Head to head / AI Transcription

Descript vs Speechmatics

The verdict
  • Descript has a free tier to start; Speechmatics does not.
ComparedDescriptSpeechmatics
Starting price$24/mo$0.13/hr
Free tierYes
Visit DescriptVisit Speechmatics

Feature by feature

FeatureDescriptSpeechmatics
Languages26 (Latin only)56+
APIYesYes (core product)
Real-timeNoYes
Speaker labelsYesYes (diarization)
Export formatsTXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX, MP4JSON, TXT, SRT
Human optionNoNo

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

Speechmatics

Teams and developers needing accurate, accent-robust transcription with on-prem and enterprise deployment options.

  • +Strong accuracy across accents and dialects
  • +Speaker diarization and custom dictionary included
  • +Generous free tier (~50 hours/month)
  • +Real-time and batch, plus on-prem deployment

Compared on the metrics we track for this category. Prices are the cheapest paid tier. Some links are affiliate links.