Transcription Cost Calculator
A $20 plan can cover 50 hours on one tool and 5 on another. Enter how much audio you transcribe and the calculator finds the cheapest plan on each of five tools, including minute caps, file caps and per-file length limits. Prices checked October 17, 2026.
| Tool | Cheapest plan that fits | Per month | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| ScribeToAny | Plus | $10.00 | $1.00 |
| Otter.ai | ProTranscribes 6 languages | $16.99 | $1.70 |
| HappyScribe | Pro | $29.00 | $2.90 |
| Rev | Essentials | $29.99 | $3.00 |
| Sonix | Advanced | $50.00 | $5.00 |
How the numbers are worked out
- Every self-serve plan of each tool is tried, and the cheapest one that covers your hours, your number of files and your longest file is shown. Free plans count when they fit.
- Minutes beyond a plan’s allowance are bought the way each vendor sells them: Sonix at $10 an hour, HappyScribe top-ups at $0.20 a minute, ScribeToAny one-time minute packs ($5 for 300 minutes, $10 for 800 minutes, $20 for 2,000 minutes). Otter and Rev have no self-serve top-up, so a bigger plan is needed.
- Yearly prices are divided by 12. HappyScribe’s yearly plans grant minutes per year; they are counted as a twelfth per month.
- Not included: live meeting bots, human transcription, extra team seats and accuracy differences. For those, and for when another tool is the better pick, read our transcription pricing comparison.
FAQ
- How much does transcription cost per hour?
- For machine transcription of uploaded files, the five tools here range from about $0.20 an hour (ScribeToAny Pro on yearly billing, used in full) to $10 an hour (Sonix pay-as-you-go). Human-made transcripts cost far more: HappyScribe’s human proofreading starts at $2.00 a minute.
- Which tool is cheapest?
- It depends on volume. On monthly billing ScribeToAny is the cheapest of the five up to roughly 55 hours a month. Above that, two plans with large allowances can come out ahead: Rev Essentials (5,000 minutes for $29.99, English and Spanish only) and Otter Business (6,000 imported minutes for $30, files up to 4 hours, 6 languages). The calculator shows whichever is cheaper for the numbers you enter.
- Why does the number of files matter?
- Some plans cap files, not just minutes. Otter Pro includes 1,200 minutes but only 10 imported files a month, and ScribeToAny’s free plan takes 2 files a day. Long recordings hit per-file caps too: Otter Pro and HappyScribe Basic stop at 90 minutes, ScribeToAny’s paid plans at 6 hours.
- Are these prices current?
- They were read off each vendor’s public pricing page on October 17, 2026. Prices are in USD before tax, for one user, without student or promotional discounts. Vendors change prices, so check their page before you buy.
Sources
Prices and limits as published on October 17, 2026. Otter.ai, Rev, Sonix and HappyScribe are trademarks of their owners; this calculator is independent and not endorsed by any of them. Spotted a changed price? Tell us.