---
title: "Best Twelve Labs alternatives"
description: "Fair Twelve Labs alternatives: Mixpeek, Gemini video, CLIP on owned frames, and a table that calls Marengo as a column. Last reviewed Oct 2026."
url: "https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives"
updated: "2026-10-28"
vertical: "Video"
doc: "https://docs.pixeltable.com/howto/providers/working-with-twelvelabs"
---

# Best Twelve Labs alternatives

A Twelve Labs alternative is another way to search or describe video. Twelve Labs is a hosted video-understanding product: Marengo for search embeddings, Pegasus for generated text, and Jockey for agent-style questions over a knowledge store. Alternatives are other hosted video APIs, or frames and models you run on a table you own.

Updated: 2026-10-28
Part of [How does video search work?](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/how-video-search-works).

## On this page

- [What a Twelve Labs alternative has to replace](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives#what-it-is)
- [How to choose](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives#how-to-choose)
- [The tools](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives#the-tools)
- [Last reviewed](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives#review)
- [Comparison](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives#comparison)
- [Where Pixeltable fits](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives#where-pixeltable-fits)
- [Questions](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/best-twelve-labs-alternatives#questions)

## What a Twelve Labs alternative has to replace {#what-it-is}

Twelve Labs finds moments in videos and answers questions about what happens. Official docs split Jockey (agent-style questions with cited moments, via Claude, ChatGPT, or the Agents API) from the Models API (Marengo search embeddings and Pegasus generated text). Videos are assets in their index. Core models are cloud-hosted; you do not self-host Marengo or Pegasus. Docs: https://docs.twelvelabs.io/docs/get-started/introduction
An alternative is either another hosted video API, or a pipeline that samples frames (or segments), embeds them, and keeps the clip in a store you query.

## How to choose {#how-to-choose}

Separate the video-native model from the catalog that holds the clip.

- Keep Twelve Labs when Marengo search, Pegasus generation, or Jockey over a knowledge store is the product.
- Pick Mixpeek when you want a managed retrieval API over a bucket you already have (scenes, speech, on-screen text).
- Pick a general multimodal model API (for example Gemini) when video is one input among text and images, not a dedicated video index.
- Pick CLIP (or another embedding) on sampled frames when you own the stills, the timestamps, and the HTTP route.
- Call Marengo as a column on segments you own when you want the hosted embedding without giving up the catalog.

## The tools {#the-tools}

Mixpeek is a managed multimodal retrieval API: it reads video, images, audio, and documents in your bucket and searches scenes, speech, and on-screen text over HTTP. It is not a SQL database you operate. Site: https://www.mixpeek.com/ and docs: https://docs.mixpeek.com/
Google Gemini documents native video understanding and Gemini Embedding 2 for text, images, video, audio, and PDF. That is a model API, not a video catalog. Docs: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/embeddings
Open CLIP-family models embed frames you sample. Search is nearest-neighbor over those stills. You run ffmpeg or an iterator, store the frames, and serve HTTP. The clip stays in a table or a bucket you own.
Twelve Labs remains on this list because Jockey versus Models is a real fork: skip the Models API if you want cited moments from an assistant, and skip Jockey if you want to call Marengo or Pegasus yourself.

## Last reviewed {#review}

Facts on this page were checked against vendor documentation on 2026-10-28. Product surfaces move; treat version names and APIs as directional and follow the official links in Related.

## Twelve Labs alternatives compared (last reviewed: Oct 2026) {#comparison}

| Tool | What it is | Where the clip lives | Self-host models? | Best for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Twelve Labs | Hosted video API: Marengo search, Pegasus text, Jockey agents | An asset in their index | No | Video-native models and a search or generate API |
| Mixpeek | Managed multimodal retrieval over your bucket | The bucket you already have | No (managed; BYO-Cloud is their option) | Hosted scene, speech, and OCR search without running models |
| Gemini (video / embedding APIs) | General multimodal model API, including video | Wherever you stored the file before the call | No for the hosted API | Video as one modality among text and images, not a video index |
| CLIP on sampled frames | Frame embeddings you compute and index | A table or bucket you own, with timestamps | Yes, if you run the model | Owned stills, owned index, no proprietary video encoder |
| Pixeltable | Video column, video_splitter or frame_iterator, index, HTTP | A typed Video column you query | Local models yes; Marengo stays hosted if you call it | Keep the clip; call CLIP, Whisper, YOLOX, or Marengo as columns |

## Where Pixeltable fits {#where-pixeltable-fits}

Use Pixeltable when the clip should stay in a Video column you query, version, and attach other columns to. First-party twelvelabs.embed.using(model_name='marengo3.0') on a video_splitter view (minimum 4 second segments) is the documented path to Marengo without giving up the catalog. Cross-modal similarity(string=), similarity(image=), similarity(audio=), and similarity(video=) are supported on that index. Use CLIP on a frame_iterator view when you do not want a hosted video encoder. Keep Twelve Labs when the hosted model or Jockey is the product. Keep Mixpeek when a managed retriever over a bucket is the product. Pixeltable vs Mixpeek covers the other hosted retriever.

```python
import pixeltable as pxt
from pixeltable.functions.video import video_splitter
from pixeltable.functions import twelvelabs
from pixeltable.serving import FastAPIRouter

TableModel = pxt.model_base()
embed = twelvelabs.embed.using(model_name='marengo3.0')

class Videos(TableModel, name='videos'):
    video: pxt.Video
    title: pxt.String

class Segments(
    TableModel,
    name='segments',
    base=Videos,
    iterator=video_splitter(
        video=Videos.video, duration=5.0, min_segment_duration=4.0
    ),
):
    __indexes__ = [pxt.EmbeddingIndex(video_segment, embedding=embed)]

@pxt.query
def search_clips(query: str, limit: int = 5):
    sim = Segments.video_segment.similarity(string=query)
    return (
        Segments.order_by(sim, asc=False)
        .limit(limit)
        .select(Segments.video_segment, Segments.title, sim)
    )

api = FastAPIRouter(name='clips')
api.add_insert_route(Videos, path='/videos', inputs=[Videos.video, Videos.title])
api.add_query_route(path='/search', query=search_clips)
```

## Questions {#questions}

### What is the best Twelve Labs alternative? {#faq-1}

Mixpeek if you want another managed retriever over a bucket. Gemini if video is one input to a general model API. CLIP on frames if you want to own the stills and the index. Pixeltable if the catalog, timestamps, and HTTP should be one Python file, with Marengo or CLIP as a column.

### Can I use Twelve Labs and still own the catalog? {#faq-2}

Yes. Call Marengo as an embedding function on segments you store. You keep the Video column; they run the encoder. That is the usual and, not or, split. See Working with Twelve Labs in the Pixeltable docs.

### Jockey or Models? {#faq-3}

Jockey plans steps and returns cited moments from a knowledge store. The Models API lets you call Marengo or Pegasus yourself. Official intro: https://docs.twelvelabs.io/docs/get-started/introduction

### Is Pixeltable a video model? {#faq-4}

No. It is the schema those results can live on. CLIP, Whisper, YOLOX, Gemini, and Twelve Labs are model choices on columns or views.

## Related

- [Pixeltable vs Twelve Labs](https://www.pixeltable.com/compare/pixeltable-vs-twelve-labs)
- [Pixeltable vs Mixpeek](https://www.pixeltable.com/compare/pixeltable-vs-mixpeek)
- [How does video search work?](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/how-video-search-works)
- [How do I index a video library and search it by text?](https://www.pixeltable.com/learn/how-to/search-a-video-library-by-text)
- [Video search engine in Python](https://www.pixeltable.com/use-cases/video-search-engine)
- [Working with Twelve Labs](https://docs.pixeltable.com/howto/providers/working-with-twelvelabs)
- [Twelve Labs introduction](https://docs.twelvelabs.io/docs/get-started/introduction)