Head to head / AI Transcription
Descript vs OpenAI Whisper API
- →Descript has a free tier to start; OpenAI Whisper API does not.
| Compared | Descript | OpenAI Whisper API |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $24/mo | — |
| Free tier | Yes | — |
| Visit Descript | Visit OpenAI Whisper API |
Feature by feature
| Feature | Descript | OpenAI Whisper API |
|---|---|---|
| Languages | 26 (Latin only) | 90+ |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time | No | No |
| Speaker labels | Yes | No |
| Export formats | TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX, MP4 | JSON, TXT, SRT, VTT |
| Human option | No | No |
Descript
Podcasters and video creators who want to edit audio and video by editing the transcript.
- +Edit audio/video by editing text
- +Overdub voice clone plus Studio Sound
- +One-click filler-word ('um') removal
- +Record, transcribe, edit, publish in one
OpenAI Whisper API
Developers who want cheap, accurate multilingual batch transcription with a dead-simple API.
- +Strong multilingual accuracy across 90+ languages
- +Very low price per minute
- +Built-in translation to English
- +Newer gpt-4o-transcribe models available
Compared on the metrics we track for this category. Prices are the cheapest paid tier. Some links are affiliate links.