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Transcription rates per minute, compared
WhipScribe's transcription rate is $0.008 a minute on the $4 pack of 500 minutes, falling to $0.0048 a minute on the $24 pack of 5,000, and the minutes never expire. It is AI transcription that takes about 2 minutes per hour of audio, with no subscription and no rush fee.
- $0.008 → $0.0048 a minute
- Credits never expire
- No seat fee
- No rush fee
Our rate card
You buy minutes in one-time packs and each recording uses minutes by its length: a 45-minute interview uses 45 minutes. The rate per minute is the pack price divided by its minutes. Because nothing expires, you get the rate you paid for even if the pack lasts a year.
| Pack | Minutes | Per minute | Per audio hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| $4 | 500 (8 h 20 min) | $0.008 | $0.48 |
| $8 | 1,000 (16 h 40 min) | $0.008 | $0.48 |
| $12 | 2,000 (33 h 20 min) | $0.006 | $0.36 |
| $24 | 5,000 (83 h 20 min) | $0.0048 | about $0.29 |
| Workspace | $19 a month, fair use of 700 hours a month | $0.0032 at 100 h | $0.19 at 100 h |
US dollars, as on our pricing page. Workspace's rate depends on how much you use in the month; at 40 hours it is about $0.008 a minute, the same as the small packs.
Per-minute rates: WhipScribe and 14 other services
A per-minute rate is only comparable once a subscription is turned into minutes. So the table gives each company's published no-subscription rate, if it has one, and then the cost per minute of its cheapest option for 10 hours and for 100 hours of recordings in one month. Every figure was read on the company's own pricing page on 4 October 2026; the full sums and the quote behind each price are in our price-per-hour comparison.
| Service | Pay per minute, no subscription | 10 h in a month, per minute | 100 h in a month, per minute | Unused minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WhipScribe | $0.008 to $0.0048 | $0.013 ($8 pack, 400 min kept) | $0.0032 (Workspace $19); $0.0053 in packs ($32) | Never expire |
| Notta | None offered | $0.022 (Pro $13.49) | $0.0047 (Business $27.99) | No carryover |
| Otter.ai | None offered | $0.028 (Pro $16.99) | $0.005 (Business $30) | Reset monthly |
| Fireflies.ai | None offered | $0.030 (Pro $18) | $0.008 (Pro + uploads, $48) | No rollover |
| TurboScribe | None offered | $0.033 (Unlimited $20) | $0.0033 (Unlimited $20) | No allowance (unlimited) |
| Descript | None offered | $0.040 (Hobbyist $24) | $0.044 (Creator + top-ups, $265) | Plan: not stated; top-ups last 12 months |
| Happy Scribe | None published ($0.20 top-ups need a plan) | $0.048 (Pro $29) | $0.015 (Business $89) | Plan minutes reset; top-ups kept |
| Rev (AI) | $0.25 | $0.050 (Essentials $29.99) | $0.010 (Pro $59.99) | Not stated |
| GoTranscript (AI) | $0.20 | $0.058 (subscription $35) | Not clear from the page | Not stated |
| Sonix | $0.167 ($10 an hour) | $0.083 (Advanced $50) | $0.113 (Pro + overage, $680) | Not stated |
| Maestra | $0.20 ($12 per 60 min) | $0.165 (Premium $99) | $0.20 (pay as you go) | Not stated |
| Trint | None offered | $0.167 (Pro $100) | $0.017 (Pro, within fair use) | No allowance (unlimited) |
| VEED | None offered | $0.245 (Creator, yearly billing) | Not possible in one month | Do not roll over |
| Temi | $0.25 | $0.25 | $0.25 | Not stated |
| Riverside | Free tool | $0 (free tool) | $0 (free tool) | Not applicable |
| Rev (human) | $1.99 | $1.99 | $1.99 | Pay per minute ordered |
Monthly plans are counted at one month's fee, with overage and top-ups at the listed rate. "Not stated" means the pricing page did not say. Riverside's free tool does not publish its file limits. Developer APIs cost less still (AssemblyAI lists $0.15 an hour, about $0.0025 a minute) but need code.
What the comparison shows
- Among published pay-per-minute rates, ours was the lowest (developer APIs and free tools aside). The next was Sonix at about $0.167 a minute; the others were $0.20 to $0.25.
- For 10 hours in a month, we were the lowest paid option: $8, or $0.013 a minute, against $13.49 at Notta.
- For 100 hours in a month, packs are not the cheapest. TurboScribe ($20), Notta ($27.99) and Otter.ai ($30) were below our $32 in packs. Workspace at $19 was lower than all of them.
- Most low rates are subscriptions whose minutes reset. A $0.005 rate is only real if you use the whole month's allowance; minutes you do not use are gone. Ours stay on the account.
How to get the lowest rate
- Upload a file or paste a link. Any audio or video file up to 10 hours or 5 GB, or a YouTube, podcast, RSS, Google Drive, Twitch or Kick link.
- Read the free summary. It shows whether the recording was understood before you spend anything.
- Buy for the year, not the week. The $12 and $24 packs cut the rate to $0.006 and $0.0048 a minute, and nothing expires.
- Move to Workspace when you transcribe every day. Above about 40 hours a month on the small packs, or about 65 hours on the $24 pack, $19 a month costs less.
Not sure how many minutes you need? The transcription cost calculator works it out from your hours.
What the rate includes
- A timestamped transcript you can read, search and correct in the browser, exported as TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT or JSON.
- A summary with the thesis and takeaways, chapters with timestamps, the names, numbers and dates that were said, and a chat over the transcript. Speakers are identified and named in the summary, key quotes and chapters.
- 99+ languages, detected automatically.
- Speed with no surcharge: about 2 minutes per hour of audio, and most files finish in under a minute. There is no urgent or same-day rate because every file gets the same turnaround.
- No seat fee. One balance covers everyone who uploads, and the API is included with any pack or Workspace.
- Privacy. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training.
When a human rate is worth paying
At $1.99 a minute, Rev's human transcription costs about 250 times our small-pack rate, and for some jobs that is fair: a person checks every line. Pay it when the transcript will be filed with a court or must be certified, must be strictly verbatim, needs each line to carry its speaker's name, or the audio is so poor you would re-listen to most of it anyway. Our directory of human transcription services lists published human rates.
Rate questions
What is a normal transcription rate per minute?
For AI transcription without a subscription, the published rates we read on 4 October 2026 were $0.17 to $0.25 a minute: Sonix $10 an hour, GoTranscript's AI tier and Maestra $0.20, Rev's AI and Temi $0.25. Human transcription at Rev is $1.99 a minute. WhipScribe is $0.008 a minute on the $4 pack and $0.0048 on the $24 pack.
How much does a transcription service cost for one hour of audio?
On WhipScribe an hour is 60 minutes of a pack: $0.48 on the $4 and $8 packs, $0.36 on the $12 pack and about $0.29 on the $24 pack. Rev's pay-as-you-go AI rate works out to $15 an hour and its human rate to $119.40 an hour, read 4 October 2026.
Can I pay per minute without a subscription?
Yes. WhipScribe sells one-time packs from $4 for 500 minutes. Each recording uses minutes by its length, nothing renews, and you can buy another pack when you run low. Otter.ai, Notta, TurboScribe, Fireflies.ai, Descript, Trint and VEED sold no pay-as-you-go option on 4 October 2026.
Do unused minutes expire?
No. Pack credits never expire, so the $24 pack's rate of $0.0048 a minute holds even if you use it over a year. Otter.ai, Notta, Fireflies.ai and VEED state that their monthly minutes do not roll over.
Is there a rush or same-day rate?
No. Every file is processed the same way at the same rate: about 2 minutes per hour of audio, and most files finish in under a minute. There is no rush fee and no slower, cheaper tier.
What does a team or a company pay?
The same per-minute rate. There is no seat fee, so one balance covers everyone who uploads, and the API is included with any pack or Workspace. Teams that transcribe every day can take Workspace at $19 a month, with fair use of 700 hours a month.
Can I see the result before paying?
Yes. The summary of any recording is free to read, so you can check that the audio was understood. A pack from $4 for 500 minutes opens the full transcript.
When is a human per-minute rate worth paying?
When the transcript will be filed with a court, must be certified or strictly verbatim, each line has to carry its speaker's name, or the recording is so poor that you would re-listen to most of it. WhipScribe is AI only and names speakers in the summary, key quotes and chapters.
Check the rate on your own recording
Read the summary free, then open the full transcript with a pack from $4 for 500 minutes.
Transcribe a fileRelated pages
- WhipScribe pricing: every pack and the Workspace plan.
- What transcription costs per hour, compared: the sources and arithmetic behind the table above.
- Cheap transcription services: what an hour of audio costs, workload by workload.
- Pay as you go transcription: buying minutes once instead of a plan.
- Rev pricing explained
- Transcription services: AI, human and do-it-yourself compared.
Sources. Competitor rates come from each company's own pricing page, read on 4 October 2026; the page links, verbatim quotes and sums are in /proof/price-per-hour and its raw data. Per-minute figures are our arithmetic from those list prices. Prices change; check the company's page before you buy. Company names are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with them.
Need recordings transcribed?
Upload a file or paste a link: see our transcription service with prices and turnaround, audio transcription services for interviews and calls and online transcription services.