Is there a teleprompter with no subscription?
Yes. Terera is a teleprompter for Windows and Mac sold for USD 89 once, tax included, with no subscription and no account. It covers three of your own machines and 12 months of updates.
Guides · Price and licence
A teleprompter you pay for once
Yes, there is a teleprompter you can buy once. Terera, a teleprompter for Windows and Mac, costs USD 89, paid once, tax included. There is no subscription and no account. The payment covers three of your own machines and 12 months of updates, and the version you have installed keeps working after that. If it does not suit you, there is a 30-day refund by email.
Why the billing model matters
A subscription is a sensible way to pay for software you use every week. Most people do not give a presentation every week. A teleprompter tends to be needed in runs: a quarter of board meetings, a product launch, a course recorded over a month. Then it sits unused until the next run, and a subscription keeps billing through the quiet months.
The arithmetic is short. Divide the one-off price by the monthly fee and you have the month in which a subscription starts to cost more. At 10 US dollars a month, that is the ninth month; at 20 a month, the fifth. Those are example prices, not any product’s. If you expect to want a prompter on and off for years, paying once costs less. If you need one for a single event and never again, one month of a subscription may cost less: set a reminder to cancel it.
Six questions to ask of anything sold as pay once
The phrase covers a range of arrangements. These are the questions worth asking, with Terera’s answers.
- What happens when the update period ends? Terera includes 12 months of updates. When the year is up, nothing stops working, and there is nothing to renew or cancel.
- How many computers does it cover? Three of your own, Windows or Mac in any mix. Reinstalling Terera on a machine you have already activated does not use another one. On a new computer, install Terera and enter the same key.
- Do I need an account? No. A licence key is emailed from licence@terera.app a minute or two after you pay, and you paste it into the app once. Check your spam folder the first time.
- Is tax added at checkout? No. The price includes tax, so the price shown is the price you pay. Checkout is run by Paddle, the merchant of record, which handles payment, tax and the invoice.
- Does it need the internet? For two things. During setup it downloads its speech model, about 190 MB. It activates its licence and re-checks it periodically. Your script, your audio and your rehearsal history are part of neither, and a failed connection alone does not lock you out. The security page has the detail.
- What if it does not suit me? There is a 30-day refund. That is 30 days with your own voice, your own microphone and the calls you actually make. If it is not right, email support@terera.app within 30 days for a full refund. No form, no reason needed. A refund ends the licence.
What the price pays for
Terera follows your voice word by word. It waits when you pause, holds your place when you go off script, and resumes when you return to the script. It places the script where your eyes should go for the audience you have: near the camera for one person, two fixed reading panels for two people, and fixed positions or a moving reading window for a room. Two people means two listeners, not two presenters.
It floats over your call or your slides, and your clicks pass through it to the window underneath. Speech recognition runs on your own computer, and voice following works in English. Bold, italics and colour come with a Word document (.docx) or with text pasted from Word or Google Docs; .txt and .md files import as plain text. The features page shows it working in one uncut take of the real app.
When something else is the better buy
- You record alone and can do another take. A plain scrolling prompter is enough.
- Your work is phone video: recorded, captioned, edited and published on a schedule. A subscription video studio earns its fee, and our dated comparisons, Terera vs BigVU and Terera vs Teleprompter.com, say so.
- All you need is text that scrolls at a steady speed. Terera has a timed scroll, but you would be paying for voice following you do not need; our comparison with Virtual Teleprompter says so.
- Your team writes, edits and records scripts together. A subscription workspace is built for that; our comparison with Speakflow says where each one fits.
- You read from a phone or a tablet. Terera is a desktop app for Windows and Mac, with no mobile app.
- You need voice following in another language. It works in English; manual and timed scrolling work in any language.
Terera is for the take you cannot redo: the live call, the pitch, the meeting where someone is watching you in real time.
Terera
Paid once, tax included. Three of your own machines, Windows or Mac. Twelve months of updates, and the installed version keeps working after that. Thirty days to change your mind, by email.
Questions
What happens after the 12 months of updates?
The version you have installed keeps working. There is nothing to renew or cancel.
How many computers does one Terera licence cover?
Three of your own machines, Windows or Mac in any mix. Reinstalling Terera on a machine you have already activated does not use another one.
Do I need an account to use Terera?
No. A licence key is emailed from licence@terera.app a minute or two after you pay, and you paste it into the app once.
How does the refund work?
Email support@terera.app within 30 days for a full refund. No reason needed. A refund ends the licence.
Sources
- Terera’s terms, from this site: Buy, Terms, Refund policy and Security. Checked 1 October 2026.
- The months in which a subscription starts to cost more are arithmetic on example prices, not claims about any product.
Related guides: a teleprompter for scripts that cannot leave the machine, a teleprompter that follows your voice word by word, Windows and Mac. All guides.