ScrollTide vs Scrollytelling.ai: a prompt library or a finished page?
Last updated: October 17, 2026 · Prompt and template library for cinematic AI-coded sites
ScrollTide pricing and what you actually buy
ScrollTide (scrolltide.co) is not a website builder. It is a library of prompts and templates for scroll-driven "cinematic" websites: you copy a prompt into an AI coding tool, Claude Code, Cursor or v0 are the ones it names, and the AI writes the site for you. The library listed 121 templates, 66 components, 55 shaders, 19 sections and 14 UI screens when we checked it on October 17, 2026, with new drops on Fridays, and the site says 10,000+ builders have joined.
| ScrollTide plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 4 of the 121 templates (Glacier, Fluxora, Monsoon, Aurora), full files, no watermark |
| Monthly | $39/month (sale; regular $59) | 10 premium copies a week; excludes the 3D, UI-screen and shader collections |
| Yearly | $12/month, billed $144 a year | Library access for a year |
| Lifetime | $299 one-time (sale; regular $449) | The whole library, unlimited copies, future drops, personal and client use; no refunds |
Is ScrollTide free? Four templates are. The rest is $39 a month, $144 a year or $299 once (sale prices on the day we checked; the regular lifetime price is $449). Every prompt targets Claude Code, Cursor and v0 and produces a Next.js, Tailwind, GSAP and Three.js project you deploy yourself: there is no hosting, no editor and no publishing in the product. Prices checked on October 17, 2026 on scrolltide.co/pricing.
ScrollTide vs Scrollytelling.ai: two different products for the same wish
People arrive at both of us wanting the same thing: an Apple-style page where the scroll drives a video, sections pin and reveal, and the whole thing feels like a film rather than a brochure. The routes could not be more different.
ScrollTide sells the recipe. You get a well-written prompt and a reference template, paste it into an AI coding tool, and get back source code. If you are comfortable with Claude Code or Cursor, with deploying a site and with fixing what the AI gets wrong, it is a fast way to a bespoke page, and the results can look spectacular.
Scrollytelling.ai sells the finished dish. You describe the page, paste a URL or upload a PDF, and the platform generates the scroll-driven page itself, hero video included, hosts it, and gives you a visual editor to change anything without code. No AI coding tool, no deployment, no shaders to debug.
Side by side
| Feature | Scrollytelling.ai | ScrollTide |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted builder with AI generation and a visual editor | Prompt and template library for AI coding tools |
| Price | Free plan; Starter $12/mo ($10 yearly); Pro $29; Pro+ $59; one-time story $9 | $39/month, $144/year or $299 lifetime (sale); 4 free templates |
| What you need besides it | A browser | Claude Code, Cursor or v0 (paid), hosting, a deploy workflow |
| Coding required | None | You read and fix generated code |
| Scroll video (Apple-style) | Generated for every story, scrubbed by scroll, portrait version for phones | Depends on the template and on the AI's output |
| Hosting and domain | Hosted, custom domain on paid plans, WordPress and Shopify embeds | Not included; you host it |
| Editing later | Visual editor, free edits, no code | Re-prompt or edit the code |
| Design ceiling | High within the platform's elements and templates | Unlimited, it is your code |
| Time to a live page | 3 to 5 minutes to generate, publish in one click | Hours to days depending on the tool and your fixes |
| Who it is for | Marketers, founders, newsrooms, students, agencies on a budget | Developers and designers who already build with AI coding tools |
What ScrollTide does better
If you can run the code, ScrollTide wins on ceiling. The prompts aim at shaders, 3D and custom scroll choreography that no template-based builder, ours included, will produce out of the box. You own the source, you can host it anywhere, and you pay once. For a developer who ships client sites with Cursor every week, $299 for a library of tested prompts is a sensible purchase.
It is also honest about what it is: a library, with new drops on a schedule and a growing community around the format.
Where it falls short, and who should not buy it
The library is the start of the work, not the end. The prompt goes into a tool you pay for separately, the AI's output needs checking, the site needs hosting, and every later change means another prompt or a hand edit. If you have never deployed a site, or you simply want to publish a story this afternoon and change a paragraph next week, that chain is the whole problem.
That is the group searching for a "ScrollTide alternative": people who saw the demos on social, bought or nearly bought the library, and realised they were buying a kit car. A hosted builder with an editor is the alternative. Below is what the switch looks like.
If you came here from ScrollTide
Three things to try on the free plan before spending anything:
Paste a URL. If you already have a site or a product page, paste its address and the AI builds the scroll-driven version from your real photos and text, with a hero video generated from your own image rather than stock.
Describe the page you wanted from the prompt. The same brief you would have pasted into Cursor works here, and you get a page instead of code.
Edit it by hand. Select any element and change text, colours, fonts, spacing or the video itself without credits. The AI chat is one click away when you would rather describe the change.
What you give up: shaders and fully custom 3D. If the demo that sold you on ScrollTide was a WebGL scene, that is agency or developer work, and ScrollTide's prompts are a cheaper way to brief one.
Verdict
Buy ScrollTide if you build sites with AI coding tools already and want a head start on cinematic scroll effects you will host yourself.
Use Scrollytelling.ai if you want the page itself: generated, hosted, editable, on a free plan to start and $10 a month after, with no code anywhere in the process.
Frequently asked questions
Is ScrollTide free?
Four of its 121 templates are free with full files. The library is $39 a month, $144 a year or $299 once at the sale prices seen on October 17, 2026 (regular lifetime price $449). It does not include an AI coding tool, hosting or an editor.
What is the best ScrollTide alternative for non-developers?
A hosted scrollytelling builder that generates and hosts the page for you. Scrollytelling.ai has a free plan with one AI-generated story and paid plans from $10 a month billed yearly; no code, visual editor, custom domain on paid plans.
Does Scrollytelling.ai make the same Apple-style scroll video?
Yes. Every AI-generated story gets a hero clip that plays as the reader scrolls, made from your own image when you provide one, with a separate portrait version for phones.
Can I use ScrollTide prompts in Scrollytelling.ai?
You can paste the same brief into the story prompt, and the AI builds a page from it. Shader and 3D instructions will be ignored; everything describing content, sections and mood is used.
Which costs more over a year?
For one site: ScrollTide $144 a year (or $299 once) plus an AI coding subscription and hosting; Scrollytelling.ai $120 a year on Starter with hosting included, or $9 once for a single story. For many client sites built by a developer, ScrollTide's lifetime price wins.
Do I own what I make?
On both. ScrollTide's licence allows personal and client work; on Scrollytelling.ai every paid plan can download the story as a self-contained .zip to host anywhere.
Try the $0 plan before you decide
One AI-generated story, published on a subdomain, no card. If it does the job, Starter is $10 a month billed yearly.
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