Descript vs Transcrib Si: a video editor against a transcription service
Descript edits video by editing the transcript; Transcrib Si transcribes files and hands you the text, the timecodes and the speakers. The comparison below was read from public pages on 21 October 2026; the cells we could not read are marked, not filled.
What we compared, and how
Everything in the other column was read from public pages on 21 October 2026. Where a page could not be read, the cell says “not measured” — we do not fill those cells from advertising or from memory. Our own column comes from our pricing page, our service contract and our privacy policy, all published on this site.
| What | Transcrib Si | Descript | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | a speech-to-text service and REST API for files you upload | an AI video and audio editor with transcription at its centre — you edit the video by editing the text | the home pages of both services, read on 21 October 2026 |
| Free plan | $0: 3 files a day, up to 30 minutes and 64 MB per file, timestamps and speaker labels, exports to TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT and CSV, no card | $0 with the editor included, for recording, editing and mixing | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, read 21 October 2026 |
| Paid plan | Pro $10 a month paid yearly ($120 a year) or $20 a month paid monthly; Team on request | Hobbyist $16 a month paid yearly or $24 a month paid monthly; Creator $24 or $35; Business $50 or $65; Enterprise on request | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, read 21 October 2026 |
| What the paid plan gives | 1,500 minutes of audio per calendar month, every export format including DOCX, priority queue, full history, REST API keys and MCP access | seats and export resolution: Hobbyist 1 seat and 1080p, Creator up to 3 seats and 4K, Business up to 5 seats and a media library without limits | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, read 21 October 2026 |
| Video and screen recording | no — we take a file you already have | yes — podcasting, screen recording, Rooms (4K) and publishing | descript.com home page, read 21 October 2026 |
| Editing tools | none — we produce text and exports | text-based editing of video, AI tools (Underlord), subtitles, templates and publishing | descript.com home page, read 21 October 2026 |
| Transcription languages | 2 — Russian and English, with automatic detection | 23+ (announced in the llms.txt for the /transcription page) | our llms.txt; descript.com/llms.txt, read 21 October 2026 |
| Interface languages | English | English only | descript.com home page, read 21 October 2026 |
| Longest single file | 120 minutes and 64 MB on every plan, including Team and the API | not measured — the limit is expressed in seats and export resolution | our service contract |
| Export formats | 6 — TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT, CSV, DOCX (DOCX is a Pro feature) | video and audio export with the resolution of the plan; the transcript export list was not measured on 21 October 2026 | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, read 21 October 2026 |
| API, MCP and agent plugins | REST v1 under api.transcrib.si, an MCP server with 4 tools, plugins for Claude and ChatGPT | not measured on 21 October 2026 | our llms.txt |
| Machine-readable facts | llms.txt, llms-full.txt and JSON-LD with the prices and the limits | llms.txt of 6.3 KB with the products by section; no llms-full.txt | the llms.txt of both sites, read 21 October 2026 |
| Content base | a handful of guide pages and the comparison pages you are reading now | 933 pages in /tools/, each answering one “how do I make X” question, plus 11 pages in /compare/ | descript.com sitemap and llms.txt, read 21 October 2026 |
Where Descript is better
- The whole editing pipeline. Descript records the screen, cuts the video by editing the text, mixes the audio, makes the subtitles, applies templates and publishes. We produce text and exports, and nothing else.
- The free editor. Descript's free plan includes the editor itself, so a podcast or a screen tutorial can be produced at $0.
- The tool matrix: 933 pages in /tools/, each answering one “how do I make X” question, with HowTo, HowToStep, FAQPage and BreadcrumbList markup — the best structured answer base in the comparison set.
- An explicit open door for AI crawlers: robots.txt with an “Allow AI Search Crawlers” block for OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot.
- Resolution and seats: 4K export from the Creator plan, up to 5 seats and a media library without limits on Business.
Where Transcrib Si is better
- One job, done: text with a start and an end time for every segment, speaker labels on request, and six export formats.
- Russian and English, tuned — our engine is built for Russian and for mixed Russian-English speech. Descript is English-only as a site and announces 23+ transcription languages.
- A price that counts minutes, not seats: $10 a month paid yearly for 1,500 minutes of audio, and 64 MB and 120 minutes per file on every plan, including Team and the API.
- Agent access: a REST API under api.transcrib.si/v1, an MCP server with 4 tools, and plugins for Claude and ChatGPT.
- A transcript you can read without a subscription: TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT and CSV are on the free plan, and DOCX on Pro.
Who should pick which
- Pick Descript if you are making a video or a podcast and the editing is the point — the transcript is the editing surface.
- Pick Transcrib Si if you need the words, not the cut: interviews, lectures, voice memos, a call you were allowed to record.
- Pick Descript if you need to produce and publish in one place: screen recording, templates, 4K export and publishing are all in it.
- Pick Transcrib Si if you want the transcript in a script, a dataset or an agent, or if your audio is Russian or mixed Russian-English.
- Pick either if the free plan decides it; both have one, and both count in minutes or in seats.
The short version
Descript is a content production tool: screen recording, podcasting, text-based cutting, mixing, subtitles, templates, 4K export and publishing, with 933 how-to pages behind it and an explicit “Allow AI Search Crawlers” block in robots.txt.
Transcrib Si is a transcription service: one engine for Russian and English, files in, text out, with timestamps, speaker labels, six export formats, a REST API, an MCP server and plugins for Claude and ChatGPT.
The trap in this comparison is that both products mention transcription and neither answers the same question. Descript's transcript is the editing surface of a studio; ours is a finished artifact you can put in a pipeline.
The limits, side by side
Every figure below was read from a public page on 21 October 2026. Our column comes from our own pricing page and service contract.
| Limit | Transcrib Si | Descript | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0, no card: 3 files a day, up to 30 minutes and 64 MB per file | $0 with the editor included | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, 21 October 2026 |
| Paid plan | Pro $10 a month paid yearly ($120 a year) or $20 a month paid monthly | Hobbyist $16/$24; Creator $24/$35; Business $50/$65; Enterprise on request | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, 21 October 2026 |
| What is counted | minutes of audio per calendar month: 1,500 on Pro | seats and export resolution: 1 seat and 1080p, up to 3 seats and 4K, up to 5 seats and an unlimited media library | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, 21 October 2026 |
| Per file | up to 64 MB and 120 minutes on every plan, including Team and the API | not measured | our service contract |
| Languages | 2 — Russian and English, with automatic detection | 23+, announced in the llms.txt; the site is English only | our llms.txt; descript.com/llms.txt, 21 October 2026 |
| Exports | 6 — TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT, CSV, DOCX | audio and video export at the resolution of the plan; the transcript export list was not measured | our pricing page; descript.com/pricing, 21 October 2026 |
| Developer surface | REST v1, an MCP server with 4 tools, plugins for Claude and ChatGPT | not measured on 21 October 2026 | our llms.txt |
How to decide in one minute
Answer these three questions and the choice is made:
- Will you cut or publish video? If yes, Descript, and no question asked.
- Do you need the words — a quote, a search, a dataset row, a subtitle — and nothing else? Transcrib Si.
- Is your audio Russian or mixed Russian-English? Transcrib Si; our engine is tuned for it and we publish where the file is processed.
Put a file on the page and read the first lines.
The widget below is the same one as on the home page: file → transcript with timecodes and speakers → export. Sign in and the transcript moves into your account.
Drop an audio or video file
or — mp3, wav, m4a, mp4, up to 64 MB and two hours
Transcription runs without an account: sign in to keep the text, the history and the exports.
No account yet? The free plan needs no card. Create a free account or sign in.
Questions this page answers.
Is Transcrib Si cheaper than Descript?
The entry paid plan is cheaper on our side: $10 a month paid yearly ($120 a year) or $20 a month, against Descript Hobbyist at $16 a month paid yearly or $24 a month paid monthly. The comparison is not exact, because Descript's price buys the editor, the seats and the export resolution, and ours buys minutes of audio.
Which one transcribes more languages?
Descript announces 23+ transcription languages; we publish two, Russian and English. But the site is English only on Descript's side, while our engine is tuned for Russian and for mixed Russian-English speech. A language count is not an accuracy claim: ask both for the evaluation report and the sample set.
Can I use Transcrib Si inside Claude or ChatGPT?
Yes — a plugin for each, both going through the same MCP server: transcribe_audio, summarize_transcript, extract_actions and list_transcripts. The API is REST v1 under api.transcrib.si, with an API key on Pro and Team.
Does Descript have an API?
We did not measure a developer API on 21 October 2026, so we will not answer for it. What we publish is the whole contract of our own API: the endpoints, the authentication, the error shape and the four MCP tools.
Which one keeps the data for less time?
We publish the answer: on Free, transcripts are kept for 7 days; a deleted file leaves the live system immediately and the encrypted backups within 30 days; technical logs are kept for 30 days; nothing is sold and nothing is used to train models for other customers. Read Descript's own terms and compare.
Related pages.
An editor against a transcription service.
Two file-based services against each other.
A desktop app against a web service.
Our plans, limits and fair-use rule in full.
Formats, limits and exports of our service.
The whole service as machine-readable facts.
Mark Burmistrov, Founder.
Every number on this page comes from the service contract, the pricing page or our own measurements. The author of the page and the publisher of the site are the same person. Questions and corrections: support@transcrib.si.