Is an AI video editor free, or is there a catch?

Some AI video editors are free to run, but there's almost always a paid piece somewhere, so check where it is. With Tesseract, Mirage says the engine, the previews and the rendering are free and run on your computer, and the AI app you use with it is a separate cost (Mirage's ChatGPT page). In ChatGPT that means a plan: Plus is $20 a month and Pro starts at $100 on OpenAI's pricing page as of October 31, 2026, and your edits use that plan's usage like any other chat.

There are two other things I'd look at before I call anything free. One, what it sends home. Tesseract's engine sends basic usage data by default, like which command ran and your operating system, but no prompts, file names or video, and Mirage's telemetry notes give the one command that turns it off. Two, what it can touch. It runs on your computer, so I'd keep ChatGPT's permissions on Ask for approval, and it stops and asks before it reaches outside your folder. My ChatGPT video editor guide has the off command and the whole setup.