2026 comparison

The Riverside Alternative That Edits Without the Upload

Written by Thomas, Social Media Manager · Updated 2026-08-06

Riverside is a remote recording studio: it records locally so the quality survives a bad connection, then uploads everything to its servers to transcribe, clip and edit it. Montaj is a Riverside alternative for the second half only. It does the transcription, the subtitles, the silence removal and the audio cleanup on your device, so your video never leaves your device.

Download Montaj free

Choose Riverside if…

You record remote interviews or podcasts with guests and you need separate tracks captured at full quality regardless of the connection.

Choose Montaj if…

The recording already exists and what you need is a vertical clip captioned, tightened and cleaned without it going to a server.

Montaj vs Riverside at a glance

Feature	Montaj	Riverside
Where your video goes	Nowhere. It stays on your device	Recorded locally for quality, then uploaded to Riverside's servers
Remote recording	Not offered. You bring footage you already have	Remote guests recorded on separate tracks
Multitrack	Not offered	Each participant on their own track
Editing surface	A real timeline: trim, reorder, B-roll layers, 100-step undo	A text-based editor driven by the transcript
Subtitles	On-device transcription, word-by-word, editable inline	Automatic transcripts and captions after the upload
Voice cleanup	On-device neural denoiser tuned for voice	AI audio enhancement on its servers
Works offline	Fully offline after the one-time model download	Recording survives a poor connection; the editing does not happen without one
Price	Free today, no watermark	Free tier; paid subscription plans

The honest summary: Riverside wins at capture: separate-track remote recording is genuinely hard and Montaj does not attempt it. Montaj wins on the editing pass that follows, which it does on your device rather than after an upload.

Division of labour

Why a Riverside alternative is really a question about which half

Riverside covers a workflow that starts before the video exists: get two people in different cities on camera and come away with usable tracks. Montaj starts after that, with a file already on a device.

So the honest framing is not replacement, it is scope. If you are shopping for a studio, this page is not for you. If you are shopping for what happens to the recording afterwards, keep reading.

Winner: Riverside for capture; Montaj for the edit

Privacy

Riverside vs Montaj on where the files end up

Riverside records locally, then uploads. That first half is a quality decision and a good one. The second half is where the transcripts, the clips and the AI enhancement happen, and it is on its infrastructure.

Montaj has no second half. The transcript is produced on your device, and so is everything built on top of it.

Word-by-word karaoke subtitles with word-level timing, editable inline.
One-tap silence removal across the clip, reversible and non-destructive.
Neural audio denoising on the device, tuned for voice.
A self-verifying export that checks duration, dimensions, audio and decoded frames.

Winner: Montaj. The edit never leaves the device

Honest limits

Where Riverside wins

Separate tracks, remote guests, automatic clips out of a long conversation and a transcript-driven editor built for hours of material: Montaj offers none of it and is not heading there. For anyone producing interview content regularly, that is the deciding list.

Montaj is vertical 9:16 only, single-user, and does not yet save projects, closing one loses it.

Winner: Riverside. Recording quality and long-form workflow

The verdict

If you interview people remotely, Riverside is the answer and Montaj is not in the running. Separate tracks recorded locally so a bad connection does not ruin the take is a hard problem it has actually solved. The part I would not accept blindly is what comes next: the files and every AI pass end up on its servers as a matter of course. For a published interview that is fine. For the ones you record and never publish, it is worth knowing.

— Thomas, Social Media Manager

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Riverside alternative?

For remote multitrack recording, the alternatives are other recording studios and Montaj is not one. For editing the recording afterwards without uploading it, Montaj is the strongest on-device Riverside alternative, free and with no watermark.

Does Riverside upload my recordings?

Riverside records locally so quality survives a poor connection, then uploads everything to its servers, where the transcripts, clips and AI passes happen. Montaj keeps the editing on your device.

Can Montaj record a remote interview?

No. Montaj has no recording feature at all. It edits footage you already have.

Can I edit and caption a recording without uploading it?

Yes. Montaj transcribes on your device, generates word-by-word subtitles, removes silences in one tap and cleans the voice track, with nothing uploaded.

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Do the editing half without an upload

Try Montaj free. A Riverside alternative for on-device editing