Reelary vs Clipto
Both index your media on your own machine and let you find a moment by describing it. Clipto is building a memory for everything you record, on every device you own. Reelary is narrower on purpose: find the shots, then cut them into a film.
| Reelary | Clipto | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $79 one-time (launch, normally $99) | $24.99 / month, or $12.49 / month billed yearly (7-day trial) |
| Cost over 3 years | $79 | $450 - $900 |
| Platforms | Windows 10/11 + macOS 12+ | macOS (Apple Silicon, 16 GB+), Windows (beta), iOS, Android, web |
| Where processing happens | On device | On device |
| Search | Visual semantic search, AI scene descriptions, dialogue search and people (dialogue and people are Pro) | Visual, transcript and people search |
| Produces a finished file | Yes - MP4, plus FCPXML / EDL if you want to finish in an NLE | No - finds moments with timecodes; plugins for Premiere / Resolve |
Clipto figures read from https://www.clipto.com/ on 2026-09-30. Vendors change pricing - check theirs before deciding.
Over the past few weeks I've tried around 20 different applications in this category, including free/open-source solutions as well as commercial demos. Out of everything I've tested, Reelary is the application that has suited me best so far. After Reelary, ClipSearch and Clipto are probably the closest to what I'm looking for.
Where they agree
Clipto calls itself a "Local AI Memory Platform for Your Media" and says "Your videos shouldn't leave your device just to become searchable." Reelary agrees, and on the desktop both keep the index local: Clipto describes its Mac and Windows apps as "local-first", and Reelary runs its vision model, its vector index and its transcription on your disk with the network unplugged.
Both also search more than filenames. Clipto searches picture and transcript and tags people automatically; Reelary does visual semantic search and AI scene descriptions for free, with dialogue search and people recognition in Pro.
What Clipto does better
Reach. Clipto has apps for iPhone, Android and the web alongside the desktop, plus plugins for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, and it covers meetings, documents and notes as well as footage. If you want one searchable memory across your phone, your laptop and your calls, Reelary does not try to be that. Note that Clipto's own page says the mobile and web versions "are powered by cloud", so the local promise applies to the desktop apps only.
Where they part: a subscription that finds, or a license that finishes
As published on 2026-09-30, Clipto is $24.99 / month, or $12.49 / month billed yearly (7-day trial). Over three years that is roughly $450 on the yearly plan and about $900 month to month. Reelary Pro is $79 once, for Mac and Windows on the same license, and the free tier indexes and searches an unlimited library forever.
The other difference is what happens after the search. Clipto returns exact moments with timecodes and hands you back to your editor. Reelary keeps going: you write the film as a script, each line fills with matching shots, you reorder and trim on a timeline, and you export an MP4 with captions and the aspect ratio set, or FCPXML / EDL if you would rather finish in Premiere, Final Cut or Resolve.
Hardware
Clipto lists an Apple Silicon Mac with 16 GB or more of memory, or a Windows PC with 12 GB or more of RAM, with Windows in beta. Reelary runs on macOS 12 or later on both Intel and Apple Silicon, and on Windows 10 and 11, and picks a model size that fits the machine it finds.
Pick Clipto if you want one searchable memory across desktop, phone and web, including meetings and documents, and a monthly subscription suits you.
Pick Reelary if your work is footage, you would rather pay once, or you want the search results turned into a finished cut without a second application.
Try it against your own library
Reelary is free to download, with unlimited indexing and full visual search on the free tier (exports capped at 720p with a light watermark, up to 60s). Clipto has a seven-day trial. Point both at the same folder and see which one finds the shot you have in mind.