Pricing
Two ways to transcribe
Transcribe Cloud is billed by the hour and fully handled by us — no plan needed, $6.00/hr pay-as-you-go. Transcribe Local runs on your own computer, unlimited for everyone; its offline edition keeps the text there too, licensed by the year.
Transcribe Local
- Several open-source engines transcribe in parallel on your own computer (Mac or Windows) — your audio never leaves your computer
- 28 languages, unlimited for everyone, without using your free allowance
- Merge step: free with your own API key, or $1.20/hr from your balance
- One-line install on Mac or Windows
Transcribe Cloud
- Several commercial engines transcribe in parallel
- We handle the merge and web-check names — you only watch your credit
- Suited to interviews you deliver, dense with names and terms
- All 28 languages
Transcribe Local offline edition
- Transcription and merging both on your computer — neither audio nor text leaves it, and it works offline
- $149 / year, with a 14-day free trial, no card needed
- Needs an M-series Mac or 64-bit Windows with 16 GB of memory or more
- One licence, one computer; not part of the plans below — bought separately, by the year
- A Transcribe Cloud job uses your trial minutes first, then this month’s credit, then your balance — one job can span all three.
- On a plan, Transcribe Cloud is billed at that plan’s rate, including after the monthly credit runs out. Unused credit expires at the end of each billing month.
- Upgrades take effect at once at the new plan’s full price; the billing month restarts that day and the unused credit on your old plan carries over at its dollar value.
- Downgrades and cancellations take effect at the end of the billing month and can be undone until then; cancelling leaves your balance and trial minutes untouched.
- Post-processing on Transcribe Cloud transcripts costs nothing extra — it doesn't touch your balance or this month’s credit.
- The offline edition renews yearly and can be cancelled any time; you keep it until the end of the paid year, then get 30 more days of grace. After that, existing transcripts still open, review and export — only new recordings can’t be transcribed.
- Offline edition trial: install Transcribe Local (one command, from the upload page once you’re signed in) and sign in with the same email in its console; once per account and per computer. It works offline for up to 30 days and re-checks the licence when back online.
What the price actually buys
A single-pass price never buys you the one thing that matters: knowing where to look.
Demo · 51:22In review · 1
04:12Interviewer: How did you handle the coding for that round?
04:19Interviewee: We coded it in NVivo — everyone on the team already knew it, so it was one less thing to set up.
Engines disagreeChecked online
“NVivo”
Engines heard: in vivo ×2 · Envivo ×1 · NVivo ×1
Web lookup: the analysis software by that name
The count says “in vivo”. Verified: it’s NVivo, the analysis software. Your call.
Confirm ✓Replace
Several engines · 1 web check · 1 to confirm
How billing works
- ·One rate for all 28 languages, shown before you upload.
- ·The rate is locked in when you upload — later price changes don’t affect jobs already submitted.
- ·Priced per hour, prorated to the exact second — a partial minute costs only its actual seconds, never rounded up.
- ·Failed jobs aren’t charged — if a job fails due to maintenance or an engine failure, you pay nothing for it.
- ·Up to 4 hours and 2 GB per file — the same for free and paid uploads.
- ·A proper invoice with every payment — one per billing month on a plan — that drops straight into a project budget.
- ·Serious quality defects: that transcription refunded in full
- ·Account balance is non-transferable and cannot be withdrawn as cash; it may only be used to pay for transcription. See section 4 of the Terms for refunds.
An example: pay as you go
A 1-hour interview ≈ $6.00 — the same in every one of the 28 languages.
Partial minutes count too: a 3 min 29 s recording = 209 s ÷ 3600 × $6.00 = $0.35 — not billed as 4 minutes.
A 12-interview project, an hour each ≈ $72.00.
We hold an estimate at upload, then settle on the measured length — the difference goes back to you.
Optional add-on: post-processing
A confirmed transcript can go further: narrative and redaction, one step or both, each with checks built in. No extra charge on Transcribe Cloud transcripts.
How you pay
- ·Plans renew monthly and the offline edition yearly; either can be cancelled any time, and you keep access until the end of the period.
- ·Payment is taken on a secure hosted checkout — we never see or store your card details.
- ·Cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay are accepted; in mainland China, top-ups can also be paid with WeChat Pay (not subscriptions for now). Checkout lists what is available in your region. Priced and settled in USD; currency conversion is handled by the payment provider.
- ·Any tax that applies in your country is shown before you confirm. Refunds are handled under section 4 of the Terms.