Best Podcast Transcription Software (Cost Per Hour)

A podcast transcript does more work than most hosts expect. It is the raw material for show notes, chapters, quotes, captions and search, and it is what makes a back catalog readable. So the cheapest transcript is not always the best one, and the most expensive one is not always accurate on the words that matter, which are guest names and jargon.

This guide compares transcription options on cost per hour of audio and on the limits that catch podcasters out, such as caps on file imports. Prices come from each vendor's pricing page, read on September 26, 2026, and linked below. We did not benchmark accuracy, so at the end we give you a five-minute test to run on your own audio. We are building Episodemate, an assistant for podcasters that is not released yet, and we have no commercial tie to any tool here.

Cost per hour, side by side

This is our arithmetic from the plan sizes on each page, assuming you use the full allowance. It is a comparison of price, not of quality.

The OpenAI prices come from OpenAI's API pricing page. A 60-minute episode costs about 18 cents on the mini model and 36 cents on the standard one, before any editing tool or interface.

The options

Whisper on your own computer

OpenAI released Whisper as open-source software, and you can run it locally at no per-minute cost. It needs a reasonably capable computer for speed, and it leaves you with plain text and no editor. It is the default choice for developers and for anyone with a big archive. Its weak spot is names and jargon, which you can improve with a glossary and a short script, as we describe in our guide to fixing names and jargon in podcast transcripts.

OpenAI's transcription API

If you would rather not run software, the API is the cheapest hosted option in this list at $0.003 to $0.006 a minute. You write a few lines of code or use a no-code automation to send the audio. There is no interface and no editor, so this suits people who already work with code.

Otter

Otter was built for meetings, and its limits show it. The free Basic plan gives 300 monthly transcription minutes, caps each conversation at 30 minutes and allows only 3 lifetime file imports. Pro costs $8.33 a user a month billed yearly ($16.99 monthly) with 1,200 in-app recording minutes, up to 90 minutes a conversation and 10 file imports a month. Business is $19.99 a month billed yearly with unlimited imports.

For a podcaster, the import cap is the catch. Uploading a recorded episode counts as an import, so Pro's 10 a month covers a weekly show but not an archive.

Descript

Descript transcribes inside its editor, in 25 languages, and can detect 8 or more speakers. Transcription draws on your media hours: 60 minutes on Free, 10 hours on Hobbyist ($16 a month yearly), 30 on Creator and 40 on Business. If you are already editing there, the transcript is a byproduct. Paying for Descript only to transcribe costs more per hour than the tools above.

Riverside

Riverside lists unlimited transcription on its paid plans, starting at $24 a month billed yearly. The page does not say whether that covers audio recorded elsewhere, so check before you rely on it for an archive. It suits an interview show that already records in Riverside. We compare it in more depth in Descript vs Riverside.

Async (formerly Podcastle)

Async lists audio transcription of 10 hours on Essentials, 25 on Pro and 100 on Teams, and 2 hours for life on the free plan. Prices above are its yearly rates. The plans are credit-based and shared with video and image tools, which you may not need.

Happy Scribe

Happy Scribe covers 150 or more languages for AI transcription and more than 60 for human-made transcripts. Its plans are Basic at $17 a month ($8.50 billed yearly), Pro at $29 ($19 yearly) and Business at $89 ($59 yearly), with allowances that range from 120 to 6,000 minutes a month, and extra AI minutes at $0.20. Human-made transcription starts at $2.00 a minute with 99% accuracy claimed and delivery from 4 hours. There is a 10-minute free trial.

Human transcripts cost more than 300 times as much per hour as OpenAI's standard transcription model. They make sense for a book excerpt or a legal quote, and rarely for a weekly show.

Auphonic

Auphonic is mainly an audio processor, but its paid plans add multilingual speech recognition. The S plan is $11 a month yearly for 9 hours. The free plan does not include speech recognition.

Your podcast host

Check your host before you pay anyone. Many include transcripts.

• RSS.com lists transcripts among its Free plan features and AI-generated transcripts on paid plans, per its pricing page.
• Buzzsprout creates transcripts automatically on paid plans and does not include them on the free plan, per its pricing page.
• Castos includes a monthly transcript allowance: 10 on Essentials, 25 on Growth and 100 on Pro, per its pricing page.
• Transistor lists transcription as an add-on in its plan details, per its pricing page.

Host-provided transcripts are often published with your episode, which helps listeners and search. They are also the ones you can least edit, so check how corrections work.

What about Rev?

Rev's pricing page now presents its plans for legal and investigative work, with features such as deposition citations. Its free tier gives 45 AI minutes a month for English only. It can still transcribe audio, but the plans are not aimed at podcasters.

Free ways to get a transcript

For a single episode a month, Descript Free or Otter Basic will do. For more, Whisper on your own computer or the API is where the cost per hour drops.

Test accuracy on your own audio

Accuracy claims on pricing pages rarely tell you how a tool handles your guests and your niche. Run this test:

1. 1

   Cut a 10-minute clip

   Use a real episode that includes a guest name and some jargon.

2. 2

   List the names and terms in a text file

   One per line, spelled correctly.

3. 3

   Transcribe the clip with two or three tools

   Save each result as its own text file.

4. 4

   Run the script on the outputs

   It counts how many of your terms each tool spelled correctly.

"""Count how many of your known names and terms each transcript spells correctly."""
import re
import sys
from pathlib import Path


def load_terms(path):
    lines = Path(path).read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines()
    return [line.strip() for line in lines if line.strip() and not line.startswith("#")]


def check(terms, text):
    found, missing = [], []
    for term in terms:
        pattern = r"\b" + re.escape(term) + r"\b"
        (found if re.search(pattern, text, re.IGNORECASE) else missing).append(term)
    return found, missing


if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) < 3:
        sys.exit("usage: name_check.py <terms.txt> <transcript.txt> [more transcripts...]")
    terms = load_terms(sys.argv[1])
    for name in sys.argv[2:]:
        text = Path(name).read_text(encoding="utf-8")
        found, missing = check(terms, text)
        print(f"{name}: {len(found)}/{len(terms)} terms correct")
        if missing:
            print("  missing or misspelled:", ", ".join(missing))

Save it as name_check.py and run python3 name_check.py terms.txt toolA.txt toolB.txt. Output looks like this on invented test files:

toolA.txt: 3/4 terms correct
  missing or misspelled: Spoke and Sprocket
toolB.txt: 1/4 terms correct
  missing or misspelled: Dana Ortiz, Kubernetes, WhisperX

The tool that gets the most terms right on your audio is the one to use, whatever its price. A tool that misses names will cost you time in cleanup, and our guide to what a good podcast transcript looks like shows what to fix.

Which one should you pick?

Questions people ask

What is the most accurate podcast transcription software? We did not benchmark accuracy, so we cannot rank it. Vendors publish claims, and the test above measures what matters for your show.

Is there a free podcast transcript generator? Yes. Whisper on your own computer has no limit, and Descript, Otter and Async offer free plans with the caps listed above.

How long does transcription take? It depends on the tool and the file. Hosted AI tools typically process faster than real time, and local Whisper depends on your computer.

Can transcripts help my show get found? Publishing the transcript gives search engines text to index, and it is one of the reasons hosts add them. See our guide to podcast show notes for how to pair the two.