Descript

Transcription management and video & audio editing software

About Descript

Descript is a transcription management and video editing software that is designed for businesses in multiple industries, such as marketing, sales, user research, online learning, and customer support. It helps team members collaborate on projects, send feedback, create shared folders, add comments, and track document versions.

Descript enables staff members to upload audio files to automatically generate and edit text transcriptions on a centralized platform. Employees can use the video editing tool to update transcriptions and automatically edit or crop video and audio files accordingly. It lets users add introductions, title cards, captions, transitions, animations, and shapes across videos, images, and GIFs. Supervisors can create shareable links, search transcripts, and embed videos across multiple platforms, such as blog posts, help documents, and other content management systems.

Descript provides an API, which lets businesses integrate the platform with several third party solutions, including Evernote, Slack, Google Drive, DropBox, and Box. The overdub functionality lets staff members utilize text-to-speech technology to automatically generate voiceovers.


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Not sure about Descript? Compare with a popular alternative

Descript

4.8 (151)
Not available in your country
VS.

Starting Price

US$15.00
month
US$34.99
month

Pricing Options

Free version
Free trial
Free version
Free trial

Features

60
14

Integrations

9
No integrations found

Ease of Use

4.5 (151)
3.9 (68)

Value for Money

4.7 (151)
4.0 (68)

Customer Service

4.4 (151)
3.9 (68)

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Reviews

Overall rating

4.8 /5
(151)
Value for Money
4.7/5
Features
4.6/5
Ease of Use
4.5/5
Customer Support
4.4/5

Already have Descript?

Software buyers need your help! Product reviews help the rest of us make great decisions.

Showing 5 reviews of 151
Alice
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Descript is the only video editing software you will ever need.

Reviewed on 15/4/2022

Pros

I'm not a video editor by any means. In fact, I've been using all sorts of different software over the past few years and I just didn't find anything that was really easy to use -- until Descript.

As somebody who is a heavy content creator, I needed to start creating video content and it was really hard because I had to rely on others to edit the videos for me. Now with Descript I can do it myself which is super powerful and saves a lot of time. My favorite features are "shorten word gaps" and "remove filler words". Everybody thinks I'm a magician when I show the my videos post-production.

Descript has changed the entire scope of my work and how I do my job. It's much easier than any other software tool that I've used. I love how easy it is to use, the interface is very intuitive, it's very quick and simple. My friends and teams love Descript too.

Don't be scared! All you need to do is upload your original video or record a video directly in the software and then edit it out later or add text or change the voice if you want. It's really great.

I also love the collaboration aspect of Descript.

Cons

It takes a LONG time to download high-quality videos.

Aemyn
Overall rating
  • Industry: Online Media
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

The future of podcasting is still just over the horizon

Reviewed on 20/5/2021

Overall, using Descript is a super positive experience.

We're able to preview episode scripts...

Overall, using Descript is a super positive experience.

We're able to preview episode scripts with clients which makes the approval process a better experience for them. Our scriptwriters are able to work directly with the audio and transcript at the same time and when they're done, we can export the raw project for cleanup and sound design in an external DAW which is awesome forethought from Descript. With other projects, editing and sound design and exporting can be done entirely in Descript and I'm really happy with the results.

Despite its limitations and bugs, I still struggle not to recommend Descript to anyone making a podcast.
Whatever you're doing, there is a good chance you will find a place for it in your process, just maybe not as much or as reliably as you would like.

Pros

Descript is a strong collection of audio tools that just weren't available when I started making podcasts. The ability to organise, collaborate and publish an audio project in the cloud with a friendly interface is great and used to be a huge pain to figure out. Editing audio with the transcript and the waveform at the same time allows you to skip a bunch of technicalities and focus on your creativity. Video capabilities expand the possibilities, and the overall suite of tools make me rethink entirely what podcast editing can or should be in a good way.

Cons

Stability is the biggest problem I have with this. After working on about a lot of different projects with different collaborators, I'm still coming up against things that make it freeze, make it crash, or break a project (usually salvageable at least), and end up needing to work around issues to keep things rolling.

Also, while Descript has a lot of features, in comparison to any long-standing audio software it leaves so much to be desired. There are many missing tools that would add a lot of room for creativity and technical cleanup. Things like audio meters, noise gate, spectrum analysis, filters to automate creatively, ducking, but also the more unexpected effects like reverb, stereo delay, pitch shifting, layered FX, these are all things podcasters of any kind might want to use for effect at some point and many folks I know can't, or don't want to tell their stories without them.

This is especially true for video which misses on some basic transformations like rotation for text and images.

Alternatives Considered

Soundtrap

Reasons for Switching to Descript

Soundtrap as an editing-with-transcript tool was way too limited when I looked into it. Although it would fill a lot of gaps missing among the Descript audio tools, it wasn't anywhere close to a worthy comparison.
Nathan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Health, Wellness & Fitness
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Potential game changer for podcast editing

Reviewed on 18/5/2021

The concept is amazing and could save hours on a podcast edit…
but, it just doesn't work correctly...

The concept is amazing and could save hours on a podcast edit…
but, it just doesn't work correctly or as you would expect a lot of the time. Once the automated transcription improves and the workflow stabilizes, this could potentially replace the various tools I use to edit audio and video.

Pros

The ability to edit an interview or podcast just by editing the text is incredible.
The workflow is fairly straight forward – import audio file, choose how to transcribe, wait…, edit the transcript & audio in various ways, export or publish as needed.

Cons

The automated transcription is good, but not great. There are always little errors that seem obvious to a human – capitalize the first letter in a sentence, don't capitalize a word in the middle of a sentence, abbreviate doctor as Dr. when a name follows, etc. – and they seem to always show up, even when they've been corrected previously, so it's unclear whether the 'machine' is actually 'learning'.
The app appears to not be built as a native app for macOS which means it lacks certain core features. The most annoying to me is that the window always opens in the default size (i.e. small) and never remembers the sizing or positioning that I choose every time I open it.
The developers are rapidly adding features, but almost too quickly. Once I get used to a feature or function, it doesn't take long for the menu item to be changed or moved (Share, Export, Publish all do similar–though different–things, and have each had their turn as a unique menu item or being grouped together in various ways). I got very efficient at correcting the transcription (which, unfortunately, must be done frequently) until they changed the entire process of editing the transcript.

Alternatives Considered

Otter and Rev

Reasons for Switching to Descript

Descript has the potential to do it all – transcribe, edit, publish – for one subscription.
Bryan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Apparel & Fashion
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Makes editing a podcast so much easier!

Reviewed on 23/6/2021

It's been great. We started a podcast with no background in audio production and were doing fine...

It's been great. We started a podcast with no background in audio production and were doing fine with Audacity, but Descript just changed what we felt we could do, and how much time it takes to do it. I've recommended it to many people already and I expect I'll recommend it to many more.

Pros

It's very easy to use as a novice. There are lots of functionality buried within that I know I'm not utilizing, but I don't need it to get my job done. I love the ability to edit the audio by editing text and adding music onto my podcast voice files is straightforward. This is by far the easiest editing tool I've tried.

Cons

There are lots of features that I know exist but that I don't see or that I don't know how or when I should use them. This is on me to learn, but I do wish tools would provide access to mini-tutorials from within the main workspace so that when you are working you could better identify whether that functionality you've never used might help to solve your problem.

Amelia
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

An Interface That Brings Editing to All!

Reviewed on 19/5/2021

The ability to edit the transcript and audio and visual simultaneously saves HOURS of time, and...

The ability to edit the transcript and audio and visual simultaneously saves HOURS of time, and allows me to pull off large-scale projects on a tight timeline without working over hours. SO easy to integrate into accessibility initiatives with the .srt exports directly from the transcripts. The automatic removal of filler words and inclusion of multiple speaker tags are fantastic features.

Pros

This software utilizes the experience of using a word processor, and harnesses it to help make an editing process that is intuitive, easy, and efficient. This makes it a time saver for me, and I have been able to teach non-design and non-tech colleagues how to use it in order to share the production work across various projects with ease.

Cons

Initially, the transcript and audio functions worked excellently, while the video was still a but rough. Now, though, Descript has spent several months upgrading and updating their platform so that the video editing is much more seamless and more can be done through the platform to produce great videos. The overdub is clever and helpful, but requires quite a bit of honing to get high-quality results.

Showing 5 reviews of 151 Read all reviews

Descript FAQs

Below are some frequently asked questions for Descript.

Descript offers the following pricing plans:

  • Starting from: US$15.00/month
  • Pricing model: Free Version, Subscription
  • Free Trial: Available

Descript offers a free basic account with screen recording, collaboration features, and 3 hours of transcription. Only editors pay. The three types of paid accounts include: • Creator: $12/editor/month (annual) or $15/editor/month (monthly) • Pro: $24/editor/month (annual) or $30/editor/month (monthly) • Enterprise: Get in touch with us for custom pricing.

Descript has the following typical customers:

Self Employed, 2–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500, 501–1,000, 1,001–5,000

Descript supports the following languages:

English

Descript supports the following devices:

Descript integrates with the following applications:

Asana, Box, Dropbox Business, Evernote Teams, Gmail, Google Drive, OneDrive, Slack, Zapier

Descript offers the following support options:

Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support, Chat

Related categories

See all software categories found for Descript.