Scribie focuses on delivering quality human transcription—the artificial intelligence space is busy enough. That’s why the company has dropped its former automated transcription services to focus only on human-made ones. While this strategy pays off with accurate and reliable output, the tools you use to upload your files and edit the transcripts you get back are clunky. PCMag's Editors' Choice winners among transcription services are Rev if you want an option of automated or human-generated transcripts, and Otter if automated is all you need.
How Much Does Scribie Cost?
Scribie has straightforward pricing, with some of the most affordable rates on the market. Human transcriptions start at $1.25 per audio minute. As a point of comparison, Rev's prices for human-made transcriptions are higher, starting at $1.50 per minute. The trade-off is website functionality—Scribie is very bare-bones compared to Rev.
With Scribie, you may end up paying for additional services, such as an extra 50 cents per minute for true verbatim transcription or an extra $1.25 per minute for quicker turnaround. Previously, Scribie charged extra for noisy backgrounds or accented English, but that's now included.
Since our last review, Scribie has eliminated its Pro plan and the availability to purchase credits in advance and has streamlined its pricing overall. There is still an option for corporate or bulk pricing for larger projects. However, Scribie is excellent for à la carte pricing, whereas other services run on subscription models. A subscription may be in your interest if you get transcriptions regularly. For example, you pay Rev $29.99 for 1,200 minutes of automated transcripts each month.
The pricing for transcription services is not always straightforward. For example, TranscribeMe has a Draft rate starting at 79 cents per minute, but it doesn't include timestamps or identify multiple speakers. For that, you need to pay a minimum of $2 per minute for the Verbatim rate. GoTranscript is even more confusing, with rates as low as 84 cents per audio minute, though that's for if you have at least 10,000 minutes of audio recording and can wait five days to get your transcripts.
Where Can You Use Scribie?
Scribie is entirely web-based—there isn't even a mobile app. It works well on the latest versions of Chrome, Edge, Safari, and other browsers without installing any extensions or software. You can log in to Scribie on a phone or tablet browser and upload files directly, but the website is not formatted well for mobile browsing and requires both horizontal and vertical scrolling to access all the controls. Your best bet is to use a browser on a laptop or desktop computer.
Other transcription services offer mobile apps, usually for recording and uploading audio files. Otter and Rev both have them. Rev even has a second iPhone app specifically for recording the audio of phone calls.
Since Scribie has no mobile app, you need a recording app to capture your audio. However, that shouldn't be a problem, as all modern mobile operating systems have a built-in one. For phone calls, Scribie's documentation suggests using a web or video conferencing service to record, and you should make a backup recording with the stock voice memo app on your phone.
(Credit: CGBiz Corp/PCMag)How Scribie Works
When Scribie first debuted in 2008, it sent files through two transcribers: one to transcribe and one to proofread. Scribie now uses a four-step process with a series of quality-control checks designed to instill confidence in customers and produce highly accurate documents.
When you first land on the Scribie home page, it’s easy to see where to order a transcript. Take your pick from six Order Now buttons. After you select one, you can upload a file as a guest, but you must create an account before completing payment and getting the audio file processed into a transcript.
Scribie’s web console is extremely basic and, at times, repetitive. Once your file is uploaded and in transcription, you can track its progress in a dashboard. Scribie’s website design has been cleaned up since our last review in 2022. The dashboard where you access your finished transcripts works just fine, though it's simple.
When your files are complete, you can edit them in Scribie or export them as Microsoft Word documents.
Collaborating and Editing in Scribie
Scribie’s web editor is functional but without any frills, and it's a bit clunky. Before you begin editing, an illustrated guide walks you through the various tools and features. It's helpful.
Scribie has a team space for sharing and editing transcripts collaboratively. Essentially, it’s a place where other team members that you select can work on shared files. Figuring out how to create a team isn't straightforward. Scribie's tutorial says the option is under Settings, but when I tested, it wasn't in the Settings tab on the main files page. However, the link in a Scribie blog post about Team Workspaces sends you to the right place. Once you create a team, any document shared with that team can be edited, played (if it's an audio file), and manipulated.
(Credit: CGBiz Corp/PCMag)Scribie’s user interface is fully functional; it just lacks frills, and finding what you need or figuring out a new skill almost always takes more time than it should.
Is Scribie Safe to Use?
Virtual outsourcing tools, like transcription services, make getting work done more efficient and streamlined. However, you have to assess the privacy and safety of each service before sending it private and protected information, like the kind that might be on an audio recording. Scribie uses multi-factor authentication to log in, providing an extra layer of security. Scribie's privacy policy outlines its basic safeguards for protecting your files, including having employees and contractors sign non-disclosure agreements. Additionally, Scribie will sign an additional NDA with the client upon request.
According to its website, the company says it will "disclose personal information when we believe it violates our Terms of Service or is appropriate to comply with the law, to protect our or our users' rights, as well as to protect our users from fraudulent, abusive, and unlawful use of our site." It also says the company reserves the right to disclose its customers' "personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our website."
The NDAs are a good step toward maintaining privacy, but Scribie's other statements about when and how it will share information are quite lenient and not very strong in favor of the customer.
Testing Results
I tested Scribie with a two-minute iPhone audio recording of me reading a passage aloud from Marguerite Henry’s “Misty of Chincoteague” series. I chose the 12-hour turnaround option, which added $1.25 per minute to the order.
The file came back much faster—it only took 66 minutes. Scribie's human transcribers sent me an almost flawless document. Difficult place names like Assateague, Pocomoke, and Chincoteague are all accurate. The only curious error is that “pony” is capitalized throughout the transcript. Otherwise, there are no notable errors.
(Credit: CGBiz Corp/PCMag)Here's how the same audio recording fared with auto-generated transcripts. Otter returned a document with four errors related to proper nouns and place names but many more errors in punctuation. TranscribeMe made seven errors, also mostly related to proper nouns and punctuation. Rev made more errors than Otter (six) related to proper nouns, but Rev was much more accurate at capitalization and punctuation. Bear in mind that Rev costs nearly twice as much as Otter. If you don't mind cleaning up more punctuation, Otter is a better deal.
Why Choose Scribie?
Scribie is a good choice when you need simple, affordable human transcription services. The website can be a nuisance, but the service's competitive price and the quality of its finished translations balance this out. Its collaboration space is also a key feature for teams or larger organizations. Furthermore, Scribie's à la carte pricing makes it a fine option for occasional usage. The PCMag Editors' Choice winners for transcription are Otter for automated transcripts and Rev when you want the choice between auto or human-made transcripts. Their subscription models are best for people who use transcription services regularly.
