DirectoryHappyScribe vs TurboScribe
HappyScribe vs TurboScribe
Checked October 19, 2026. HappyScribe's figures are from happyscribe.com/pricing. TurboScribe's figures are from turboscribe.ai/pricing, monthly and yearly toggles. Sonix is quoted from its listing, last checked October 18, 2026.
A minute meter and a flat file
HappyScribe sells AI minutes. Free is a 10-minute trial of transcription, subtitling, and translation on an upload, plus meeting recordings capped at 45 minutes each. Basic is $17/month, or $8.50/month billed annually, for 120 AI minutes a month (1,440 if you pay yearly). Pro is $29/month, or $19/month annually, for 600 minutes a month (7,200 a year). Extra AI minutes are $0.20. Business is $89/month, or $59/month annually, for 6,000 minutes a month.
TurboScribe sells the file. Free, with no card, is 3 transcripts a day, each up to 30 minutes, one upload at a time, and those files wait longer in the queue. Unlimited is $20/month billed monthly, or $10/month billed yearly ($120). A paid file can be 10 hours or 5 GB, and you can upload 50 at a time. The account is for one person. A long interview does not cost more than a short one once you are on Unlimited.
Captions, and the pass a person still does
TurboScribe's paid plan includes translation into 134+ languages and bulk exports. The listing's job stops at the transcript and the caption file. HappyScribe's Pro plan names the editor handoffs: VTT, STL, XML, FCPXML, and EDL, on top of TXT, SRT, PDF, and DOCX. Free is less clear. The plan card lists DOCX, TXT, SRT, and a watermarked MP4. The comparison table on the same page lists TXT and SRT for Free. Confirm DOCX before you count on it.
HappyScribe's reason to pay past the AI minutes is the human. Proofreading starts at $2.00 a minute, or $1.90 on Business. That is the path when a name, a number, or a noisy overlap has to be publishable. TurboScribe does not sell that pass. Sonix is the other file transcriber in the Transcription and show notes list if you want pay-as-you-go at $10 an audio hour instead of a subscription.
Which bill matches the show
One short episode, and you will write the notes yourself: TurboScribe Free covers a file under 30 minutes, three times a day. A weekly hour that you only need as text: TurboScribe Unlimited is the simpler bill, because the minute counter never enters it. A catalog with subtitle formats for an editor, or a recording you may send to a person: HappyScribe Pro. The 10-minute free trial is a sample, not a pilot episode.
Neither tool writes the public description. The Best AI tools for podcast show notes page is the next step when the transcript has to become a title, chapters, and a paragraph. The Captions list is the rest of the subtitle tools.
Listings in this comparison
Questions
Which free plan can transcribe a whole episode?
TurboScribe Free transcribes 3 files a day, each up to 30 minutes. HappyScribe Free includes a 10-minute trial of AI transcription on uploads, and meeting recordings up to 45 minutes. A typical episode is longer than HappyScribe's free upload trial. It may also be longer than TurboScribe's 30-minute free file.
Can either tool send the transcript to a human?
HappyScribe sells human proofreading from $2.00 a minute, on top of the subscription. TurboScribe does not. If the only acceptable error rate is a person's, HappyScribe is the one that publishes that rate.
Do these tools write show notes?
They write the words and, on paid plans, a caption file. Show notes are the title, the summary, and the chapters you publish. Use the transcript as the source for that writing, in a notes tool or by hand.