iMovie is the easiest free editor on a Mac or iPhone, backed by many years of Apple updates. It still has no auto captions, though. Apple does not document AI voices for it either. The Concat video editor adds both for free, runs on more platforms and follows the CapCut layout. The trade-off is that Concat is a young beta that is harder to install on Apple devices.
Is Concat better than iMovie?
The Concat video editor is better if captions or voiceover are part of every video you make. iMovie is better if you want something that just works on a Mac or iPhone with no setup. Apple has refined iMovie for many years, while Concat went public in August 2026.
The day-to-day feel is different too. iMovie keeps choices to a minimum, which is great for family videos but limiting for social content. The Concat video editor gives you keyframes with a curve editor, several timelines in one project, 16 title styles and 4K exports in H.264, HEVC or AV1.
Does iMovie have auto captions?
No. iMovie has no built-in speech to text in 2026. Guides from Subanana and Riverside both describe typing subtitles by hand with the Titles tool. Subanana also notes there is no SRT import. Both companies sell caption tools, but we found nothing from Apple that says otherwise.
In the Concat video editor, captions come from Whisper running on your own machine. You download a model once (78 MB to 488 MB), click to transcribe and get styled captions on the timeline. In our test, Whisper Base handled a 7-second voiceover in about 20 seconds on the CPU.
How do Concat and iMovie compare?
Checked October 2026.
| Concat | iMovie | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| License | AGPL-3.0-or-later, open source | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS (sideload) | macOS, iOS, iPadOS |
| Install on iPhone | Sideload .ipa | App Store |
| Account | None | Apple Account for App Store downloads |
| Watermark | None | None |
| Auto captions | Local Whisper | None |
| Text to speech | Yes, local | Not documented |
| Background removal | Auto, custom, chroma key | Green and blue screen |
| Max export | 4K 60 fps, 10-bit | Up to 4K |
| Templates | None built in | Trailers and themes |
What is it like to install Concat on a Mac or iPhone?
On a Mac it takes one extra step. The .dmg is unsigned, so macOS may refuse to open it until you clear the quarantine flag in Terminal. On iPhone and iPad it is harder: Concat is not on the App Store, so you need AltStore or a developer certificate to sideload the .ipa. For most iPhone users, that alone is a reason to stay with iMovie on the phone and use Concat on the computer.
Where does Concat fall short of iMovie?
Polish and reliability. iMovie is a mature app that handles iPhone footage out of the box. Version 10.4.5 even edits Cinematic mode clips from Final Cut Camera. The Concat video editor, at version 0.2.7, still has beta bugs. In our test, Kokoro voices failed until we also downloaded Pocket TTS. An export waited without an error when a file with the same name already existed. The Templates tab has no built-in library either, while iMovie has trailers ready to fill in.
When should you pick iMovie?
Pick iMovie if you only use Apple devices, edit home videos or school projects and want zero setup. It installs from the App Store, handles iPhone footage well and its trailer templates make a nice result fast. If you never need captions, iMovie is hard to beat for the price.
When should you pick the Concat video editor?
Pick the Concat video editor if you post to TikTok, Reels or Shorts and want captions and voiceover without paying for CapCut Pro. It is also the better choice for anyone who switches between a Mac and a Windows or Linux PC, since the same app and project files work on all of them. The official download page at concatenate.pages.dev picks the right build for your machine. Background removal is another reason to switch: iMovie needs a green or blue screen behind you, while Concat can cut a person out of normal footage with its auto removal mode.