Looking for a Kyno alternative?

If you used Kyno to organize and log your footage, Fast Video Cataloger is an actively-developed Windows tool that catalogs, searches, and scrubs your whole video library — with modern AI search built in.

Download the free trial →

Why editors look for a Kyno alternative

Kyno earned a loyal following as a fast media browser and logging tool for editors. It’s now part of Signiant, and many of the editors who relied on it are looking for an actively-developed option — ideally one that does more than browse and tag, and that turns a sprawling archive into a library you can actually search.

If you’re on Windows and you want that, Fast Video Cataloger is built for exactly this: cataloging large local footage libraries and finding any clip in seconds.

On Mac? Fast Video Cataloger is Windows-only. Kyno was cross-platform, so a Windows machine is the one requirement to switch.

Everything you liked about Kyno — and more

The day-to-day workflow you know from Kyno is still here: browse and preview footage fast, tag and organize clips, and hand off to your editor. Fast Video Cataloger adds a persistent, searchable catalog and AI on top.

  • A real catalog of your library — every video indexed into scene thumbnails you can scan at a glance, kept in one searchable database across all your drives
  • Find a clip by what was said — built-in speech-to-text makes spoken words searchable
  • Find a person across your footage — face recognition tags people automatically
  • Automatic scene & object tagging — AI keywords your footage so it’s findable
  • Deep manual control — hierarchical and scene-level keywords, custom metadata fields, and XMP
  • Hand off to your editor — collect clips into a playlist and export it as an EDL or Final Cut Pro XML timeline to import into DaVinci Resolve and other NLEs
  • Scale to teams — optional server with shared catalogs and user roles
  • 15 years of development — an independent, actively-maintained product with regular updates

Kyno vs. Fast Video Cataloger

FeatureKynoFast Video Cataloger
PlatformMac + WindowsWindows
Browse & preview footageYesYes — scene-thumbnail contact sheets
Keyword & metadata taggingYesYes — hierarchical, scene-level, XMP
Persistent searchable catalogLimitedYes — whole library, all drives
Speech-to-text transcript searchNoYes
Face recognition / find a personNoYes
AI scene & object taggingNoYes
Export to NLEYesYes — EDL / Final Cut XML
Server / team sharingNoYes (optional)
Scripting / automation APINoYes (C#)
LicenseOne-timeOne-Time or subscription
Comparison reflects each product’s generally available features. Check each vendor’s site for the latest details.

Built for editors with big local libraries

Footage you can’t find is footage you can’t use. Fast Video Cataloger turns terabytes of clips on your own drives — including external and archived disks — into a library you can query by word, by face, by scene, or by your own tags. It stays on your machine: local, private, no cloud, no subscription.

Try it on your own footage

Download the free trial, point it at a folder of video, and see your archive become searchable in minutes.

Download the free trial →