WhisperTranscribe Review (2026)$19.99 for 320 Min, No Refunds
By Daan Haket · Researched and written with an AI assistant · who does what
Starter's card advertises $2.80 an hour, but 320 minutes for $19.99 a month is about $3.75 an hour, our arithmetic.
podcasters, YouTubers, researchers and small teams who transcribe a predictable number of hours a month, want unlimited users without seat fees, and prefer a service that does not keep their files.
you transcribe only occasionally (pay-as-you-go or a free tier elsewhere may be cheaper), you need the vendor to store a searchable archive for you, or your recordings may not leave the EU for AI processing.
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Pricing (2026)
✓ Pricing re-verified 14 Oct 2026
Two products. Transcription plans, priced by minutes of uploaded audio a month, with unlimited users: Starter $19.99 a month billed annually ($240 a year) or $39.99 monthly for 320 minutes; Pro $29.99 annually ($360) or $59.99 monthly for 800 minutes; Grow $69.99 ($840) or $139.99 for 2,500 minutes; Scale $139.99 ($1,680) or $279.99 for 6,000 minutes. The annual toggle is labelled save 50%.
Each plan includes one free Meeting Assistant seat, files up to 10 hours long (5 GB on Starter, 10 GB above), AI clips, podcast search, import from web links, exports to Word, PDF, TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV, XLSX, JSON and ELAN, and priority support on Grow and Scale. Pay-as-you-go minutes start at $8 an hour, bought in the app, and never expire.
The Meeting Assistant, which captures calls without a bot joining, is $16 a seat a month billed annually ($192) or $20 monthly, with a 7-day trial. The terms say a cancelled account reverts to the free tier with 60 credits, and that fees and unused credits are non-refundable except for billing errors, service failure or where the law requires. Plans change — always verify the live price on their site.
What the pricing page doesn’t say
Monthly billing costs twice the annual rate on every plan, and fees and unused credits are non-refundable under the terms. Transcripts are not kept on the vendor's servers after delivery, which is good for privacy but means a lost local copy is gone. Some AI processing runs in the United States. The pricing page says translation into 99 languages while its comparison table says 65+.
What WhisperTranscribe does
AI transcription and translation for podcasts, videos and interviews with speaker detection, content generation and many export formats, plus a bot-free meeting assistant; plans by minutes a month with unlimited users.
Buy minutes, then check the per-hour line
The four transcription plans are minute buckets, and the per-hour rate falls as the bucket grows: on annual billing Pro works out at $2.25 an hour, Grow at $1.68 and Scale at $1.40, matching the figures on the cards. Starter is the exception. Its card says $2.80 an hour, but $19.99 for 320 minutes is about $3.75 an hour, our arithmetic, so the smallest plan is dearer per hour than it looks.
Monthly billing doubles every price, which the save 50% badge states honestly. If your volume is irregular, the pay-as-you-go hours from $8 never expire and may beat a monthly plan. Users are free on transcription plans, so a team pays for minutes, not seats. The Meeting Assistant is the opposite: $16 a seat a month on annual billing, and each transcription plan includes only one seat.
How to actually use WhisperTranscribe
Sign up without a card and transcribe one real file, ideally a recording with several speakers and the jargon of your field, then check the speaker labels and add problem words to the dictionary that reviewers mention. Save your transcripts. The terms describe a zero-retention design: uploaded audio is deleted within minutes after processing and transcripts are not kept on WhisperTranscribe's servers after delivery, so the copy on your device is the copy.
Export to the format you need, from SRT and VTT for subtitles to Word or JSON, as part of the routine. Pick a plan by counting a normal month's minutes, then compare the per-hour cost with pay-as-you-go at $8 an hour. Remember that processing runs partly on AI services in the United States, according to the terms, if that matters for your recordings.
Where this section comes from: our research notes (120 words)
WhisperTranscribe's own pages, read in a live browser on 14 October 2026: the pricing page at whispertranscribe.com/pricing (both billing toggles for the transcription plans and the Meeting Assistant, the plan comparison table, pay-as-you-go) and the terms of use, last updated 28 October 2025 (WhisperTranscribe B.V., Rotterdam, KvK 92149995; data retention; processing in Germany and Ireland with some AI services in the United States; refunds; the 60-credit free tier; Dutch law).
The FAQ answers on the pricing page did not render for us and are not used. The per-hour arithmetic for Starter is ours. The 100k+ users figure and the testimonials are the vendor's own. WhisperTranscribe is an affiliate partner of ours through Lemon Squeezy. We have not used WhisperTranscribe ourselves.
WhisperTranscribe vs Descript, side by side
Each column shows the vendor’s own published entry price, read on the date shown. Entry prices can cover different services or units, so check what each one buys. We do not average them into a score.
Both names above are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. Neither changes what this table says.
The natural comparison is Descript — Descript is in our dossiers too, read on 1 October 2026: free for 60 minutes a month, Hobbyist $16 per person a month billed annually ($24 monthly) for 10 media hours, and it is a full audio and video editor with seats. WhisperTranscribe, read on 14 October 2026, is $19.99 a month billed annually for 320 minutes of transcription with unlimited users and no editor. If you edit media, Descript; if you only need transcripts and content from them for a team, WhisperTranscribe charges for minutes instead of seats..
Frequently asked questions
How much does WhisperTranscribe cost?
Read 14 October 2026: Starter $19.99 a month billed annually ($240 a year) or $39.99 monthly for 320 minutes; Pro $29.99 or $59.99 for 800 minutes; Grow $69.99 or $139.99 for 2,500 minutes; Scale $139.99 or $279.99 for 6,000 minutes. Pay-as-you-go starts at $8 an hour. The Meeting Assistant is $16 a seat a month yearly or $20 monthly.
Does WhisperTranscribe keep my recordings?
Not by design, according to its terms of 28 October 2025: uploaded files are deleted within 3 to 10 minutes after processing and transcripts are not retained on its servers after delivery, so you must save them yourself. Processing runs in Germany and Ireland, with some AI services in the United States.
Can I get a refund from WhisperTranscribe?
Generally not. The terms say fees and unused credits are non-refundable, except as required by law, under a promotional offer, or at their discretion for service failure or billing errors, requested within 30 days of the charge. A cancelled account falls back to the free tier with 60 credits.
Is this a hands-on review of WhisperTranscribe?
This is a researched assessment, not a hands-on test — where we've used a tool ourselves, we say so explicitly. We name what each tool is good and bad at, and we earn a commission only if you sign up, at no cost to you.
- Read 2026-10-14 in a live browser on whispertranscribe.com/pricing and the terms of use last updated 28 October 2025.
- A dated screenshot of that pricing page, kept on this site as the receipt.
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