Six Affordable Transcription Services That Make Any Journalist's Life Much Easier

Transcription—the process of putting thoughts, speech, or data into written or printed form—can be quite time consuming and not every journalist has the time to transcribe the interviews they conduct themselves. Thankfully, there are quite a few transcription services on the market that can speed up the writing process.

Some of these services are more affordable than others so you should always be cognizant of your budget, especially when freelancing. The next time you have audio files to transcribe, be sure to keep these services in mind.

REV

Would any list of transcription services be complete without Rev? Certainly not.

Rev has intuitive software and lets you choose whether you want an AI- or human-generated transcription. It offers subtitles and captions as well as web editing and group collaboration features. The website is simple to navigate and turnaround on your files is fast—with few errors. Just keep in mind that it’s one of the more expensive options: A $29.99 monthly subscription lets you transcribe 20 hours of audio recordings. Another potential drawback: Rev mobile app is also not integrated for web memberships.

OTTER

Otter can generate transcripts of interviews that you can later edit. It has a mobile app and Chrome extension and has been steadily improving since debuting in 2016. Its Pro plan for users who need more than the occasional transcription is valued at $8.33 per month, or $49.98 annually. It allows 90 minutes per individual recording, and up to 1,200 minutes of transcription per month.

Otter’s free version is quite generous, allowing for 300 minutes of transcription per month, and up to 30 minutes per individual recording. This is an excellent option—for many people, the free version offers more than enough.

Otter is not without cons: Consider that it has low accuracy scores for both simple and complex audio tests.

TRINT

Right off the bat, you should know that Trint is more expensive than other options: $60 per month for seven automated transcriptions. But it’s a stellar choice for people who create mostly video content. It ranks pretty highly on accuracy for simple records and boasts excellent online editing options. Trint can add closed captioning to video and audio files. Even better, it’s mobile app is pretty great, too.

GOOGLE PINPOINT

Google released Google Pinpoint in late 2020 under the Google News Initiative. It’s not just a transcription service—it’s also an excellent project management app and an unequivocal boon for journalists.

According to Google, Google Pinpoint can help you:

• “Quickly find important stories within troves of forms, handwritten documents, images, e-mail archives, PDFs, and more.”

• “Understand and filter documents by key people, organizations, and locations.”

• And, given the theme of this article, it can “Convert audio files to text, search them, and jump from selected text to the corresponding place in the track.”

Did we mention that it’s completely free?

SCRIBIE

Scribie is an attractive option for many people because it’s one of the cheaper options on the market. Its transcriptions are generally accurate and reliable. It’s great for people who do not need a lot of transcriptions done on a regular basis. The biggest drawback for some is that its website is a little clunky and it has no mobile app. But if you’re in a pinch, this might be the place to go: Scribie’s prices start at $0.10 per minute of audio.

GOTRANSCRIPT

GoTranscript is highly ranked for human-generated transcriptions. Prices on GoTranscript start at $0.90 per minute of audio. Prices for human-generated transcriptions are much higher on the sites of its competitors, Rev and Scribe. The cons: There is no automated option and the standard turnaround time is five days. Notably, if you’re editing at any time, keep at mind that there isn’t an autosave option.