Kill the Fill vs TimeBolt
Both apps exist to kill the same chore: scrubbing a timeline to cut dead air and "um"s by hand. Here's an honest look at where each one wins.
The short answer: TimeBolt is the bigger, more powerful tool — Windows and Mac, multicam sync, Camtasia export, a genuine free tier. But its filler-word removal sends your audio to cloud transcription and costs $0.03/min on top of a paid plan ($17/mo, $97/yr, or $347 lifetime).
Kill the Fill is Mac-only and deliberately simpler: fillers, hesitations and silences detected 100% on-device — nothing ever leaves your Mac — for $29 one-time, everything included. If you're a solo creator on Apple Silicon, that's most likely all you need.
🔒 Kill the Fill: 100% on-device · no account · works offline · Apple Silicon native
Feature-by-feature
| Kill the Fill | TimeBolt | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 one-time. No subscription, no per-minute fees, no add-ons. | Free plan (watermarked, no XML export) · Pro $17/mo, $97/yr, or $347 lifetime (2 machines) · filler removal & captions billed extra at $0.03/min of video. |
| Platforms | macOS on Apple Silicon (M-series), native. | ✓ macOS and Windows. No web or mobile version. |
| Silence removal | ✓ Yes — including a silence-only turbo mode that skips transcription entirely for very fast analysis of long videos. | ✓ Yes — its core strength. Waveform-based, on-device; can also speed silences up instead of cutting them. |
| Filler-word removal | ✓ Built in, included in the $29. Detects um, uh, er, Turkish eee / ııı and more, plus hesitations. | ✓ Yes, via UMCHECK — 100+ languages — but it's pay-per-use ($0.03/min) on top of a paid plan. |
| Where processing happens | Entirely on your Mac — on-device Whisper speech recognition. Video never leaves the machine; works fully offline; offline license activation. | Silence cutting is fully local. Filler removal & captions send extracted audio to cloud (AWS) transcription — fully on-premises only on the enterprise "Vault" tier. |
| Manual control | Every proposed cut can be previewed, toggled on/off, and boundary-tuned before rendering. Adjustable sensitivity and padding. | Cuts are reviewable and adjustable; some reviewers note occasionally aggressive cuts (clipped breaths) that need manual fixing. |
| Timeline / NLE export | ✓ FCPXML (Final Cut Pro / DaVinci Resolve), Premiere Pro XML, EDL CMX3600 — every cut arrives as separate clips, you keep final say. | ✓ Broadest in class: Premiere XML + extension, FCPXML incl. multicam, Resolve script, Camtasia. Paid plans only — the free tier can't export XML. |
| Captions | ✓ SRT / VTT included, retimed to the edited video — the ums are gone from the captions too. | ✓ SRT or styled burned-in captions via UMCHECK — requires cloud transcription and the $0.03/min fee. |
| Extras | Filler report after each render (what was cut, how many) · in-app update check · UI in English and Turkish. | Multi-cam sync, punch-in zooms, bad-take flagging, audio/podcast workflows, 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| Free trial | Unlimited previews + 3 full exports. No account, no card. | Free plan forever, but exports are watermarked, projects can't be saved, and there's no NLE export. |
TimeBolt details are from timebolt.io's published pricing and feature pages plus public reviews, last checked July 2026. Prices and terms change — verify on timebolt.io before buying either app.
Which one should you get?
Choose TimeBolt if…
- You're on Windows or an Intel Mac — Kill the Fill won't run there.
- You cut multicam shoots or need Camtasia project export.
- You need filler detection in languages beyond what Kill the Fill covers.
- You want a $0 tier and don't mind watermarks while you evaluate.
- You process serious volume and the power features earn their learning curve.
Choose Kill the Fill if…
- You're a solo creator on an Apple Silicon Mac making talking-head video.
- You want fillers + silences + captions for $29 once — no per-minute metering.
- Your footage must never leave your Mac — including for filler detection.
- You record in English or Turkish and want fillers like "eee/ııı" handled.
- You'd rather approve a cut list in minutes than learn a control panel.
No hard feelings either way — TimeBolt is a capable tool with real strengths. We built Kill the Fill for the creator it's overkill for.
What people ask before switching
Is TimeBolt a one-time purchase?
Partly — TimeBolt sells a $347 Lifetime Pro license (covers 2 machines) alongside $17/mo and $97/yr plans. But filler-word removal and captions still cost $0.03 per minute of video on top of any plan. Kill the Fill is $29 one-time with filler removal and captions included.
Does TimeBolt work fully offline?
Only for silence cutting — that part runs on-device, and TimeBolt is genuinely local-first there. Its filler-word removal and captions, however, send extracted audio to cloud (AWS) transcription. Kill the Fill runs everything — speech recognition, filler detection, captions, rendering — on your Mac, offline, with offline license activation too.
Can TimeBolt remove filler words, or just silence?
Both — silence natively, and filler words through its UMCHECK add-on, which supports 100+ languages and is billed per minute. In Kill the Fill, filler and silence removal are one built-in flow: preview the proposed cuts, toggle any off, tune the boundaries, render.
Which is better for a Final Cut Pro or Premiere workflow?
Both export real timelines. TimeBolt has the broader lineup (including multicam FCPXML and Camtasia) on its paid plans. Kill the Fill exports FCPXML for Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro XML, and EDL CMX3600 — every cut lands as separate clips in your editor, so nothing is baked in.
Try the $29 alternative free
Unlimited previews and 3 full exports — no account, no card, nothing uploaded.
🔒 100% on-device — your footage never leaves your Mac · Notarized DMG · Apple Silicon native