How to turn a long video into shorts with AI, and the free way on YouTube

If you want to turn a long video into shorts, AI clipping tools promise to do it for you: paste a link, wait a few minutes, get a pile of vertical clips with captions. A short video with over 200,000 views this week said one of these tools, ScaleReach, gives 20 to 30 clips from one video and posts them to 5 platforms at once. We read the tool's own pricing page and help answers. Some of that is true on a paid plan, some is not true at all, and YouTube has a free button that does part of the job.

What an AI clipping tool does

You give it a long video, such as a podcast, a stream or a tutorial. It finds the parts it thinks will work as short clips, cuts them, adds word-by-word captions and reframes them from wide to vertical (9:16) for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. ScaleReach also gives each clip a "viral score". That score is the tool's own guess, and no tool can promise views.

Use it on videos you made or have permission to use. Cutting up someone else's video and posting it as your own can get your account a copyright claim.

What ScaleReach's free plan really gives

From ScaleReach's pricing page and FAQ, checked on November 8, 2026:

• 100 free minutes of video to try it, and no card needed.
• Source videos up to 30 minutes long on Free. Longer videos (up to 3 hours) need a paid plan.
• Free clips carry a watermark. Pro and Agency remove it.
• No auto-posting on Free. The social scheduler starts on paid plans.

The paid plans: Pro is $18 a month, or $12.50 a month billed yearly, for 400 minutes a month and 5 connected social accounts. Agency is $99 a month, or $49 a month billed yearly, for 5,000 minutes. The page also ran a holiday discount when we checked; discounts change, so look at the price on the day you sign up.

What the viral video got wrong

"20 to 30 clips from one video." ScaleReach's own FAQ says "typically 8-15 clips from a 30-minute video, depending on content density". You pay by minutes of source video, not by clip.

"Posted to 5 platforms at once." Auto-posting is only on paid plans, and Pro connects 5 accounts. For TikTok, ScaleReach says its posts "stay private until TikTok finishes auditing our app", so TikTok clips don't go public on their own yet.

The video also says one clip earned about $500. We couldn't verify that, so we left it out. The celebrity names on the tool's home page are not confirmed customers either.

How to start with ScaleReach

1. Sign up for the free plan.
2. Paste a YouTube link, or upload an MP4, MOV or WebM file under 30 minutes.
3. Tap Generate Clips and wait. A 1-hour video takes about 2 minutes, according to the site.
4. Watch every clip and read its captions before you post. Fix anything the AI got wrong.

The free way: Edit into a Short on YouTube

If your long video is already on your YouTube channel, YouTube can make a Short from it for free. From YouTube Help:

1. Go to the watch page of your own public video.
2. Tap Remix, then Edit into a Short.
3. Select up to 60 seconds, then tap Next to add text or filters, and upload.

Only you can do this with your own long video. If you don't see the option, open YouTube Studio, click Content, open the video, click Show more, find "Shorts remixing", check "Allow people to sample this content" and click Save.

It is slower than an AI tool, because you pick each moment yourself. It has no watermark and costs nothing.

FAQ

Is ScaleReach free?

It has a free plan with 100 minutes of video to try, for files up to 30 minutes. Free clips have a watermark and no auto-posting. Paid plans start at $18 a month (Pro).

How many shorts do you get from one long video?

ScaleReach says typically 8 to 15 clips from a 30-minute video, depending on how much happens in it. It is not a fixed number.

Can I turn a long video into shorts on YouTube for free?

Yes, if it is your own public video. On its watch page, tap Remix, then Edit into a Short, and pick up to 60 seconds.

Sources

• ScaleReach pricing
• ScaleReach home page and FAQ
• YouTube Help: Create YouTube Shorts from your videos