TimeBolt vs Descript vs Loom: Automated Editing Test Results

We put three leading video editors to the test. Same video. Recorded at the same time. Paid plans. The goal was simple: remove dead air and filler words automatically. The results speak for themselves.

The Data

Verdict: Only TimeBolt automated a short, flawless cut that preserved meaning and flow.

Curious about the push button editing myth and why we ran the test? Read the blog post here

How the Test Was Run

One raw script recorded on camera-only in TimeBolt, Descript, and Loom.
Script deliberately included long pauses, ums, uhs, and filler.
Tested on top-tier paid plans of TimeBolt, Descript, and Loom.
Only automation features used: dead-air removal and filler-word removal.
No manual edits.

This was a controlled experiment designed to stress-test each platform for accuracy of cuts.

Dead Air and Filler Words Are Bad Data

AI editors like Descript and Loom convert speech into tokens (tiny text chunks). Long silences stretch token timing, while fillers like um and uh create low-confidence tokens that often slip out of sync. When the software tries to cut based on this text, words get clipped or gaps are left behind.

TimeBolt avoids this problem by cutting on the waveform itself. Silence is a flat line, fillers are short spikes. That’s why our cuts are precise, while transcript editors choke.

See what happened when YouTuber Excelerator solved the problem of bad data in Descript.

Why Waveform Cuts Solve This

Waveforms are a physical signal. Like GPS nothing is more accurate.
TimeBolt doesn’t care about tokens, it looks directly at the audio waveform.
That means no drift, no low-confidence guesses, no fragmented removal logic.
When Umcheck adds token-awareness on top, it’s optional and controlled on-device: you can catch 'you know' or 'oh shit,' but the waveform still dictates cut boundaries.

This combination of Waveform+ AI is why TimeBolt removed every single pause and filler in the test while Descript and Loom failed.

AFTER AUTOMATION: Fast Editing for Polish

TimeBolt has the fastest timeline editor on earth too. Preview up to 4x speed with hotkeys USOB (Unwind, Split, On/Off, Backcut). Fine-tune 2-3x faster than read and click text.