in the transcript to cut footage | The agent reads the transcript and cuts with edit operations |
| Editable timeline after the cut | A multi-track timeline with manual controls | A multi-track timeline you and your agent share live |
| Generation | B-roll with Seedance 2.0, images with GPT-Image-2, AI music | Video, image, audio and 3D models through `generate` |
| Stock | Not on the pages checked | Stock video, images and music through `search_library` |
| Captions | Timed captions from the transcript; SRT or TXT out | An editable caption track; SRT read from the track |
| Collaboration | An invite link adds an editor; a watch link for viewers | People and agents in one project, with branches and checkpoints |
| Agent access | An agent plugin for Claude Code Desktop and Codex Desktop | CLI and skills for terminal agents; MCP server for clients without a shell |
| Project files out | Its docs list a Premiere and DaVinci XML page | MP4, or a Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve project |
| Where it runs | A web app, and desktop apps for macOS and Windows | In the cloud, in the browser |

Checked on 29 October 2026 against ChatCut's <a href="https://chatcut.io/features/ai-video-editor" target="_blank">AI video editor page</a>, <a href="https://chatcut.io/features/text-based-editing" target="_blank">text-based editing page</a> and <a href="https://chatcut.io/docs/transcript-editing" target="_blank">transcript editing docs</a>.

## Use ChatCut when

ChatCut fits edits that start from the words.

- You cut an interview, a podcast or a talking head, and you think in sentences, not clips.
- You want to delete a line of text and see the footage go with it.
- You want captions straight from the transcript you already edited.
- You work in a desktop app on macOS or Windows.

## Use invideo when

invideo fits edits that need more than the words.

- The cut needs B-roll from a wide choice of video models, or from stock.
- It needs licensed stock music, or a voice from a TTS model.
- Several people and agents work on one project, and each round of changes is a branch you can compare and restore.
- Your agent works in a terminal with the CLI, or in a chat app with MCP.
- An editor finishes it in Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve.

Edits and exports are free. Generation and transcripts cost credits. Paid stock costs a small credit charge, or one of your workspace's iStock licenses. Your agent runs a dry run first and tells you the price before it spends anything.

## Use both

Cut the words in ChatCut, then build out the video in invideo. The hand-off is the exported video.

1. Make the transcript cut in ChatCut and export the video.
2. Upload it to the invideo project with `start_upload` and `add_media`.
3. Add B-roll, music, titles and versions for each platform on a timeline.
4. Run `capture`, then `export`.

For captions that stay editable in invideo, your agent runs `audio.transcript` on the uploaded file and places them with `add_captions`.

## What ChatCut does better

Say it plainly: for editing speech by its text, ChatCut puts the transcript at the center.

- Deleting a word deletes its footage, video and audio together.
- You see the transcript and the timeline side by side, and drag a paragraph to move its clip.
- Plain-language commands such as removing every filler word run in one step.
- The person editing needs no agent at all.

## Related

- [Use ChatCut with invideo](/integrations/chatcut)
- [Cut ums, pauses and retakes, as reversible timeline edits](/how-to/creators/cut-ums-and-retakes)
- [Podcast edit and clips](/how-to/creators/podcast-edit-and-clips)
- [When to use OpusClip or Descript vs invideo](/compare/opusclip-descript)
- [AI video tools compared, including invideo](/compare/alternatives)