Descript edits video by editing the transcript

Descript turns a recording into a transcript and lets you edit the recording by editing that text. Delete a sentence on the page and the sentence disappears from the audio and the video with it. Andrew Mason, who founded Groupon and took it public, started the company in 2017, and every feature since has been built around that one idea.

“The recording becomes text, and editing the text edits the recording.”

— Descript, The product's own description of how it works

What grew around it is practical rather than clever. One click strips every filler word from a take. A voice clone re-records a single line you fluffed, so you do not set up the microphone again for four words; behind that clone sits a neural network trained on your own recordings. The app records your screen and your calls, which covers most of what a training video actually consists of.

What it actually removes

The pain it removes is specific: hunting for the right second on a timeline. For a podcast or a course recording that is where the hours go, and reading is faster than scrubbing. If your work is a scripted film with no spoken track to anchor the edit, the whole premise stops helping.

What the plans cost per hour

Now the prices, because the shape matters more than the numbers. The free tier gives 60 transcript minutes and stamps a watermark on the export, which makes it a demo rather than a plan. Hobbyist is $24 for 10 transcript hours. Creator is $35 for 30 hours and adds the voice clone. Business is $65 per seat with brand templates and single sign-on.

Divide and the middle tier is the one that pays. Hobbyist works out at $2.40 per hour of transcript, Creator at $1.17, so the price per hour falls 51% for 46% more money. That is the same curve we found in Kling's credits last week: the cheapest paid plan is the most expensive way to buy the thing you came for.

Who it suits

Who it suits: podcasters, course makers, anyone producing interview or talking-head video on a weekly rhythm, and small teams who need one person to cut what three people recorded. Who it does not: scripted work without dialogue, heavy motion graphics, and anyone who needs a free tier they can ship from, because the watermark closes that door.

The company has $100m raised across its rounds, a $50m Series C led by the OpenAI Startup Fund in 2022, and the current plans sit in our Descript card with the date they were checked. The video shortlist puts it next to the generators, which is a different job: Descript edits what you recorded, it does not invent footage.

Informational material, not investment advice. Plan contents and prices were checked on 12 October 2026, and both change faster than any catalogue entry.