What happens to my video after processing?

Deleted immediately. We never store your video files. Only the text output is saved in your account.

What are the 7 analysis modes?

Context (free — extracts everything into structured text), Creator Analysis (content performance scoring), Ad Analysis (ad effectiveness for media buyers), E-commerce (product video conversion analysis), Training (pedagogical effectiveness for L&D), UGC Vetting (creator evaluation for brand partnerships), and Competitor Intelligence (competitive threat scoring). Each mode uses 6 domain-specific scoring frameworks.

Is this just a wrapper around Gemini?

Gemini handles the vision layer. The 7 analysis modes, 42 scoring frameworks, structured output format, and the full extraction pipeline are proprietary. Raw Gemini gives you a paragraph. VidContext gives you expert-scored analysis with actionable recommendations.

What about compliance and data privacy?

Videos are deleted immediately after processing. No video storage, no retention. All traffic over HTTPS. API key authentication on every request. We never log or store video content.

Video analysis API comparison (2026)

Four ways to extract structured data from video. Here is how they compare on features, pricing, speed, and developer experience.

The short version

VidContext

One API call, everything extracted, 7 scoring modes. Best for AI agents, automation, and marketing analytics.

Google Video Intelligence

Enterprise-grade, GCP ecosystem. Need separate calls per feature. Best for teams already on Google Cloud.

Twelve Labs

Semantic video search and generation. Requires indexing before querying. Best for video search at scale.

DIY (ffmpeg + Whisper + GPT)

Maximum control, lowest per-unit cost. Weeks to build, ongoing maintenance. Best for teams with ML engineers.

Feature comparison

	VidContext	Google Video Intelligence	Twelve Labs	DIY pipeline
API calls for full analysis	1	5-6 (one per feature)	2-3 (index + search/generate)	3-5 (ffmpeg + Whisper + GPT + custom)
Setup time	5 minutes	30-60 min (GCP project + service account + billing)	15-20 min (create index, upload, wait for indexing)	Days to weeks
Processing speed (3-min video)	~50 seconds	2-4 minutes (varies by feature)	3-10 minutes (indexing + query)	2-5 minutes (depends on hardware)
Transcript extraction	Yes, timestamped	Yes (separate API call)	Yes	Yes (via Whisper)
On-screen text / OCR	Yes, included	Yes (separate API call)	Limited	Needs additional OCR tool
Scene detection	Yes, with descriptions	Shot change detection only	Yes, semantic scenes	ffmpeg scene detect (no descriptions)
Brand / logo detection	Yes, included	Logo detection (separate call)	No	Needs custom model
Audio analysis	Yes, music + sound effects + speech	No	Audio classification	Needs additional tools
Scoring and recommendations	Yes, 7 modes with 6 frameworks each	No	No	Only if you build it
Analysis modes	7 (ad, e-commerce, creator, training, UGC, competitor, context)	None (raw feature extraction)	Search + Generate	Whatever you build
Output format	Structured JSON	Protobuf / JSON per feature	JSON	Whatever you build
MCP server (AI agent tool)	Yes (pip install vidcontext-mcp)	No	No	Build your own
Video storage	Deleted immediately after processing	Stored in GCS bucket	Stored in their index	Your infrastructure
Free tier	5 uses without account, 15 credits on signup	First 1,000 min/month free (some features)	600 seconds free	Free (your compute costs)

Pricing comparison

	VidContext	Google Video Intelligence	Twelve Labs	DIY pipeline
3-min video, full analysis	$0.84	~$2.32 (5 features combined)	~$1.50 (estimate, varies by plan)	~$0.15-0.40 (API costs only, excludes dev time)
100 videos (3 min each)	$84	~$232	~$150	~$15-40 + engineering time
Pricing model	$0.28/min flat (all features included)	Per-feature, per-minute (stacks up)	Tiered plans, contact sales for enterprise	Compute + API costs
Subscription plans	Starter $15/mo, Pro $35/mo, Business $69/mo	Pay-as-you-go on GCP	Free, Growth, Enterprise (custom)	N/A

Google pricing based on published per-feature rates. Twelve Labs pricing estimated from public plans. DIY costs exclude developer time and infrastructure. All prices as of March 2026.

Code comparison

Same task: get a full analysis (transcript + scenes + OCR + brands) of a 3-minute video.

VidContext — 1 request

curl -X POST https://api.vidcontext.com/v1/analyze \
  -H "X-API-Key: vc_your_key" \
  -F "source=https://example.com/video.mp4" \
  -F "mode=context"

# Returns: scenes, transcript, OCR,
# brands, audio — all in one response.
# ~50 seconds.

Google Video Intelligence — 5 requests

# Upload video to GCS bucket first
gsutil cp video.mp4 gs://your-bucket/

# Then 5 separate annotate_video calls:
# 1. LABEL_DETECTION
# 2. SHOT_CHANGE_DETECTION
# 3. TEXT_DETECTION
# 4. LOGO_RECOGNITION
# 5. SPEECH_TRANSCRIPTION

# Each returns separate response.
# Combine results yourself.

When to use each

Use VidContext when:

You need everything from one API call (transcript + scenes + OCR + brands + audio)
You are building AI agents that need video understanding
You want scored analysis, not just raw extraction (ad effectiveness, competitor intel, etc.)
You use automation platforms like n8n or Make
Privacy matters — you need videos deleted immediately after processing
You want to be up and running in 5 minutes, not 5 days

Use Google Video Intelligence when:

You are already on Google Cloud and want everything in one ecosystem
You need custom label training (their AutoML integration)
You are processing at massive scale (millions of videos)
You only need one or two specific features (just labels, or just shot detection)

Use Twelve Labs when:

Your primary use case is searching within video content
You need to build a video search engine ("find the moment where X happens")
You want to generate text summaries from video using their Pegasus model

Build a DIY pipeline when:

You have ML engineers on staff and time to build
You need very specific processing that no API offers
Per-unit cost is more important than development speed
You want full control over every step of the pipeline

Questions

Can I switch from Google Video Intelligence to VidContext?

Yes. VidContext is a REST API that accepts a video URL or file and returns JSON. If you are currently using Google Video Intelligence, you can replace 5 separate API calls with 1 VidContext call that returns all the same data types plus scoring and recommendations. The response format is different, so you will need to update your parsing code.

Is VidContext accurate enough for production use?

VidContext uses Gemini 3.1 Pro at 4 frames per second with high resolution. It captures on-screen text, brand logos, audio cues, and scene transitions that most humans miss on a first watch. It is used in production by AI agent builders and marketing teams.

What about latency for real-time applications?

VidContext processes a 3-minute video in about 50 seconds. This is fast for batch processing and automation workflows, but not suitable for real-time or live video. If you need sub-second latency on live streams, Google Video Intelligence or a custom pipeline is a better fit.

How does VidContext handle privacy compared to the others?

VidContext deletes video files immediately after processing. No storage, no retention. Google stores videos in your GCS bucket (you control retention). Twelve Labs stores videos in their index until you delete them. DIY pipelines depend on your infrastructure.

Try VidContext free

5 analyses without an account. 15 credits on signup. No credit card.

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