CaptionMax

by CaptionMax

Long-standing US captioning and audio-description vendor for broadcast and streaming.

Looking at CaptionMax? Try this first.

Drop your audio. Transcript in seconds. First transcript free, then $4 = 300 min

TL;DR

Best for networks and streamers that need both captioning and audio description from a single FCC-savvy vendor. Pricing: service · contact sales.

Category
service
License
Stars
Last push
Pricing
service · contact sales
Platforms
Web

What it is

CaptionMax has produced US closed captions, subtitles and audio descriptions since 1990. Particular strength in audio description for the FCC video-description quota and Section 508 deliverables.

Best for: Networks and streamers that need both captioning and audio description from a single FCC-savvy vendor.
Watch out for: Project-based pricing; not a self-serve product.

Install / use

captionmax.com — contact

What people actually do with CaptionMax-style transcription

The tool is the means. These are the jobs — each one priced at published rates, each one wired up on its own page.

Wire it into Google DriveYouTubeAmazon S3n8nZapierMake.com

Features

Speaker diarizationNo
Word-level timestampsNo
Streaming / real-timeNo
Languages supportedNone
HIPAA eligibleNo

CaptionMax vs Whipscribe

FeatureCaptionMaxWhipscribe
CategoryserviceTranscription APIs
Pricingservice · contact sales$8–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · $2 single unlock · free instant preview
Speaker diarizationYes
Word timestampsYes
StreamingNo
Languages99
PlatformsWebWeb, API, MCP

Alternatives to CaptionMax

Frequently asked about CaptionMax

How much does CaptionMax cost?

CaptionMax does not publish a self-serve price — it is quoted by the vendor on contact. Expect an enterprise-style agreement rather than a card-and-go signup.

Does CaptionMax work on Mac, Windows and Linux?

CaptionMax runs in the browser, so it works on any desktop OS with a modern browser, and on phones and tablets.

How do I get started with CaptionMax?

There is nothing to install — CaptionMax is used in the browser. Create an account on the vendor's site and upload or connect your audio.

What are the limitations of CaptionMax?

Project-based pricing; not a self-serve product.

Who is CaptionMax best for?

Networks and streamers that need both captioning and audio description from a single FCC-savvy vendor.

Is CaptionMax open source?

No. CaptionMax is a proprietary service. If you need source you can read and run yourself, the open-source tools in this directory are the place to look.

Is there a CaptionMax desktop app?

No — CaptionMax is browser-only. There is nothing to install and nothing runs on your machine.

What kind of tool is CaptionMax?

In this directory CaptionMax is filed under broadcast, compliance as a service.

What are the alternatives to CaptionMax?

There is a side-by-side page at /tools/captionmax-alternatives comparing CaptionMax with the closest tools in the same category on price, platform and features.

Can I automate CaptionMax-style transcription without running it myself?

Yes. If what you want is transcripts rather than the tool itself, Whipscribe does the same job as a hosted API: submit a file or URL, poll a job id, pull the result as txt, json, srt, vtt or docx. $0.008 a minute — about $0.48 an audio hour — bought as credits that never expire. The automation recipes on this site show it wired to Drive folders, Zoom recordings, S3 buckets and no-code platforms.

How is Whipscribe different from CaptionMax?

CaptionMax is another vendor's product; Whipscribe is a per-minute transcription service. We run the models on our own GPUs in a private cloud — audio is never forwarded to OpenAI or any third-party model — and every job returns five formats plus an AI summary, quotes and topics. Your first transcript in the web app is free at any length, no card.

What does transcription cost if I use Whipscribe instead of CaptionMax?

$0.008 a minute — about $0.48 an audio hour — bought as credits that never expire. There is no subscription and no monthly minimum: a 3-hour recording is about $1.44, a thousand-hour archive is about $480 once. Your first transcript in the web app is free at any length, no card, so you can check accuracy on your own audio before paying anything.

Where is the CaptionMax category heading?

Three things are moving across the whole speech-to-text market right now: summaries, action items and speaker insights generated on top of the transcript rather than sold separately; private, secured deployment where the audio never leaves a boundary you control; and agent access — transcription exposed as a tool that Claude, Cursor or a workflow runner can call directly. Whipscribe ships all three today: per-job insights, our own GPUs, and an MCP server.

Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.

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