Side-by-side, with the numbers.
Pricing, features, and trade-offs across the most-used transcription services. AI and human, pay-per-use and subscription.
We compare pricing transparency, supported languages, turnaround time, export formats, file privacy, and refund policies — so the cheapest option is easy to find for your use case.
Founder · Building TranscribeCat since 2024 · Last updated May 2, 2026
Real cost example: transcribing 8 hours of lecture recordings
A common scenario for students, researchers, and journalists — you have several hours of recordings and need them transcribed once. Here's what each service would cost:
TranscribeCat
$16
일회성
TurboScribe
$10-20
/월
Otter.ai
$19.99
/월
GoTranscript
~$379
일회성
TranscribeCheap
~$283
일회성
기능별 비교
| 기능 | TranscribeCat현재 위치 | TurboScribe | Otter.ai | GoTranscript | TranscribeCheap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 요금 | $2/hr | $10-20/mo | $0-19.99/mo | From ~$0.79/min | From $0.59/min |
| 요금 모델 | Pay per use | Monthly subscription | Monthly subscription | Per minute | Per minute |
| 월 사용료 | None | $10/mo (yearly) or $20/mo | Free basic / $19.99/mo Business | None | None |
| 1시간 비용 | $2 | $10-20 (subscription) | $0-19.99 (subscription) | ~$47 | ~$35 |
| 8시간 비용 | $16 | $10-20 | $19.99 | ~$379 | ~$283 |
| 무료 옵션 | No | 3 files/day (30 min max) | Yes (limited minutes) | No | No |
| 구독 필요 | |||||
| 팀 결제 | One shared card, unlimited members | Per-seat (Team plan) | Per-seat (~$20/seat/mo) | Per file (no team-wide billing model) | Per file (no team-wide billing model) |
| 화자 라벨 | |||||
| 언어 | Auto-detected (100+) | 98+ | Multiple | 140+ | English primarily |
| 최대 파일 길이 | 10 hours | 10 hours | 4 hours (Business) | No limit | Varies |
| 지원 형식 | MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, FLAC, OGG, WebM, Opus | MP3, M4A, MP4, WAV, OGG, MOV, + more | Most audio/video formats | All common formats | WAV, MP3, MP4, WMA, DSS, + more |
| 속도 | Minutes | Seconds to minutes | Real-time + minutes | 1-3 business days | Same day to 3 days |
| 정확도 | AI (OpenAI) | AI (Whisper) | AI (proprietary) | Human (99.4%) | Human (97%+) |
| 내보내기 형식 | Copy, TXT, SRT, Word | PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV | TXT, SRT, PDF | DOCX, PDF, TXT, SRT, VTT | DOCX, TXT |
| 환불 정책 | Automatic refund on failure | Not specified | Not specified | Case-by-case | Not specified |
| 파일 보안 | You choose: instant to 1 year (90 days default) | Stored encrypted | Stored in cloud | Per retention policy | Not specified |
| 추천 대상 | Solo, occasional, and team transcription | Heavy users who transcribe regularly | Teams with recurring live meetings | Legal, medical, or critical-accuracy needs | Budget human transcription |
Which service should you choose?
이런 경우 TranscribeCat을 선택하세요...
- You need to transcribe occasionally, not every day
- You don't want to pay for a subscription you'll forget to cancel
- You want the lowest possible cost for one-time use
- You're a student, journalist, or researcher with files to transcribe
- You care about privacy — you set retention (delete on completion to 1 year)
이런 경우 TurboScribe을 선택하세요...
- •You transcribe large volumes every single month
- •You need unlimited transcriptions and are OK with a monthly fee
- •You need subtitle export (SRT/VTT) for video content
이런 경우 Otter.ai를 선택하세요...
- •You need a live meeting assistant for Zoom/Teams/Meet
- •Your team needs collaborative note-taking and CRM integration
- •You want AI summaries and action items from meetings
이런 경우 GoTranscript을 선택하세요...
- •You need human-level accuracy for legal or medical content
- •You need HIPAA compliance or NDA protection
- •Budget is less important than guaranteed accuracy
상세 비교
TranscribeCat vs Otter.ai
회의 AI 노트테이커 vs 사용량 기반
TranscribeCat vs TurboScribe
무제한 구독 vs 사용량 기반
TranscribeCat vs GoTranscript
사람 전사 vs AI
TranscribeCat vs Rev
사람 + AI 전사 거대 기업
TranscribeCat vs Sonix
번역 기능을 갖춘 사용량 기반 경쟁사
TranscribeCat vs Trint
보도국 중심 에디터 + 전사
TranscribeCat vs Descript
전사 기능 비디오·팟캐스트 에디터
TranscribeCat vs Happy Scribe
유럽 기반 AI + 사람 전사
Enterprise transcription services cost comparison
For teams transcribing at volume, pricing models diverge sharply. Per-seat subscriptions (Otter, Trint) scale linearly with headcount; per-minute services (Rev, GoTranscript) scale linearly with hours; flat-rate AI (TranscribeCat) scales with neither. The numbers below show the gap.
| 서비스 | 월 100시간 | 월 1,000시간 | 참고 사항 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TranscribeCat | $200 | $2,000 | 정액 $2/시간, 한도 없음 |
| Sonix | $1,000 | $10,000 | AI, $10/시간 |
| Rev (AI) | $1,500 | $15,000 | AI, $0.25/분 |
| GoTranscript | $4,740 | $47,400 | 사람, Rev보다 빠름 |
| Rev (Human) | $9,000 | $90,000 | 최고 정확도, $1.50/분 |
| Otter (Business) | ~$20/seat | 좌석에 따라 증가 | 구독, 좌석 제한 |
| TurboScribe (Unlimited) | $20 (capped) | $20 (capped) | 사용량이 늘면 일일 파일 한도 |
For teams that need contracts, SLAs, BAAs, or invoicing instead of credit-card billing, TranscribeCat supports organization billing where one admin pays for the whole team's usage. There's no minimum spend, no contract, and no per-seat fee.
Closed captioning service costs
Closed captions are SRT or VTT subtitle files with speaker labels and timestamps. TranscribeCat exports both formats at the same $2/hr base rate as plain transcription. Other services charge separately for captioning, often at a per-minute premium.
| 서비스 | 자막 요금 | 시간당 환산 |
|---|---|---|
| TranscribeCat | $2/시간에 포함 | $2.00 |
| Rev (AI captions) | $0.25/min | $15.00 |
| Rev (human captions) | $1.50/min | $90.00 |
| 3Play Media | $2.50/min | $150.00 |
| Otter | SRT로 내보내기 불가 | — |
If you need closed captions for accessibility compliance (WCAG, ADA, Section 508), an SRT file with speaker labels at $2/hr is the cheapest mainstream option in 2026. Burn-in subtitles aren't included; render the SRT into the video using a separate editor like Descript or DaVinci Resolve.
The subscription trap: when pay-per-use saves you money
Most transcription services push monthly subscriptions because they profit when you don't use them. If you transcribe 2 hours per month, a $20/month subscription costs you $10 per hour of actual use. With TranscribeCat, those same 2 hours cost $4 total.
Subscriptions only make sense if you consistently transcribe more than 10 hours every single month. For most students, journalists, researchers, and freelancers, that's not the case — you have bursts of work followed by weeks or months of no transcription at all.
With pay-per-use pricing, you never pay for what you don't use. No forgotten subscriptions quietly charging your card. No "minutes left this month" pressure. Just upload when you need it, pay, and get your transcript.
Ready to try the simplest option?
Upload your audio or video, pay $2 per hour, and get your transcript in minutes. No subscription, no commitment.
전사 시작하기Free to sign up · Pay only when you transcribe