Opus Clip's pricing looks simple on the surface — three tiers, one monthly fee, generate unlimited clips. But the cost structure has a few details that change the math significantly once you're publishing regularly. Here's the breakdown.
| Free | Starter | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $15 | $29 |
| Processing minutes/mo | 60 min | 300 min | 300 min |
| Auto-publish | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ YouTube, TikTok, Instagram |
| Media storage | 3 days | 29 days | Unlimited |
| Scheduler | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Credit expiry | — | 60 days | 60 days |
| Overage cost | N/A | ~$0.15/min | ~$0.15/min |
Opus charges by input minutes processed, not by Shorts published. One credit equals one minute of source video processed. A 30-minute video costs 30 credits to process, regardless of how many clips you extract from it.
The official docs suggest 5-21 clips per 10-30 minute video. In practice, after discarding low-virality clips, most users keep about 12 usable Shorts per 30-minute episode. That means the effective cost per Short depends on how much source video you need to process to get enough usable clips.
Key number:600 Shorts/month (20/day) at 12 Shorts per 30-minute episode requires ~1,500 processing minutes. That's 5× the 300 minutes included in the Pro plan.
| Volume | Opus Free | Opus Starter | Opus Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Shorts/week (~40/mo) | $0 (within 60 min) | $15 | $29 |
| 5 Shorts/day (~150/mo) | Exceeded free limit | $15 + ~$15 overage = ~$30 | $29 + ~$15 overage = ~$44 |
| 10 Shorts/day (~300/mo) | — | $15 + ~$60 overage = ~$75 | $29 + ~$60 overage = ~$89 |
| 20 Shorts/day (~600/mo) | — | $15 + ~$135 overage = ~$150 | $29 + ~$180 overage = ~$209 |
Overage calculated at ~$0.15/min via add-on packs. Actual costs depend on pack selection and may vary. 12 usable Shorts per 30-minute video is a conservative estimate.
Opus credits expire 60 days after purchase on paid plans. This means:
For a creator who publishes weekly but has varying episode lengths, this creates a constant “use it or lose it” pressure that doesn't align with how content production actually works.
| Volume | Opus Pro | Longwave | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 Shorts/mo | $29 | $0-5.60 | $23+/mo |
| 150 Shorts/mo | ~$44 | ~$20 | ~$24/mo |
| 300 Shorts/mo | ~$89 | ~$12 | ~$77/mo |
| 600 Shorts/mo | ~$209 | ~$24 | ~$185/mo |
Longwave costs based on Scale pack ($100 for 2,500 credits) at autopilot rate of 1.5 credits per Short.
Opus Clip is priced for the casual creator. If you're publishing 10-40 Shorts a month, the Free or Starter tier works fine and the cost difference vs alternatives is negligible.
The moment you're publishing daily — 5+ Shorts per day across multiple channels — the overage costs and 60-day credit expiry make Opus significantly more expensive than its headline $29/mo price suggests. At 20 Shorts/day, you're paying effectively $209/month, or ~$0.35 per Short.
For the full per-Short comparison, see the pricing comparison page or the dedicated Longwave vs Opus page.