Podcastle , now Async, following its rebrand in February 2026 , is a cloud studio for audio and video: recording, AI cleanup, voice generation, clips and dubbing, with the AI work metered in credits. Montaj is a Podcastle alternative built the opposite way: the transcription, subtitles, silence removal and denoising run on your device, so your video never leaves your device, and nothing is metered.
You produce audio or video regularly and want recording, cleanup, synthetic voice, clips and dubbing in one place, and metered plans are a normal cost of doing that.
Choose Montaj if…
You are finishing one vertical clip and you would rather your own hardware did the work, with no credit counter and no upload.
Montaj vs Podcastle at a glance
Feature
Montaj
Podcastle (now Async)
Where your video goes
Nowhere. It stays on your device
Uploaded to the studio, where recordings and transcripts live
Metering
Nothing is metered. Your device does the work
Recording hours, transcription, AI credits and storage all count down
Recording
Not offered. You bring footage you already have
Recording built in, with AI cleanup on the way out
Free plan for a single creator; paid tiers up to Business
The honest summary: Podcastle wins as a studio: it records, it generates voice, it dubs, it clips, and it does all of it in one tab. Montaj wins on the terms , on-device, unmetered, free , for the narrower job of finishing a clip you already filmed.
Naming
The Podcastle alternative, now that Podcastle is Async
If you searched for Podcastle and landed somewhere called Async, nothing has gone wrong: the product was rebranded in February 2026, and accounts, projects and plans carried over unchanged. Most people still search for the old name, which is why it is used here.
Underneath the name, the shape is the same: a cloud studio where you record, clean up, generate voice, pull clips and dub, with the AI work drawn against credits.
Winner: Worth knowing before you compare
Terms
Podcastle vs Montaj on credits and uploads
Metering is the honest cost of cloud AI: someone is paying for the compute, and on a studio plan it is you, by the hour and by the credit. That is reasonable when you produce weekly. It is a strange tax on a single clip.
Montaj puts the compute on hardware you already own, which changes both numbers at once:
On-device transcription, then word-by-word karaoke subtitles with word-level timing.
One tap removes every silence, reversibly, with 100-step undo behind it.
Neural audio denoising, tuned for voice, with no credit cost.
No export limit, no time limit and no watermark.
Winner: Montaj, no meter, nothing uploaded
Honest limits
Where Podcastle wins
Recording, synthetic voice, cloning, dubbing and automatic clips out of a long session: Montaj does none of these and will not. If your workflow starts with pressing record and ends with an episode plus its promo clips, one tool covering all of it has obvious value.
Montaj is vertical 9:16 only, single-user, and does not yet save projects, closing one loses it.
Winner: Podcastle. It is a studio, and Montaj is not
The verdict
Podcastle , now Async , is a studio, and studios are worth paying for when you produce regularly: recording, cleanup, voice work, clips and dubbing without leaving the tab. What makes me hesitate recommending it to someone making one clip a week is the metering. Hours, transcription and AI credits all count down, and the work still leaves your machine. Montaj counts nothing because your own hardware does the work.
For a full recording studio with synthetic voice and dubbing, the alternatives are other cloud studios and Montaj is not one. For finishing a clip on your device without credits or uploads, Montaj is the strongest Podcastle alternative, free and with no watermark.
Is Podcastle now called Async?
Yes. Podcastle was rebranded as Async in February 2026, with accounts, projects and plan tiers carried over unchanged. Searches for Podcastle still lead to the same product.
Does Podcastle upload my recordings?
Yes. It is a cloud studio, so recordings and transcripts live on its servers and the AI work is drawn against credits. Montaj processes everything on your device.
Is there a video editor with no AI credits?
Montaj runs its models on your device, so there is no credit meter, no export limit and no watermark.
