edX Captions
Don’t want to sign up for edX Captions? Drop the file here.
The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free: a recording up to 20 minutes transcribes in full, a longer one is previewed, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export, and credits never expire.
edX Open edX platform with caption tracks attached to every course video.
Best for learners who use the transcript pane on edX courses as a study tool while watching lectures. Pricing: free.
What it is
edX courses ship with caption tracks for every video lesson; transcripts appear in a side pane that highlights as the lecturer speaks and lets learners click into the video. The Open edX platform supports caption ingest from partner ASR vendors.
Watch out for: Open edX self-hosters must run their own ASR pipeline; not a licensable caption product.
What people actually do with edX Captions-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.
Features
| Speaker diarization | No |
| Word-level timestamps | Yes |
| Streaming / real-time | No |
| Languages supported | None |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
edX Captions vs Whipscribe
| Feature | edX Captions | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Products | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | Not verified | $6–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · first 20 minutes free |
| Speaker identification | Not verified | Named in the summary, key quotes and chapters |
| Word timestamps | Not verified | Yes |
| Streaming | Not verified | No |
| Languages | — | 99 |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to edX Captions
Frequently asked about edX Captions
Is edX Captions free?
Yes. edX Captions is free.
Does edX Captions work on Mac, Windows and Linux?
edX Captions runs on Web, iOS and Android.
How do I get started with edX Captions?
There is nothing to install — edX Captions is used in the browser. Create an account on the vendor's site and upload or connect your audio.
What are the limitations of edX Captions?
Open edX self-hosters must run their own ASR pipeline; not a licensable caption product.
Who is edX Captions best for?
Learners who use the transcript pane on edX courses as a study tool while watching lectures.
Is edX Captions open source?
No. edX Captions is a proprietary product from 2U / edX. If you need source you can read and run yourself, the open-source tools in this directory are the place to look.
Who makes edX Captions?
edX Captions is made by 2U / edX.
What kind of tool is edX Captions?
In this directory edX Captions is filed under mooc as a product.
What are the alternatives to edX Captions?
There is a side-by-side page at /tools/edx-captions-alternatives comparing edX Captions with the closest tools in the same category on price, platform and features.
Can I automate edX Captions-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. $0.012 a minute — about $0.72 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 edX Captions?
edX Captions is another vendor's product; Whipscribe is a per-minute transcription service. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training, and every job returns five formats plus an AI summary, quotes and topics. The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export.
What does transcription cost if I use Whipscribe instead of edX Captions?
$0.012 a minute — about $0.72 an audio hour — bought as credits that never expire. There is no subscription and no monthly minimum: a 3-hour recording is about $2.16, a thousand-hour archive is about $720 once. The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export, so you can see what your recording holds before paying anything.
Where is the edX Captions 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 servers, and an MCP server.
Whipscribe is a hosted transcription 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.
Transcribe your recordings
Using edX Captions today? Send your next recording here and compare the transcript. Transcribe any language, any recording · Transcription services from $0.29 an hour · Transcribe from any meeting or recording platform · How to transcribe, step by step
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Need the subtitle file itself?
Upload the recording or paste a link and download SRT or VTT: see an SRT subtitle file from any recording, the YouTube to SRT page and subtitles for any video.
Comparing tools before you pay?
If you would rather pay a service than run software yourself: see an honest roundup of the best transcription services, the cheapest way to transcribe an hour of audio and transcription services from $6.