Factors Influencing Transcription Costs and Pricing

There are quite a few factors that combine into the final cost of transcription. Here’s the list – and some tips on how to cut your costs.

Transcription is in-demand these days and the rates can be all over thh3e place. Learn what factors affect transcription rates and gain some tips on cutting your costs here.

What is a Transcription Rate?

 Transcription rate is the amount of money you’ll be expected to pay for the transcribed text. Some of the transcription rates are straightforward and enable you to calculate the final cost right away. These are the per minute and per hour rates. The average transcription costs per minute are anywhere between $1 and $3. The average transcription costs per hour are $100-150. 

Some transcription pricing models make it harder to calculate the final cost upfront. Certain transcribers charge by the hour of their own work, not for an hour of audio. The final number of hours they’ll spend working is difficult to calculate in advance. Nonetheless, the rule of thumb is that it takes 4 hours to transcribe 1 hour of audio.

Transcription rates per page are usually applied to the task of document typing. Document typing is a transcription from one document to another, not from audio file to text. The rate in this case depends on the number of words on the page. The more words, the higher the rate. 

Factors That Affect Transcription Rate

So, how much does transcribing cost? The short answer is “It depends.” Obviously, things such as the transcriber’s skills, experience, and native command of language factor into the transcription fee they request. But there are several other factors that affect how much the transcription costs. If you are aware of them, it will make settling on the rate that’s right both for you and the transcriber easier.

Audio Quality

Audio quality is the main factor that affects transcription costs. If the quality of the audio is poor – there is a lot of background noise or several speakers talking at once – the transcription rate will be higher. This is because the transcriber will have to constantly rewind the file to catch all the conversation. This will slow down their pace of work. If you have an old audio or video file that needs transcription, prepare for higher costs as well, because many of the files are of poor quality. 

Turnaround Time

If you need the transcript ready within hours, be ready to pay the higher rates. Like with translation, the shorter the deadline, the more expensive the final transcription price will be. 

Complexity of the Material

There is a noticeable difference between transcribing a general-interest interview, a medical concilium, or a science-related panel. The latter audio is likely to be peppered with specialized terminology. Transcribing all the terms correctly takes extra time – or a transcriber experienced in this type of content. 

Experience of the Transcriber

An inexperienced transcriber may charge less, but you should be ready for longer turnaround times as it would take them more hours to complete the same job. A more experienced transcriber would charge more for their services. People with experience transcribing content from specific fields (science, medical, legal) will also charge more. The upshot is that you can be confident of the quality of the final product.

How Fast the Speech in the Recording is Going

If the speakers in the recording are fast talkers, that may also up the transcription rate. First, because there are more words per minute that need to be transcribed, complicating the process. Second, because deciphering and transcribing babbling speakers also requires additional mental effort. 

Thick Accents in the Recording

The speaker in the audio may not be a fast talker, but they may have a thick accent or mumble a lot. This also slows down the pace of the transcriber and will add to the cost of transcribing services.

How to Reduce Your Transcription Rate

Today, the best method to reduce your transcription rate is to use AI-powered transcription services, such as vidby. While the accuracy rate may not be 100% (and, once again, it will depend on the quality of the original file), it will cut the costs and time spent on transcription. After AI has a go at it, you can check the transcript yourself, outsource it (at a lower rate) to your usual transcriber, or request professional check from vidby. Plus, vidby can translate your original video or audio into 70+ languages, create subtitles for the videos, dub the videos in multiple languages with AI-generated or human voices, and more. 

How to calculate transcription rates

If you use AI-powered transcription services, they will give you a price quote online as long as you tell them the length of your audio/video file. If you choose to go with human transcription, you can check out the sites like Upwork or Fiverr and see the rates that transcribers offer. Review your file to see if there are any factors that may affect the pace of transcription and budget for that. Keep in mind that if you have additional requests, such as timestamps or special formatting or a full verbatim transcript, it will also raise the transcription prices.

The transcription service costs vary depending on the type of transcription service you choose, the length of your audio/video file, and any additional requests you may have.

If you're looking for the most affordable option, AI-powered transcription is the way to go. Vidby offers audio transcription rates starting at $0.25 per minute. This includes a full verbatim transcript with timestamps and speaker identification.

To calculate the cost of your transcription, simply enter the length of your audio/video file in minutes on our  pricing page . You can also use the calculator to estimate the cost of transcription for multiple files.

Vidby's transcription services are a great value for businesses and individuals who need transcripts quickly and affordably.

Types of Transcription

Although some resources will tell you that there are 10+ types of transcription, there are only three that you need to know about. 

One is the verbatim transcription. In addition to all the dialogue, verbatim transcription records all the other sounds, such as laughter, cough, false starts, and more. Pauses and gaps in the conversation are also reflected. All the speech is given verbatim, including grammar mistakes, wrong word usage, etc.

Intelligent transcription is also known as non-verbatim transcription. It preserves the authenticity of the speaker’s voice but makes the text easier to read. Intelligent transcription removes repetitions, filler words, description of other sounds and ambient audio. 

Edited transcription, also known as clean verbatim, is the fully edited version. It corrects the grammar mistakes, replaces non-existent words with their actual counterparts, and edits long, rambling sentences for clarity and brevity.

Final Thoughts

Transcription is an important part of today’s world, needed by everyone – from marketing professionals to academics, from video bloggers to lawyers, from HR to the police. Remember to always budget for the cost of transcription services when you create videos or record audio content, because the resulting text file will help you in multiple ways.