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The Best Transcription Services

Where Can You Find the Best Transcription Service?

Imagine you've just wrapped up a lively brainstorming session with your marketing team. Ideas were flowing freely - but no one remembered to take detailed notes. Here's where transcription services come to the rescue. They can turn all those spoken words into a clear, written format, so no winning idea gets lost.

Simply put, transcription services take what's said in audio or video and turn it into text. And this isn't only useful for missing meeting notes. It also spans across various fields like legal, medical, and business, making sure important spoken information is accurately captured and easily revisited in text form.

Tuesday, March 19th

2024 Transcription Service Reviews

Transcribe Me Review Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award 5 Star Rating

Transcribe Me

5 Star Rating Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award

TranscribeMe offers a combination of human and AI-driven transcription services, catering to legal, medical, enterprise, and general needs, all with a strong focus on data privacy. Their pricing starts at $0.79 per minute, with options for different accuracy levels, and they've been recognized with an "A+" grade from the BBB. Additionally, they provide specialized processes for HIPAA-compliant files, ensuring strict privacy and security. Positive customer feedback, a responsive support team, and over a decade in the industry solidify TranscribeMe's reputation as the leading choice for transcription services.

Transcription Hub Review 4.5 Star Rating

Transcription Hub

4.5 Star Rating

Transcription Hub is a transcription service provider specializing in legal and medical transcription. They offer cost-effective plans starting at $0.75/minute with 99% accuracy. They are HIPAA compliant and prioritize data security by binding team members with confidentiality agreements. They have a clientele across the US, Canada, and the UK and hold an "A+" rating from the BBB. With over 8,000 customers, they have become a trusted ally for managing transcription needs in over 35 languages.

Rev Review 4 Star Rating

Rev

4 Star Rating

Rev is a leading speech-to-text service founded in 2010. They provide accurate transcriptions, captions, and subtitles by connecting skilled freelancers with customers. With over 72,000 human transcriptionists and advanced speech recognition AI, Rev offers fast and affordable services. They charge $1.50 per minute for human transcription, with optional timestamps for $0.30 per minute. Rev delivers projects under 30 minutes within 12 hours. They integrate with various apps and offer a free Transcript Editor for easy editing and file access. Additionally, Rev offers AI services like live captioning for Zoom, AI auto audio transcription, and subtitle translation. While they have a 4.2-star rating on Trustpilot, there have been customer complaints about support and refunds - keeping Rev from scoring a little higher in our rankings.

Trint Review 4 Star Rating

Trint

4 Star Rating

Trint, developed by journalist Jeff Kofman, uses AI to convert audio and video to text, catering to journalism and media. It offers transcription, translation, and collaborative editing. While its pricing model and Starter plan limitations have been criticized, the Advanced and Enterprise plans are praised for their comprehensive features, including unlimited transcriptions and real-time collaboration. Data privacy is a priority, but Trint is not HIPAA certified. It faces AI transcription issues, such as difficulty with accents, but stands out in the media and journalism domain with its focused offerings and strong customer support.

Sonix Review 3.5 Star Rating

Sonix

3.5 Star Rating

Sonix is an AI-driven platform that offers affordable transcription, translation, and video production services in multiple languages. Even with pricing starting at a low $0.16/minute for transcription, they still offer special discounts for students, educators, and non-profits. However, Sonix's complete reliance on AI means the transcription quality can vary based on audio clarity and might not be preferable over more adaptable human transcription.

Scribie Review 3 Star Rating

Scribie

3 Star Rating

Scribie, a transcription service blending AI and human input, once drew our attention with standout features like free automated transcripts and a compelling pricing structure, but recent shifts have dimmed its shine. While the company still promises a reliable 99% accuracy via a detailed 4-step transcription process and has a reputation for good customer service, subtle pricing adjustments and the elimination of their previously free (and later, low-cost) AI transcription service have nudged it toward the ordinary. Some inconsistencies and outdated information on their website suggest a need for a little housekeeping to maintain customer trust. Ultimately, Scribie delivers a decent service but has surrendered some of its early unique appeal, positioning itself as a solid, if not remarkable, option in the transcription market.

Go Transcript Review 2.5 Star Rating

Go Transcript

2.5 Star Rating

GoTranscript, an Edinburgh-based startup founded in 2005, offers human-powered transcription services and translation services. They pride themselves on not relying on inaccurate speech-to-text software. Their pricing starts at $0.84 per minute, with various turnaround time options available. GoTranscript follows a 4-step transcription process to guarantee 99% accuracy, but some users have reported issues with accuracy, especially when accents and specific terminology were involved. Worse, many of their 5-star reviews appear to be fake, casting doubt on GoTranscript's credibility. Given these factors, it might be a good idea to look into other transcription services before committing to this one.

We Scribe It Review 2 Star Rating

We Scribe It

2 Star Rating

WeScribeIt, a transcription service from the U.S. launched in 2008, promises a high accuracy rate and provides various transcription services, but a few issues give us pause. The starting price of $1.50/minute for General transcription, which can rise with additional costs for more speakers and faster delivery, doesn't stack up well against the competition. A noticeable absence of customer reviews or a listing on well-known review platforms raises eyebrows about their claims and customer approval. Add to that a website that hasn't been updated, even to correct typos, and it's hard to fully back their promise of professionalism and reliability. So, despite their wide array of services, we find it hard to wholeheartedly recommend them.

Transcribe Review 1.5 Star Rating

Transcribe

1.5 Star Rating

Transcribe by Wreally is a tool made mainly for people who do freelance transcription work, offering two payment plans with a focus on keeping user data private and allowing work without an internet connection. However, users have found issues with its automatic transcription service, as it often makes mistakes that take time to correct. Although it has some good points like privacy and offline use, the overall user feedback and its performance compared to other services make it not the best choice for everyone, especially considering there are both cheaper and higher-quality options available in the market.

Temi Review 1.5 Star Rating

Temi

1.5 Star Rating

Temi, an AI-powered speech-to-text service, offers transcription for MP3 and MP4 files at a rate of $0.25 per minute, though its pricing is not the most competitive in the AI transcription market. While it provides quick turnaround times without monthly subscriptions, its accuracy has recently come under scrutiny according to user reviews, citing frequent errors even with clear audio. Temi lacks some useful features like support for personalized dictionaries and struggles with non-American accents. Despite being more affordable than human transcription services, the potential time cost of correcting errors and its relatively basic features may outweigh its financial savings, making it hard to widely recommend.

Compare the Best Reviews

Continued from above...

You'll find two main types of transcription: manual and automated. Manual involves a person listening to the audio and typing it out, capturing nuances and context but potentially taking more time and being a bit pricier. Automated uses technology to transcribe quickly and usually at a lower cost, but may miss the mark on accuracy, especially with tricky audios or specific jargon.

Some services offer both manual and automated types of transcription services, while others offer just one. Some transcription services even give customers complete control over the transcription process by providing them with tools to dictate and edit within the platform themselves.

What you may not know is that transcription services can do more than just turn spoken words into text. Some services offer extras like identifying different speakers, adding time stamps, and keeping track of specialized terms. Also, given that some recordings can contain sensitive information, top-tier services prioritize robust data protection to keep your information safe.

In terms of user experience, high-quality transcription services focus on making things easy for clients from start to finish. This includes an easy-to-navigate website, straightforward file uploading, clear pricing, and timely delivery of transcriptions.

Trying to find a trustworthy online transcription service can be tough. Most have thousands of transcriptionists, which means the quality can vary a lot from project to project, and reading customer reviews might not give you a clear picture of what to expect.

Before you pick a transcription service, think about these points to make sure you know what you're looking for:

  • Pricing. Understand what you're paying for. Good services will tell you upfront about extra costs for things like poor audio quality, strong accents, adding timestamps, or handling multiple speakers.
  • Quality control. A quality control team should review your final transcription before it makes it to your inbox to make sure it's good quality, meeting both the service's and your standards.
  • Customer service. If your transcription isn't satisfactory, the transcription service should offer to fix it or refund you some of your money.

Top Consumer Reviews has reviewed and ranked the best transcription services available online today. We hope our evaluation will help you find the right service, where every spoken word will be accurately - and affordably - captured in text!

The Best Transcription Services Compare Transcription Services Compare Transcription Service Reviews What are the best Transcription Services Best Transcription Service Reviews

Transcription Service FAQ

Transcription services convert live or recorded speech into text for legal, medical, educational, or business purposes. A university student may record a lecture and have it transcribed to more easily take notes, or a court reporter may record the audio of a criminal trial and submit it to one of these services for transcription. Many transcription services also provide captioning for YouTube videos or other mp4 files.
By outsourcing the transcription of your file, you save yourself frustration and time, and as we all know, time is money. However, if you are determined to transcribe your audio all by yourself, some transcription services provide in-site dictation, editing, and automatic speech-to-text tools.
The pricing model of transcription is based on dollars-per-minute. Depending on the service you choose, the language and complexity of the audio, how polished you want your final transcript to be and how fast you need it, manual transcription will run you anywhere between $0.75-$3 per minute.
Most transcription services offer both automated and manual transcription options. Automated transcription is done by running your audio through speech recognition software, and the quality of the finished product will depend on whether or not the audio you submitted was clear enough to be understood by the AI. Manual transcription is done by an actual person. Automated transcription is cheaper, generally costing $0.10 per minute of audio. Manual transcription is more expensive, but it is typically much more accurate and is the only viable option for difficult audio files.
Most transcription services offer a 99% accuracy guarantee. If you are unhappy with your transcript, they will rework it until it meets 99% accuracy or until you are satisfied.
If you opt for automated transcription, turnaround typically takes between 5 minutes and 5x the length of the audio. Manual transcription turnaround times will depend on the service and the length and complexity of the audio, but most services advertise 24 hours between when you submit your audio or video file and when you receive your finished transcript.
Yes, you can. Most services offer foreign language transcription, though you should be aware that you may be paying as much as $7 per minute of audio depending on the language.
Most transcription services offer transcription for medical, academic, and legal purposes for an extra fee. Some services only do this sort of transcription. A mark of a transcription service well-suited to medical, legal, and academic transcription is their commitment to customer security. These services bind their employees to a non-disclosure agreement, and, at your request, will destroy their copy of your files upon completion of your order.
The Best Reviews of Transcription Services