Start free. Own it forever.

Every new install gets the complete Pro feature set for its first seven days - on iPhone and Mac. There is no card to enter, no account to make and nothing to cancel: on day eight the app simply becomes the permanent free tier, with no countdown banners and no new nagging. Use the week to export something long, render a 4K cut, try transparent-background export and the depth toolset on your own footage, then decide. It is a one-time welcome per device, not a subscription trial - and to be exact about the words: Pro Week is Pro, on loan; the free tier is never called a trial, because it is the product.

Yes - Zella Free is free forever, with no account, no watermark, and no time limit on recordings, on Mac and on iPhone alike. It is not a trial. Most tools put recording length, watermark removal, and 1080p export behind a paid plan; Zella gives you all of that, plus the full editor and one-click Auto-Polish, for $0. The one honest limit: a free export can be up to 2 minutes long, at up to 1080p - and it comes out clean, with no watermark.

Ask what you last exported. If it was under two minutes and headed for a social feed, Free covers it permanently and Pro would not change the video. If it was a lesson, an episode, a walkthrough, a client deliverable or the same cut in three aspect ratios, you met a ceiling and Pro is the answer to it. If you are still unsure, Pro Week settles it for free: run the actual job on your own footage for seven days and see whether you used anything Free does not have.

A one-time $89 unlock of exactly six things, and they mean the same on every device: (1) unlimited export length - Free exports up to 2 minutes; (2) 4K, plus 8K on the Mac; (3) transparent-background export - ProRes 4444 with alpha on Mac, HEVC with alpha on iPhone, so a background-removed clip drops straight onto any layer; (4) 60 fps and your own custom bitrate; (5) the multi-aspect export queue, which renders 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9 from one edit in a single action; (6) saved templates plus the depth toolset - keyframes with bezier curves, live luma scopes, Colour Match, feathered effect masks, speed ramps and per-drum Beat Sync. Because Pro is a Universal Purchase, that one payment unlocks your Mac and iPhone, synced by your Apple ID - the iPhone app is built and coming to the App Store (see /ios). Everything Free already includes stays exactly as generous: the complete editor, Auto-Polish, Make it Viral, the AI Assistant, Auto B-Roll, on-device captions, background removal, all 25 transitions and 42 colour looks, and watermark-free 1080p export. 1080p is free forever.

The supporter tier, for people who want to back Zella's independent development. The headline perk is simple: Pro covers Zella 1.x and Founder covers every major version after it, so when Zella 2.0 ships it is already yours at no extra cost - that alone is the reason Founder makes financial sense. On top of that, and on top of everything in Pro, you get three Founder-exclusive cinematic grades on Mac and iPhone - Teal & Orange, Kodak 2383 and Film Noir, which take the catalogue from 42 looks to 45 on iPhone and 43 to 46 on the Mac - plus priority support, early access to every new feature, and Family Sharing for up to five more people. Founder perks are deliberately cosmetic and supporter-facing: nothing your video actually needs is ever locked behind them, so please do not buy Founder expecting a capability Pro lacks.

Really one payment. Pro and Founder are one-time purchases with free updates within the major version - and thanks to Universal Purchase, one payment covers your Mac and iPhone. There is no monthly bill and nothing to auto-renew, unlike Loom, Descript, CapCut and Camtasia, which are all subscriptions.

Zella Pro includes every update within the major version you bought. When a new major version ships, Pro owners keep everything they have, working exactly as it does today - nothing is switched off or held back. Zella Founder goes further: every future major version is included at no extra cost, forever. That is the honest difference between the two tiers on this question, and it is the main reason Founder exists.

No. Pro and Founder are Apple Universal Purchases tied to your Apple ID, so buying on any one device unlocks the others when you sign in with the same Apple ID. Buy on the Mac now and Zella for iPhone unlocks for you when it reaches the App Store, at no extra cost. It works in the other direction too.

Not today, and we would rather say so than invent one. Purchases go through the App Store and are tied to an Apple ID, so a workplace means one purchase each - $89 apiece, once, with no renewal and no per-seat billing to manage. A HOUSEHOLD is different: Family Sharing is enabled, so one purchase covers you and up to five other people in your Family Sharing group at no extra cost. If you are buying for a group and need something that does not exist yet, tell us on the support page rather than guessing from this sentence.

Zella is distributed on Apple’s App Store - Pro and Founder are in-app purchases billed by Apple, so we never see your card details. Refunds follow Apple’s standard policy: request one anytime at reportaproblem.apple.com, and Apple usually decides within a few days. We cannot approve or deny a refund on Apple’s behalf because we have no mechanism to. The full policy, including what happens to projects you made while you had Pro, is on the refund page.

Never. Your recordings and projects are local files on the device you made them on. There is no cloud, no account, and nothing is deleted or locked if you stay on Free. A project that already carries Pro work - keyframes, a mask, a speed ramp - still opens, previews and exports on any tier; the free export ceilings of 2 minutes and 1080p are the only thing that applies.