FrameQuery

Overview

FrameQuery is a video-archive search tool for teams that need to find moments by dialogue, people, or what appears on screen. It suits post-production and other media teams with footage to index; its strongest case is pairing offline local search with review and editing handoff, though indexing depends on cloud analysis.

Key features

Search and indexing

Indexing analyzes scene context, objects, faces, voices, and speech, with speaker-separated transcripts. Once indexed, footage can be searched locally and offline, without a per-query charge. That makes repeat searches practical, but the Free plan has no monthly indexing hours: metadata search remains available, while face, voice, and AI-tag search require indexed video.

Media and workflow support

Support for more than 50 formats, including R3D, BRAW, ProRes, H.264, H.265, MKV, and MXF, makes FrameQuery relevant to mixed production archives. It can ingest local folders, S3, SMB, Dropbox, and Google Drive, and supports sharing or backup through Drive, Dropbox, and NAS. Search results can be exported to Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Avid, and other editing workflows using FCPXML, Premiere XML, EDL, or LosslessCut formats.

The web review page adds frame-accurate comments, drawing annotations, approvals, and side-by-side version comparison. These features are most useful when collaborators need to resolve specific moments and review versions, rather than merely search privately.

Privacy and processing

Face and voice recognition run on-device, require explicit consent, and keep biometric embeddings out of shared indexes. But visual analysis and transcription are not entirely local: selected frames and extracted audio are sent to cloud services, while original footage is read from the user's storage. Production connections use HTTPS, face and voice templates are encrypted on-device, and FrameQuery says it does not use footage to train its own AI models. Teams with strict restrictions on cloud processing should weigh that carefully.

API status

The API is not available yet, and live requests are disabled. Its planned endpoints describe a 20 GB upload maximum, a 12-hour maximum video duration per job, and 100 clips per batch request; those limits do not make it a usable integration today.

Pricing

The Free plan costs nothing and includes metadata search plus local, Drive, and NAS sharing and backup, but no monthly indexing hours. It is useful for trying metadata-based organization, not for building a searchable AI index.

Starter costs $19 a month, billed monthly, and includes 10 hours of video per month, full AI analysis, local index and search, and Drive or NAS sharing. It is the entry paid option for individuals or small workloads that can stay within that indexing allowance.

Pro costs $45 a month, billed $540/yr, with 50 hours of video per month, cloud-hosted sharing, 100 GB of cloud proxy storage, collaboration, and review. It fits teams needing shared review as well as more indexing capacity. Max costs $190 a month, billed $2280/yr, and raises the allowance to 300 hours and proxy storage to 600 GB while retaining cloud sharing, collaboration, and review; its higher cost makes sense only for substantially larger monthly workloads.

Studio has custom pricing and includes 300+ hours of video, unlimited video hours, one-time archive processing, dedicated onboarding, and priority support. Developer API also has custom pricing, with usage-based, pay-per-request billing for REST API access, programmatic indexing, and webhook notifications; the API is not yet available. Both are aimed at needs beyond the fixed plans, but the API plan cannot currently deliver live requests.

Platforms

FrameQuery lists macOS, Windows, web, and API platforms. The API is planned rather than currently usable. Support is available at [email protected], security issues can be sent to [email protected], and system availability appears on the status page.

Who it's for

Production and post-production teams are the clearest fit, particularly those managing varied formats and needing search results to feed editing software. Documentary filmmakers, marketing teams, corporate video, and news and broadcast users may also benefit from archive search and structured review. It is less suitable for teams that need fully local AI analysis or expect the free tier to index footage.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Offline, local search after indexing avoids per-query costs and supports repeat archive searches.
• Pros: Broad format, storage, and editing-export support can connect search to established media workflows.
• Pros: Frame-accurate comments, annotations, approvals, and version comparison give teams a focused review path.
• Cons: Selected frames and extracted audio go to cloud services for analysis and transcription, which may not suit sensitive workflows.
• Cons: The free plan has no indexing hours, so AI-powered search requires a paid plan.
• Cons: The API is not yet available, limiting current programmatic integration.

Alternatives

For a different production-oriented mix, DISKO has a free plan with 2 GB, screenwriting and shot-list tools, and review links; its Pro plan is $12 a month at a founders rate locked for an unspecified term. Consider it when those tools and a small free storage allowance matter more than FrameQuery's indexed archive search and broad format support.

Twelve Labs offers a free plan with 600 minutes of video, 90-day index access, 10 hours per index, 100 videos per index, and five concurrent indexing tasks. It may suit a reader who wants a defined free indexing allowance and API/web access; FrameQuery instead emphasizes local offline search and editing-team review.

ViSearch offers a free allowance of up to 20 minutes of video processing without a credit card. Its Basic plan is $0.09, paid once, billed $0.09/min. Consider it when metered processing is preferable to FrameQuery's monthly indexing-hour plans.

Vivu has a free plan with 20 indexing minutes and 50 search credits per month, plus a personal workspace, web app, and Vivu connector. It is an option for a smaller, credit-limited free workflow; FrameQuery's free plan has no indexing hours.

MomentSearch is free and supports API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web, and Windows platforms.

Deepgrip has no free plan and starts with a $399 a month Starter plan, billed $4,788/year, for 200 indexed hours per month, 450 searches per month, and five seats, with $0.01/search over the limit. It may suit teams whose stated indexed-hour allowance and seat count fit better than FrameQuery's plans.

Moment Search is a freemium option for Windows and macOS.

Cutsio has no free plan and offers a Pro plan for $59 a month with two users, 300 indexed minutes per month, and 30 storage hours. It is an alternative for readers whose workflow fits those stated user and storage limits.

Browse AI Video Search Tools or Video Annotation Software for more options in either category.

Verdict

FrameQuery is a strong fit for production teams that need searchable, mixed-format archives and a direct path from discovery to editing and review. Local offline search and broad workflow support are compelling reasons to choose it; the cloud component of analysis, paid indexing requirement, and unavailable API are clear reasons to look elsewhere.