Twelve Labs

Twelve Labs is a video-intelligence platform for finding and analyzing moments in video and generating embeddings through developer interfaces. It suits teams building video search or machine-learning workflows that need programmable access and flexible deployment. Its free tier makes it possible to start small, but short-lived indexes and metered Developer usage call for care before committing a production workflow.

Overview

Natural-language search can locate moments across speech, on-screen text, audio, and visuals, while analysis can return video summaries or answers to prompts. That combination makes Twelve Labs more than a transcript search tool: it is aimed at workflows where the relevant clue may be spoken, shown, or heard. Embeddings also let teams feed video-derived vectors into their own machine-learning pipelines.

REST APIs and Python and Node.js SDKs put the platform within reach of developers, and its models are also available through Amazon Bedrock and AWS Marketplace. Security measures include TLS 1.2 or higher in transit and at least AES 256-bit encryption for stored data. Its Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II reports for 2024 and 2025 and TPN Verified status. Enterprise deployments can run in cloud, private-cloud, or on-premises environments.

Key features

• Multimodal search: Search for moments with natural-language queries spanning speech, text, audio, and visuals. This is useful when a keyword transcript alone would miss what appears or sounds in a clip.
• Video analysis: Generate summaries or responses to prompts about a video, giving teams a way to extract more than search results.
• Embeddings: Generate vectors for downstream machine-learning pipelines; a practical fit for teams integrating video into existing AI systems.
• Jockey: This research-preview agent reasons across videos and images and can answer with cited moments. Its preview status makes it a less settled foundation than the core API capabilities.
• Deployment and access: Use REST, Python, or Node.js, or access models through AWS. Enterprise customers can choose cloud, private cloud, or on-premises deployment.

Pricing

Free — free. The plan includes 600 minutes of video usage, 90-day index access, up to 10 hours per index, 100 videos per index, and five concurrent indexing tasks. It is a useful evaluation tier, but the 90-day access window and modest usage cap make it a poor base for a durable or high-volume archive.

Developer — custom pricing. Pay as you go, with rates varying by API usage. The plan offers unlimited video hours and index access, up to 10,000 hours and 100,000 videos per index, and 25 concurrent indexing tasks. Published rates are $2.50/hour for indexing, $0.09/hour/month for infrastructure, and $4/1,000 queries for search. The much larger ceilings suit ongoing applications, but costs depend on activity across multiple metered services.

Enterprise — custom pricing. Committed-use contracts include unlimited indexing hours and custom pricing and limits, including index duration, volume, and concurrent indexing tasks. This is the better fit when standard plan caps or deployment choices do not fit an organization’s workload; buyers should expect to contact sales rather than select a published price.

Platforms

Twelve Labs supports API and web access. The API route is backed by REST, Python, and Node.js interfaces; AWS availability and enterprise deployment options broaden its fit for teams working within existing infrastructure.

Who it's for

Choose Twelve Labs if you are building a product or internal system that needs video search across multiple media signals, prompt-based analysis, or video embeddings. It is especially relevant to engineering teams that want API and SDK access or need enterprise deployment flexibility. It is less suitable for an individual seeking a finished desktop video library tool, or for a project that depends on keeping free-plan indexes beyond 90 days.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Search spans speech, text, audio, and visuals, helping surface moments that a single-modality search could miss.
• Pro: REST APIs and Python and Node.js SDKs, plus AWS access, give developers several integration paths.
• Pro: Enterprise cloud, private-cloud, and on-premises deployment options support varied infrastructure needs.
• Con: Free usage is limited to 600 minutes, and indexes become inaccessible after 90 days, constraining sustained free use.
• Con: Developer costs are usage-based across indexing, infrastructure, and search, so total spend depends on workload.
• Con: Jockey remains a research preview, so teams should not treat it as the same maturity level as the platform’s core capabilities.

Alternatives

Browse AI Video Search Tools for more options. Consider FrameQuery instead if you want macOS or Windows access and local, Drive, or NAS sharing and backup; its free plan has no monthly indexing hours and limits face, voice, and AI-tag search to indexed video. DISKO is another freemium option, with a free cloud tier that includes 2 GB, screenwriting and shot-list tools, and review links.

Moments Lab is a paid API and web alternative with an Essential plan starting from 2,000 hours of video, 100 internal users, five admins, and 2,000 guests; live streaming is excluded from that plan. Coactive Content Discovery is a paid API and web alternative. Vivu may suit a smaller monthly workload: its free plan offers 20 indexing minutes and 50 search credits per month, with a web app and connector.

Deepgrip is a paid alternative with a free trial and a Starter plan at $399 a month, billed $4,788/year with 20% savings; it includes 200 indexed hours per month, 450 searches, and five seats. MomentSearch is a free alternative. Persalto is a self-hosted paid alternative with annual renewal and licensing in two-GPU increments; assets, queries, and reprocessing are not metered.

Verdict

Twelve Labs is a strong choice for developers who need multimodal video search, analysis, and embeddings behind APIs, especially when AWS access or flexible enterprise deployment matters. Its main trade-off is operational: the free plan’s short index lifetime is restrictive, while Developer use is metered. Pick it for programmable video intelligence; look elsewhere if you need a lasting free archive or a simple end-user video tool.