7 Best AI Plugins for DaVinci Resolve in 2026 (Free + Paid).

I've tested a lot of AI tools marketed as "DaVinci Resolve plugins" over the past year. Most are either browser apps with a clunky export-then-import workflow, or they only touch one narrow task. This list covers what I'd actually install on a real editing machine — every pick has a genuine free tier, works natively inside DaVinci Resolve, and saves real time on the jobs you'd otherwise do by hand.

One important framing first: DaVinci Resolve already has the best built-in AI of any NLE. Magic Mask, Speed Warp, Voice Isolation, Super Scale, Reframe Shot — these are world-class and already in your install. This list is about the layer those tools don't cover: editorial decisions, silence removal, captioning, multicam automation, and content repurposing. That's where plugins earn their place.

How we picked these tools

• Works natively inside DaVinci Resolve (not a browser app you export to)

• Has a genuine free tier — no "free trial" that disappears after 7 days

• Saves measurable time on a real project

• Produces output you can still edit (native timeline, not a flattened render)

1. DavinciClaude — the complete AI editing suite

Free tier: Yes · Paid: from $7.99/month

If you install only one plugin from this list, make it DavinciClaude. It's the only plugin that lets you edit your DaVinci Resolve timeline by chatting with Claude. You type "Cut every silence over 0.5 s, remove filler words, then add word-by-word captions" and it executes all three in sequence — as native, undoable Resolve operations.

Under the hood it's twelve tools in one: silence removal, Claude Cut (bad-take detection), animated captions, 99-language subtitles, multicam auto-cut, viral clip extraction, AI B-roll generation, motion design from a prompt, speaker diarization, auto-zoom, and the Copilot chat interface. The free tier covers most of the core tools indefinitely.

Verdict: The best AI plugin for DaVinci Resolve in 2026, and it's not close. Install it before anything else.

2. DaVinci Resolve Neural Engine (built-in — already free)

Free tier: Yes (included) · Paid: DaVinci Resolve Studio adds more features ($295 one-time)

Not technically a plugin — but any honest list of AI tools for DaVinci has to start here. The Neural Engine in DaVinci Resolve is genuinely impressive and most editors don't use even half of it.

• Magic Mask: AI-powered rotoscoping. Paint a rough stroke and Resolve tracks the subject through the clip — no frame-by-frame mask painting.

• Voice Isolation: Strips background noise from dialogue in one click. Better than most standalone denoising apps.

• Speed Warp: AI-based retiming that generates intermediate frames instead of blending pixels. Slow-motion that actually looks like slow motion.

• Super Scale: AI upscaling from 1080p to 4K or 8K with texture detail preserved.

• Reframe Shot: Automatically re-frames a wide shot into 9:16 for social, tracking the subject intelligently.

• Auto Color / Color Matching: Match the grade of one clip to a reference frame or another clip automatically.

Verdict: Already in your install. If you're not using Voice Isolation and Magic Mask daily, start there before looking at any third-party plugin.

3. Smart Silences — remove dead air in 1 click

Free tier: Yes (part of DavinciClaude) · Price: Free

Smart Silences scans your timeline, detects every pause, and removes them non-destructively in seconds. You set the threshold (e.g. silences longer than 0.4 s) and it ripple-deletes them across the entire sequence.

Without a plugin, silence removal in DaVinci Resolve means manually scrubbing the audio waveform, marking each gap, and deleting them one by one — or exporting the audio to a standalone tool, processing, and re-importing. For a 30-minute interview, that's 45 minutes of work. Smart Silences does it in under 10 seconds.

Verdict: The single highest-ROI AI tool for any talking-head workflow. Free in DavinciClaude.

4. Smart Captions — word-by-word animated captions

Free tier: Yes (part of DavinciClaude) · Price: Free

DaVinci Resolve added basic subtitle support, but it's line-level, not word-level, and it doesn't animate. Smart Captions generates word-by-word animated captions as native Resolve titles — the kind you see on every Reels and Shorts that performs well. Each word highlights as it's spoken. Customizable font, color, size, and positioning.

Because the output is native Resolve titles (not a baked-in render), you can still edit every word, change the styling, or delete individual captions. 99.5% transcription accuracy across 99 languages.

Verdict: If you publish to social media and don't use this, you're leaving views on the table. Free.

5. Smart Subtitles — 99-language SRT in seconds

Free tier: Yes (part of DavinciClaude) · Price: Free

Different from Smart Captions: Smart Subtitles generates a clean, spelled-corrected SRT file (or burns subtitles directly onto the timeline) in 99 languages. Powered by Whisper + Claude for accuracy that's 200× faster than Resolve's built-in transcription tool.

The translation feature is where it earns its place: you can generate Spanish, French, German, or Japanese subtitles from an English master without sending the file to an external service. Everything happens locally in the panel.

Verdict: Essential for any multilingual or international distribution workflow. Free.

6. Podcast Multicam — auto-cut between speakers

Free tier: No · Price: $59 lifetime

DaVinci Resolve has native multicam editing, but it requires you to set angles manually and still make every cut decision yourself. Podcast Multicam watches the audio waveforms and speaker diarization data, detects who's speaking, and auto-cuts between up to 10 camera angles — producing a rough cut you'd otherwise spend hours on.

The only tool on this list that isn't free, but at $59 once (not $29/month like AutoPod) it pays for itself after a single podcast edit. Compatible with DaVinci Resolve free and Studio.

Verdict: If you edit podcasts with multiple cameras, this is mandatory. Pay the $59 once and never think about it again.

7. GenAI — AI B-roll generation inside DaVinci Resolve

Free tier: No · Price: $24 lifetime

B-roll has always been the bottleneck of video production: you either shoot more footage than you need, license stock, or leave long talking-head stretches uncut. GenAI lets you generate AI B-roll from inside DaVinci Resolve — routing your text prompt to Veo, Kling, Runway, NanoBanana, and other models — and drops the generated clip directly onto your timeline.

The killer workflow: highlight a section of audio where you need B-roll, describe what you want in a prompt, and GenAI generates and places it without leaving Resolve. $24 once, unlimited generations.

Verdict: Eliminates the stock footage budget for content creators. $24 lifetime is an absurd deal.

Full comparison table

What about DaVinci Resolve's built-in AI — is a plugin still necessary?

Yes, for editorial work. Here's the honest split:

Resolve's Neural Engine is excellent at technical processing: fixing shaky footage, upscaling, isolating subjects, cleaning audio. These tools work at the pixel and sample level — they don't need to understand what you're saying or why you're keeping a take.

Claude (via DavinciClaude) handles editorial reasoning: what to cut, where the story drags, which take has the best delivery, how to structure the final sequence. These decisions require language understanding and reasoning — exactly what Claude is built for.

The two layers don't overlap. Running both together is the closest thing to a complete AI editing workflow you can have in DaVinci Resolve today.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an AutoPod equivalent for DaVinci Resolve?

Yes — Podcast Multicam by DavinciClaude. It detects speakers and auto-cuts between camera angles, the same core feature as AutoPod, but at $59 once (no subscription) and natively inside DaVinci Resolve.

Are these plugins compatible with the free version of DaVinci Resolve?

Yes. All DavinciClaude tools — including Podcast Multicam and GenAI — work with both the free and Studio editions of DaVinci Resolve 18 and later.

Do I need DaVinci Resolve Studio for AI editing?

No. The free edition of DaVinci Resolve is fully compatible with DavinciClaude. DaVinci Resolve Studio adds more Neural Engine features (Super Scale to 8K, etc.) but all DavinciClaude tools work without it.

What is the best free AI plugin for DaVinci Resolve?

DavinciClaude. Its free tier covers Smart Silences, Smart Captions, Smart Subtitles, and Smart Virals — four tools that alone would save hours per project — with no time limit and no credit card required.

Are DaVinci Resolve plugins safe?

DavinciClaude runs locally as a DaVinci Resolve extension. It only sends data to Claude's API when you actively use a feature — no background data collection, no account required to use the free tools.

The bottom line

DaVinci Resolve has the best built-in AI of any NLE. But "built-in AI" means technical processing — the Neural Engine doesn't know your script, can't decide what to cut, and won't generate captions or multicam cuts. That's the gap DavinciClaude fills: it brings Claude's language reasoning into your Edit page timeline.

Start with the free tier. Install it, run Smart Silences on your next project, and decide from there.

Download DavinciClaude free — no credit card, no time limit.