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
one-time
TurboScribe
$10-20
per month
Otter.ai
$19.99
per month
GoTranscript
~$379
one-time
TranscribeCheap
~$283
one-time
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | TranscribeCatYou are here | TurboScribe | Otter.ai | GoTranscript | TranscribeCheap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $2/hr | $10-20/mo | $0-19.99/mo | From ~$0.79/min | From $0.59/min |
| Pricing model | Pay per use | Monthly subscription | Monthly subscription | Per minute | Per minute |
| Monthly fee | None | $10/mo (yearly) or $20/mo | Free basic / $19.99/mo Business | None | None |
| Cost for 1 hour | $2 | $10-20 (subscription) | $0-19.99 (subscription) | ~$47 | ~$35 |
| Cost for 8 hours | $16 | $10-20 | $19.99 | ~$379 | ~$283 |
| Free option | No | 3 files/day (30 min max) | Yes (limited minutes) | No | No |
| Subscription required | |||||
| Team billing | 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) |
| Speaker labels | |||||
| Languages | Auto-detected (100+) | 98+ | Multiple | 140+ | English primarily |
| Max file length | 10 hours | 10 hours | 4 hours (Business) | No limit | Varies |
| Supported formats | 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 |
| Speed | Minutes | Seconds to minutes | Real-time + minutes | 1-3 business days | Same day to 3 days |
| Accuracy | AI (OpenAI) | AI (Whisper) | AI (proprietary) | Human (99.4%) | Human (97%+) |
| Export formats | Copy, TXT, SRT, Word | PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV | TXT, SRT, PDF | DOCX, PDF, TXT, SRT, VTT | DOCX, TXT |
| Refund policy | Automatic refund on failure | Not specified | Not specified | Case-by-case | Not specified |
| File privacy | You choose: instant to 1 year (90 days default) | Stored encrypted | Stored in cloud | Per retention policy | Not specified |
| Best for | 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?
Choose TranscribeCat if...
- 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)
Choose TurboScribe if...
- •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
Choose Otter.ai if...
- •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
Choose GoTranscript if...
- •You need human-level accuracy for legal or medical content
- •You need HIPAA compliance or NDA protection
- •Budget is less important than guaranteed accuracy
Detailed comparisons
TranscribeCat vs Otter.ai
Meeting AI notetaker vs pay-per-use
TranscribeCat vs TurboScribe
Unlimited subscription vs pay-per-use
TranscribeCat vs GoTranscript
Human transcription vs AI
TranscribeCat vs Rev
Human + AI transcription giant
TranscribeCat vs Sonix
Pay-per-use competitor with translation
TranscribeCat vs Trint
Newsroom-focused editor + transcription
TranscribeCat vs Descript
Video/podcast editor with transcription
TranscribeCat vs Happy Scribe
European AI + human transcription
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 hrs/mo | 1,000 hrs/mo | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| TranscribeCat | $200 | $2,000 | Flat $2/hr, no caps |
| Sonix | $1,000 | $10,000 | AI, $10/hr |
| Rev (AI) | $1,500 | $15,000 | AI, $0.25/min |
| GoTranscript | $4,740 | $47,400 | Human, faster than Rev |
| Rev (Human) | $9,000 | $90,000 | Highest accuracy, $1.50/min |
| Otter (Business) | ~$20/seat | scales by seat | Subscription, seat-capped |
| TurboScribe (Unlimited) | $20 (capped) | $20 (capped) | Daily file limits at higher 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 | Captioning rate | Per-hour equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| TranscribeCat | Included at $2/hr | $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 | Not exported as SRT | — |
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.
Start transcribingFree to sign up · Pay only when you transcribe