Trial, core unlock, and RoughCut Pro
The three-part commercial model, what each part includes, and what your AI provider bills separately.
RoughCut has three parts. Five complete rough cuts are included with no account and no time limit, and only a job that actually finishes spends one — failed and cancelled jobs stay free, and Transcribe Only never counts. The core unlock is a one-time Mac App Store purchase that removes the limit permanently; the core app is never a subscription. RoughCut Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription adding Smart Silence, Cloud transcription, Second Look, and goal summarising, and the app works fully without it. Separately from all three, your AI provider bills your own key for whatever the editing pass uses. Prices are always shown live by the App Store.
On this page
The three parts
| What it is | What it covers | |
|---|---|---|
| Included trial | Five complete rough cuts | No account, no time limit, no card |
| Core unlock | A one-time Mac App Store purchase | Unlimited core rough cuts and all v1 updates. Not a subscription |
| RoughCut Pro | An optional auto-renewing subscription, monthly or yearly | Smart conveniences, listed below |
Separate from all three: your AI provider bills your own key for the editing pass. That is money you pay Google or OpenAI directly, not RoughCut.
RoughCut never prints prices in its documentation. Live, correctly localised prices come from the App Store and are shown inside the app on the unlock and Pro screens.
How the trial counts
Five completed rough cuts are included. The New Rough Cut screen shows <n> free cuts left until you purchase.
A run is spent only when all of these are true: you have not purchased the unlock, the job actually reached a completed state, and it was not a Transcribe Only job. In practice:
- A failed job does not spend a run.
- A cancelled job does not spend a run.
- Transcribe Only never spends a run and is never gated by purchase at all — it is free and unlimited.
The counter is stored in the macOS Keychain, which means it survives deleting and reinstalling the app. Nothing in the app lowers it.
The core unlock
A one-time, non-consumable Mac App Store purchase. In the app's own words on the unlock screen: a lifetime license, the core app is never a subscription, all future v1 updates, and your keys on your Mac with nothing rented and nothing hosted.
Once unlocked, core rough cuts are unlimited. You continue to use your own AI keys, and your provider continues to bill you for API usage.
RoughCut Pro
An optional auto-renewing subscription, available monthly or yearly, billed through the App Store. The current Pro features are:
- Smart Silence — measures your recording's actual noise floor and picks the silence threshold automatically, instead of you choosing a preset or a dB value.
- Cloud transcription — transcribe through OpenAI with your own key, opt-in per job, with no local model download.
- Second Look — a second AI read of the footage that survived the first pass, catching leftover retakes and false starts, with borderline cases becoming review suggestions rather than silent deletions.
- Goal summarising — condense an over-length video goal with your own AI key in one click.
- Future Pro features as they ship.
You never need Pro to use RoughCut. Everything core works without it: the three recording-environment presets plus a custom dB value, on-device transcription, bad-take removal, review, recompute, and export.
Pro is managed and cancelled in your App Store subscription settings, and access continues according to Apple's active entitlement.
Provider costs are separate
Neither the unlock nor Pro pays for AI usage. The AI editing pass runs on your own key:
- Google bills your Gemini key. RoughCut's default model is on Google's paid tier, so billing must be enabled on that project.
- OpenAI bills your key for editing on OpenAI and for Cloud transcription, at its per-minute audio rate.
- On-device transcription costs nothing extra. It runs on your Mac.
- Longer recordings cost more, and Second Look adds another call.
Published rates change, so check your provider's current pricing rather than any figure quoted elsewhere. See Choose Gemini or OpenAI.
Restore Purchases
Settings → License → Restore Purchases re-syncs entitlements for the Apple Account signed in on that Mac. RoughCut reports exactly what it found — a lifetime license, Pro, both, or nothing found for that Apple Account.
Use it after reinstalling, on a second Mac, or if an entitlement does not appear. Purchases made on another device, Ask to Buy approvals, and refunds are all applied automatically when they arrive.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a failed job to cost a run. It does not — only completed cuts count.
- Thinking Transcribe Only uses the trial. It never does.
- Assuming Pro removes AI costs. It does not. Provider billing is independent of both purchases.
- Buying Pro to get unlimited cuts. That is the core unlock, not Pro. Pro adds conveniences on top.
- Looking for a price in the documentation. Prices are shown live in the app and on the App Store, correctly localised for your storefront.
Refunds, billing, and cancellation
Purchases go through Apple, so Apple handles billing, cancellation, and refund decisions. Manage subscriptions in your App Store account settings, and use Apple's billing support for payment questions. RoughCut cannot issue refunds or see your payment details.
Licence terms
The app licence is governed by Apple's Standard EULA; the RoughCut Terms of Use are supplemental product terms. Buying the app, accepting the Terms, or entering an API key is never consent to send data to a third-party AI provider — cloud features stay separately opt-in per job. See Privacy and data flow.