Descript alternative
Descript began as a transcript you edit like a document, and the editor around it is the product: the Hobbyist plan is $16 a month yearly. That works out at about 2.7 cents a minute for 600 minutes of audio, and if you only need the text, the editor is a tool you pay for and then work around.
Short answer: keep Descript if you cut video, and move the transcript here if you want words. The plans are not far apart in price — Descript Hobbyist at $16 a month when paid yearly buys 600 minutes of media, about 2.7 cents a minute, while the yearly plan here at $10 a month buys 1,500 minutes, about 0.7 cents a minute. Every figure was read off Descript's own pricing page on 2026-10-25.
What Descript charges
| Plan | Price | Media minutes a month | Worked out per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 60 minutes | Free |
| Hobbyist, yearly | $16 a month | 600 minutes | About 2.7 cents |
| Hobbyist, monthly | $24 a month | 600 minutes | About 4 cents |
| Creator, yearly | $24 a month | 1,800 minutes | About 1.3 cents |
| Creator, monthly | $35 a month | 1,800 minutes | About 1.9 cents |
| Business, yearly | $50 a month | 2,400 minutes | About 2.1 cents |
| Business, monthly | $65 a month | 2,400 minutes | About 2.7 cents |
Read the two columns together and a pattern appears: the yearly price is the real price, and the monthly price is roughly half again as much. Hobbyist costs $16 a month paid yearly and $24 a month paid monthly for the same 600 minutes. On Business the gap is wider still, $50 against $65.
One thing to be careful about is what a media minute is. It counts the length of the media you bring in, not the length of the finished video, so an hour of talking head footage and an hour of a screen recording cost the same. That is the useful way to count it, and it is worth remembering when comparing with a service that counts the audio on its own.
What this service charges
Audio minutes, one account, and no editing suite to learn.
| Plan | Price | Limits | Worked out per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 3 files a day, up to 30 minutes per file, 64 MB per file | Free |
| Pro, billed yearly | $10 per month ($120 for the year) | 1,500 minutes of audio a month, files up to 64 MB and 120 minutes | About 0.7 cents |
| Pro, billed monthly | $20 per month | The same 1,500 minutes a month, cancel any time | About 1.3 cents |
On price per minute, the yearly plans are close and the monthly ones are not: about 0.7 cents here against 2.7 cents at Descript Hobbyist on the yearly price. On raw minutes, the yearly plan here gives 1,500 minutes a month while Descript Creator, which costs more per month, gives 1,800 — so there is a point where the larger Descript plan wins on volume.
The gap between the services is not really the price, it is the work around it. Descript asks you to import the media, wait for the transcript, then edit the text and the video in the same place. This service takes the file, gives you the text, and lets you fix a word in place. If you are not going to cut a video out of the recording, the editor is weight you carry for nothing.
Where the two services differ
| Question | Descript | Here |
|---|---|---|
| What the product is | A transcript inside a video and audio editor | A transcription service with a transcript editor |
| Free plan | 60 minutes a month | 3 files a day of up to 30 minutes each |
| Cheapest paid entry | $16 a month when paid yearly | $10 a month when paid yearly |
| Allowance | 600 minutes a month on Hobbyist | 1,500 minutes a month on the yearly plan |
| Longest single file | Not published as a file limit | 120 minutes per file on every plan |
| Size of one file | Not published as a file limit | 64 MB per file |
| Video editing | Yes, that is the point of the product | No, and that is the point of this one |
| Exports | Text, subtitles and video | TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT, CSV and DOCX |
Send one file and compare
Run the same recording through both and read the texts next to each other.
Drop an audio or video file
or — mp3, wav, m4a, mp4, up to 64 MB and two hours
Transcription runs under your account: sign in or create a free account.
No account yet? The free plan needs no card. Create a free account or sign in.
Questions this page answers.
Is Descript cheaper than this service?
On the yearly price, this service is cheaper per minute: about 0.7 cents against 2.7 cents for Descript Hobbyist, with a bigger allowance on top, 1,500 minutes a month against 600. On the monthly price the gap narrows, and at Descript Creator volume, 1,800 minutes for $24 a month, the comparison changes again. Both sets of numbers are on the pricing pages and were read on the same day.
What counts as a media minute at Descript?
The length of the media you bring in, measured as media minutes a month. An hour of video and an hour of audio cost the same allowance. It is a sensible way to count, and it is why the comparison with a service that counts only the audio in your file can look worse than it is for a video-heavy workflow.
Can I edit the transcript here the way Descript lets me edit its transcript?
You can correct the text, line by line, and the speaker labels stay attached to it. What you cannot do is cut the audio and the video together in one timeline, because that is a different product. If your work is a podcast or a lecture where you plan to remove pauses, Descript's editor is worth what it costs.
Does the free plan here have the same transcription as the paid one?
Yes, exactly the same engine, the same timestamps, the same speaker labels and the same exports. The free plan is limited by count and length, 3 files a day of up to 30 minutes each, not by quality. There is no card and no trial that expires.
What about very long recordings?
The limit here is 120 minutes and 64 MB per file on every plan, paid or free, and a file over the limit is refused instead of being cut in the middle. The guide to long recordings explains how to split a file so the parts join back together without losing a sentence at the seam.
Where the numbers on this page come from
Each line names the page the figure was read on and the day it was read.
- Descript: Free $0 with 60 minutes a month; Hobbyist $16 a month yearly and $24 a month monthly with 600 minutes; Creator $24 a month yearly and $35 a month monthly with 1,800 minutes; Business $50 a month yearly and $65 a month monthly with 2,400 minutes — https://www.descript.com/pricing — checked 2026-10-25
- Worked out per minute: Descript Hobbyist about 2.7 cents at the yearly price ($16 over 600 minutes) and about 4 cents at the monthly price ($24 over 600 minutes), Creator about 1.3 cents at the yearly price ($24 over 1,800 minutes) and about 1.9 cents at the monthly price ($35 over 1,800 minutes), Business about 2.1 cents at the yearly price ($50 over 2,400 minutes) and about 2.7 cents at the monthly price ($65 over 2,400 minutes) — calculated from the figures above — https://www.descript.com/pricing — checked 2026-10-25
- Free $0, 3 files a day, 30 minutes per file, 64 MB; Pro $10 per month ($120 for the year), $20 per month, 1,500 minutes per calendar month, 120 minutes per file — https://transcrib.si/pricing.html — checked 2026-10-25
- Worked out per minute: the yearly Pro plan here about 0.7 cents ($10 over 1,500 minutes) and the monthly Pro plan about 1.3 cents ($20 over 1,500 minutes) — calculated from the figures above — https://transcrib.si/pricing.html — checked 2026-10-25
Where to go next
What an hour of audio costs
The price per minute at a dozen services, checked on one day.
Free transcription limits
What each service lets you send before you pay.
Rev alternative
The service that sells human transcription by the minute.
Transkriptor alternative
The service with 90 free minutes on the free plan.
Plans and prices
Every plan, every limit, in one table with no small print.
MP4 to text
Getting the words out of a video file.
Also worth a look: the general guide, WebM to text, MP3 to text and the app.
Mark Burmistrov, Founder.
Every number on this page comes from the pricing page, the service contract or the upload form itself. The author of the page and the publisher of the site are the same person. Questions and corrections: support@transcrib.si.