Fair & Transparent
Zip Captions Pricing
Zip Captions will always have a 100% free core tier. Patreon memberships are designed for personal or individual usage, while organizations and events requiring dedicated support can build a tailored quote with our Enterprise Pricing Calculator.
Free & Patreon Monthly Tiers ($0–$30/mo)
Self-serve browser captioning and monthly AI hour packs via Patreon for individual users, solo teachers, and personal streams.
Custom Enterprise Quote Calculator
$1,000 CAD Day 1 • +$250 CAD each additional day • +$200 CAD/day per additional room. Includes dedicated support & invoice/PO billing.
Personal & Individual Usage Plans (via Patreon)
Patreon support tiers are intended for personal or individual usage. Need enterprise deployment, multi-room support, or PO invoicing? Use the Enterprise Pricing Calculator →
Regular
Standard browser-based captioning for individual use.
Free Tier
Join our free Patreon community for updates and assistance.
Essential Tier
Unlock 5 hours of AI-powered captioning every month.
Premium Tier
Best for individual educators, creators, and personal sessions (10 hours AI).
Platinum Tier
Maximum personal AI captioning capacity (25 hours) plus SWAG & priority.
Feature Matrix Comparison
Scroll horizontally on smaller screens| Feature | Regular | Free Tier | Essential Tier | Premium Tier | Platinum Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Captioning | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Browser Support (Captioning) | Chrome, Safari & Edge² | Chrome, Safari & Edge² | Any Browser¹ | Any Browser¹ | Any Browser¹ |
| Broadcast / QR Viewing | Any Browser¹ | Any Browser¹ | Any Browser¹ | Any Browser¹ | Any Browser¹ |
| Picture-in-Picture (PiP) Mode | Chromium (Chrome, Edge)⁸ | Chromium (Chrome, Edge)⁸ | Chromium (Chrome, Edge)⁸ | Chromium (Chrome, Edge)⁸ | Chromium (Chrome, Edge)⁸ |
| Real-Time Translation | Chrome On-Device AI⁹ | Chrome On-Device AI⁹ | Chrome On-Device AI⁹ | Chrome On-Device AI⁹ | Chrome On-Device AI⁹ |
| AI Captioning (/month)³ | — | Request⁷ | 5 hours³ | 10 hours³ | 25 hours³ |
| Transcription & Export | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable Appearance | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android Mobile App⁴ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Browser Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows App Available | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support Available⁵ | Discord Group | Discord Group | Priority Support | Priority Support | Priority Support |
| GDPR Compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exclusive SWAG Pack | — | — | — | — | Yes |
Need Zip Captions for Enterprise or Multi-Room Events with Dedicated Support?
While Patreon tiers are built for personal and individual usage, our Enterprise model includes dedicated technical support, custom AI vocabulary setup, multi-room QR relays, and official Invoice/PO billing:
1. Paid AI captioning and Broadcast / QR room viewing work in any modern web browser (including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Brave).
2. Regular free captioning (microphone capture) is supported in Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Browsers such as Firefox, Brave, and Opera require a paid AI tier to capture captions, though viewing shared Broadcast / QR streams works for free in any browser.
3. The number of hours are based on token usage. The tokens are awarded based on your Patreon tier, and are reliant upon you having an active Patreon subscription. Token allocation is subject to change at any point and is currently subsidized by our membership to the Microsoft Founders Hub.
4. You can install Zip Captions from the Google Play Store, but it will also run on iOS, either as an installable Progressive Web App, or in the browser.
5. Dedicated support is available for all tiers, however, response times will vary, and the lower tiers rely mainly on community support.
6. The price is stated in USD. The price can be changed at any time.
7. Requests can be made at any time by qualifying groups. Read more about our giving back initiative.
8. Picture-in-Picture (PiP) floating captions are supported in desktop Chromium-based browsers (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Opera) via the native Document Picture-in-Picture API. Browsers such as Firefox and Safari do not currently support Document Picture-in-Picture.
9. Free real-time live caption translation is powered by Google Chrome's built-in On-Device AI models, running locally inside Google Chrome with a one-click language download and zero cloud subscription costs.
Solving Real Classroom, Venue & Production Hurdles
Real-World Questions & Practical Answers
What happens if our church, classroom, or livestream runs out of AI captioning hours right in the middle of a sermon or lecture? Does the screen go blank?
Never. We never cut off an active speaker or leave a deaf or hard-of-hearing viewer staring at a blank screen. If your monthly AI hour allocation (5 hrs on Essential, 10 hrs on Premium, or 25 hrs on Platinum) is reached mid-session, you can immediately switch to unlimited $0 Regular free captioning in one click (in Chrome, Safari, or Edge) without losing your Broadcast Room Code or OBS/vMix connection.
When do I actually need paid AI Captioning ($5–$30/mo) versus $0 Regular free captioning?
If you are using Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge in a quiet room with a good lapel or headset microphone, the $0 Regular tier gives you unlimited live captions forever at zero cost. Paid AI Captioning (powered by Microsoft Azure AI) is built for tougher real-world conditions: distant podium mics, echoey sanctuaries, speakers with strong regional accents, specialized medical/academic terminology, or capturing captions in browsers that do not support free captioning (such as Firefox, Brave, or Opera). Viewing shared Broadcast or QR code streams works for free in any browser.
Do we have to pay extra when 50 students or 300 conference attendees scan our Broadcast QR code to read captions on their phones?
No. Audience viewing via Broadcast Room Codes and QR codes is 100% free and unlimited across every tier—including the $0 Regular tier. You never pay per viewer, per student, or per connected mobile device.
Our school district, university, or enterprise cannot use Patreon or needs dedicated event support. How does Enterprise pricing work?
Patreon memberships are designed for personal or individual usage. For enterprise deployments, multi-room conferences, or institutions requiring dedicated support and official Purchase Order (PO) invoicing, our enterprise pricing is $1,000 CAD for Day 1 (includes 1 room), $250 CAD for each additional day, and $200 CAD per day for each additional room. Use our Enterprise Pricing Calculator (/enterprise-pricing) to configure your exact schedule and submit a custom quote request.
Are EasySpeak AAC, EquiBrowse, and Zip Solutions Remediator included for free, or do they require a Patreon subscription?
All of our sister tools—including Zip EasySpeak & EasySpeak AI (offline AAC), EquiBrowse, Zip Speech for Google Meet, ZipPanel, Zip Connect, and Zip Captions for vMix—are 100% free ($0) with no Patreon subscription required. Zip Solutions Remediator for Google Workspace is also free from us and uses a Bring-Your-Own-Key (BYOK) Google Gemini API key so schools never pay per-student software markups.