SquadCast

by SquadCast.fm (Descript)

Don’t want to sign up for SquadCast? 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.

Lossless remote-recording platform for podcasters.

Web  ·  from $20/mo

TL;DR

Best for podcast producers wanting lossless remote audio recording. Pricing: from $20/mo.

Category
Products
Pricing
from $20/mo
Platforms
Web

What it is

SquadCast is a remote-recording platform that captures each participant locally at lossless audio quality and uploads the files after the session. The product is widely used by podcast producers who prioritize audio quality over real-time monitoring. SquadCast was acquired by Descript in 2023 and is now positioned as the recording front-end to Descript's transcript-based editor. Pricing remains independent from Descript subscriptions; SquadCast offers monthly tiers based on recording-hour volume. The product is one of the standard tools in serious podcast production.

Best for: Podcast producers wanting lossless remote audio recording.
Watch out for: Acquired by Descript in 2023; integrated with Descript's editor.

Install / use

squadcast.fm — Indie $20/mo, Pro $40/mo, Studio $80/mo, Business contact

What people actually do with SquadCast-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 ZoomSlackNotionAirtableLoomMake.com

Features

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

SquadCast vs Whipscribe

FeatureSquadCastWhipscribe
CategoryProductsTranscription APIs
PricingNot verified$6–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · first 20 minutes free
Speaker identificationNot verifiedNamed in the summary, key quotes and chapters
Word timestampsNot verifiedYes
StreamingNot verifiedNo
Languages—99
PlatformsWebWeb, API, MCP

Alternatives to SquadCast

Frequently asked about SquadCast

How much does SquadCast cost?

SquadCast is a paid product — published pricing: from $20/mo. Pricing changes; verify on the vendor's own page before budgeting.

Does SquadCast work on Mac, Windows and Linux?

SquadCast 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 SquadCast?

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

What are the limitations of SquadCast?

Acquired by Descript in 2023; integrated with Descript's editor.

Who is SquadCast best for?

Podcast producers wanting lossless remote audio recording.

Is SquadCast open source?

No. SquadCast is a proprietary product from SquadCast.fm (Descript). 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 SquadCast desktop app?

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

Who makes SquadCast?

SquadCast is made by SquadCast.fm (Descript).

What kind of tool is SquadCast?

In this directory SquadCast is filed under meetings, podcast, recording as a product.

What are the alternatives to SquadCast?

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

Can I automate SquadCast-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 SquadCast?

SquadCast 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 SquadCast?

$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 SquadCast 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

Explore

Have the recording already?

Skip the setup and send the file or the link: see transcribing a long MP3 or M4A, transcribing a podcast episode and the SRT generator.

Looking at paid options?

Before you choose a transcription tool or service: see the best transcription services side by side, cheap transcription services and the real cost per hour and our transcription service with prices and turnaround.