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TwelveLabs

Video understanding API for searching scenes in natural language, analyzing footage and turning video into embeddings.

Freemium

What is TwelveLabs?

TwelveLabs is a platform for developers who want software to understand video rather than just store it. You upload videos, images, audio or documents as assets, and its Marengo models make them searchable by describing a scene in plain language, while Pegasus generates text such as summaries, chapters and highlights. Embed turns media into vectors for custom search or classifiers, Segment returns timestamped metadata, and Jockey answers questions by reasoning across a library. Media and entertainment, advertising, security, sports and government teams are among the groups the site targets. The newer billing model gives every plan a storage allowance for assets plus a monthly workload allowance for analysis, search and embeddings. Plans are Free at $0/month with 3 GB, Plus at $29/month with 50 GB, Pro at $99/month with 200 GB and optional overage, and a Custom Enterprise tier with SSO/SAML. Annual billing takes 17% off, and existing customers move to the new pricing from January 4, 2027.

Use cases

  • Search video by describing a scene
  • Summarize videos into text
  • Generate embeddings from video
  • Segment video with timestamped metadata
  • Build content recommendation features
  • Answer questions across a media library

Who it's for

  • Developers
  • Media and entertainment teams
  • Advertising teams
  • Security and government teams

Why use TwelveLabs

  • Search finds moments from a plain-language description, which removes the need to tag footage by hand.
  • One plan covers storage, processing and model updates, so re-indexing for new models does not add a charge.
  • A Free plan with 3 GB of storage lets you test the APIs before paying.
  • Separate Analyze, Segment, Embed and Search endpoints let you build only the video features you need.
  • Enterprise adds custom limits, SSO/SAML and contract-based overage.

TwelveLabs features

  • Natural-language search across video moments
  • Analyze API for summaries, chapters and highlights
  • Embed API that turns media into vectors
  • Segment API with timestamped metadata
  • Jockey responses that reason across a library
  • Storage for video, image, audio and document assets
  • HLS streaming, thumbnails and transcription included
  • Re-indexing for new model releases included in plans
  • Pro overage for usage beyond plan limits

How to get started with TwelveLabs

  1. Sign up and start on the Free plan, then open the Playground to try the models.
  2. Upload videos, images, audio or documents as assets, which are stored and processed for you.
  3. Run Search, Analyze, Segment or Embed against your assets through the API or SDKs.
  4. Track storage and workload use under Settings > Billing & Plans.
  5. Move to Plus or Pro as volume grows, and turn on overage on Pro if you need it.

TwelveLabs limitations

  • Free and Plus plans have no overage, and requests fail once an allowance is reached
  • Storage and workload allowances are separate, so unused storage does not add workload capacity
  • Overage is off by default on Pro and billed at the end of the billing cycle
  • Assets uploaded before the switch to new billing are protected and are not re-indexed for new models

TwelveLabs pricing

Yes, TwelveLabs has a free plan. Paid plans start at $29 per month, according to the official pricing page on .

TwelveLabs plans

  • Free

    $0/month

    renews monthly

    • 3 GB cumulative storage
    • Basic workload allowance
    • Basic rate limit
    • Usage capped at plan limits
  • Plus

    $29/month

    renews monthly; annual billing is 17% less

    • 50 GB cumulative storage
    • Medium workload allowance
    • High rate limit
    • Usage capped at plan limits
  • Pro

    $99/month

    renews monthly; annual billing is 17% less

    • 200 GB cumulative storage
    • High workload allowance
    • High rate limit
    • Optional overage
  • Enterprise

    Custom

    • Custom storage and workload
    • Custom rate limit
    • Overage per contract
    • SSO/SAML included

Plans as listed on the official pricing page on . Prices can change and may vary by country or exclude tax. Check the official pricing page.

TwelveLabs alternatives

The main TwelveLabs alternatives listed on Debuly are Zilliz Cloud, Haystack, You.com API, Kimi API Platform, WebSearchAPI.ai and LLM App. The table compares pricing and platforms; order is A–Z.

TwelveLabs compared with its alternatives
ToolPricingStarting pricePlatforms
TwelveLabsFreemium$29/moWeb, API
HaystackOpen source—Python, Self-hosted
Kimi API PlatformPaid$2, usage-basedAPI, Web
LLM AppOpen source—API, Self-hosted, Web
WebSearchAPI.aiFreemium$189/moAPI, Web
You.com APIFreemium$5, usage-basedAPI, Web
Zilliz CloudFreemium—Web, API, BYOC, Node.js SDK
  1. Haystack

    Open-source Python framework from deepset for building RAG pipelines, AI agents and multimodal apps from modular components.

  2. Kimi API Platform

    Pay-as-you-go API for the Kimi K3.1 Pro and K3 models with a 1M-token context, tool calling and built-in web search, memory and code tools.

  3. LLM App

    No-code RAG server by Pathway that indexes your documents into a vector database and keeps chat and REST answers current as files change.

  4. WebSearchAPI.ai

    Search API that queries six web engines plus X, Reddit and Discourse, then fetches, deduplicates and reranks results for AI apps.

  5. You.com API

    You.com API provides real-time web search, page contents, cited answers and multi-step research endpoints for AI apps, billed per call.

  6. Zilliz Cloud

    Fully managed vector database from the team behind Milvus, with free, serverless and dedicated clusters plus on-demand lake-scale compute.

TwelveLabs FAQ

How much does TwelveLabs cost?

Free is $0/month, Plus is $29/month, Pro is $99/month and Enterprise is Custom. Annual billing is shown at 17% less. Pro can enable overage for usage above its included limits.

Is there a free plan for TwelveLabs?

Yes. The Free plan costs $0/month and includes 3 GB of cumulative storage, a Basic workload allowance and Basic rate limits. Usage is capped at the plan limits, and overage is not available.

What plans does TwelveLabs have?

Four: Free with 3 GB of storage, Plus with 50 GB, Pro with 200 GB and optional overage, and Enterprise with custom storage, workload, rate limits and SSO/SAML.

Does TwelveLabs have an API?

Yes. Developers use the API and SDKs for Search, Analyze, Segment and Embed, with API docs, sample apps and a developer hub on the site.

What counts toward the workload allowance?

Responses from Analyze, Segment, Embed, Marengo Search and Jockey all use up the monthly workload allowance. Jockey Search is part of Managed Intelligence for assets indexed into a Knowledge Store.

What are alternatives to TwelveLabs?

People compare it with other video and multimodal search and embedding services such as Reka, Zilliz Cloud and Haystack, and with general model APIs for text and image understanding.

Sources & verification

Facts on this page come from the official sources below, each with the date we read it. Written by Debuly; the vendor did not review this page.

Image credits

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