Why researchers use AI-first
A dissertation's 40 interview hours costs $3,600+ at human-service rates — or about $14 here (one $12 pack covers 33 hours). The standard workflow: AI-transcribe everything, then clean the handful of passages you'll quote directly against the audio, which the per-word timestamps make fast. Focus groups benefit from diarization; lectures benefit from the searchable archive when writing up. IRB-sensitive data note: processing happens on our own servers, audio is never used to train models, and hard-delete on request completes within 24 hours.
Formats that match the workflow
DOCX with speaker labels for coding in NVivo or ATLAS.ti, TXT for corpus tools, JSON with timings for computational analysis. Verbatim-certified transcripts for publication requirements are a human-service job — the directory lists academic specialists.
Questions buyers ask
How fast is turnaround?
About a minute of processing per half hour of audio — a 10-hour batch is typically done within the hour, not in 3-5 business days. Every file returns with speaker labels, timestamps, and TXT/DOCX/SRT/VTT exports.
What does it cost?
One-time credit packs: $8 for 1,000 minutes, $12 for 2,000 minutes, $24 for 5,000 — about 29-48¢ per audio hour. No per-seat subscription, no monthly minimum, and the credits never expire between projects.
Is my audio confidential?
Audio is processed on our own GPU servers — never sent to OpenAI, Google, AWS or any third-party AI cloud — and is never used to train any model. Transcripts delete on request, hard-deleted from storage within 24 hours.
When should I use a human service instead?
When you need certified transcripts for court, guaranteed 99%+ accuracy on poor audio, or full verbatim with every false start — that's worth a human's 100x price. Our human-services directory reviews the reputable vendors with current pricing. For everything else, AI-first then spot-check is the honest recommendation.
Related: Transcription services · Study transcripts · Lecture transcription · Human vendors