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
eenmalig
TurboScribe
$10-20
per maand
Otter.ai
$19.99
per maand
GoTranscript
~$379
eenmalig
TranscribeCheap
~$283
eenmalig
Functie-voor-functie vergelijking
| Functie | TranscribeCatJe bent hier | TurboScribe | Otter.ai | GoTranscript | TranscribeCheap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prijzen | $2/hr | $10-20/mo | $0-19.99/mo | From ~$0.79/min | From $0.59/min |
| Prijsmodel | Pay per use | Monthly subscription | Monthly subscription | Per minute | Per minute |
| Maandelijkse kosten | None | $10/mo (yearly) or $20/mo | Free basic / $19.99/mo Business | None | None |
| Kosten voor 1 uur | $2 | $10-20 (subscription) | $0-19.99 (subscription) | ~$47 | ~$35 |
| Kosten voor 8 uur | $16 | $10-20 | $19.99 | ~$379 | ~$283 |
| Gratis optie | No | 3 files/day (30 min max) | Yes (limited minutes) | No | No |
| Abonnement vereist | |||||
| Teamfacturatie | 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) |
| Sprekerlabels | |||||
| Talen | Auto-detected (100+) | 98+ | Multiple | 140+ | English primarily |
| Maximale bestandslengte | 10 hours | 10 hours | 4 hours (Business) | No limit | Varies |
| Ondersteunde formaten | 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 |
| Snelheid | Minutes | Seconds to minutes | Real-time + minutes | 1-3 business days | Same day to 3 days |
| Nauwkeurigheid | AI (OpenAI) | AI (Whisper) | AI (proprietary) | Human (99.4%) | Human (97%+) |
| Exportformaten | Copy, TXT, SRT, Word | PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV | TXT, SRT, PDF | DOCX, PDF, TXT, SRT, VTT | DOCX, TXT |
| Terugbetalingsbeleid | Automatic refund on failure | Not specified | Not specified | Case-by-case | Not specified |
| Bestandsprivacy | You choose: instant to 1 year (90 days default) | Stored encrypted | Stored in cloud | Per retention policy | Not specified |
| Beste voor | 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?
Kies TranscribeCat als...
- 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)
Kies TurboScribe als...
- •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
Kies Otter.ai als...
- •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
Kies GoTranscript als...
- •You need human-level accuracy for legal or medical content
- •You need HIPAA compliance or NDA protection
- •Budget is less important than guaranteed accuracy
Gedetailleerde vergelijkingen
TranscribeCat vs Otter.ai
Vergader-AI-notulist vs pay-per-use
TranscribeCat vs TurboScribe
Onbeperkt abonnement vs pay-per-use
TranscribeCat vs GoTranscript
Menselijke transcriptie vs AI
TranscribeCat vs Rev
Reus in mens + AI transcriptie
TranscribeCat vs Sonix
Pay-per-use concurrent met vertaling
TranscribeCat vs Trint
Redactiegerichte editor + transcriptie
TranscribeCat vs Descript
Video-/podcasteditor met transcriptie
TranscribeCat vs Happy Scribe
Europese AI + menselijke transcriptie
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.
| Service | 100 u/maand | 1.000 u/maand | Opmerkingen |
|---|---|---|---|
| TranscribeCat | $200 | $2,000 | Vast $2/u, geen caps |
| Sonix | $1,000 | $10,000 | AI, $10/u |
| Rev (AI) | $1,500 | $15,000 | AI, $0,25/min |
| GoTranscript | $4,740 | $47,400 | Mens, sneller dan Rev |
| Rev (Human) | $9,000 | $90,000 | Hoogste nauwkeurigheid, $1,50/min |
| Otter (Business) | ~$20/seat | schaalt per zetel | Abonnement, zetel-gelimiteerd |
| TurboScribe (Unlimited) | $20 (capped) | $20 (capped) | Dagelijkse bestandslimieten bij hoger volume |
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.
| Service | Tarief voor ondertiteling | Equivalent per uur |
|---|---|---|
| TranscribeCat | Inbegrepen bij $2/u | $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 | Niet als SRT geëxporteerd | — |
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.
Begin met transcriberenFree to sign up · Pay only when you transcribe