You’ve recorded an hour of audio and need to transcribe it. That typing will easily take you four hours. Scribie offers a solution: a combination of AI and human verification that converts your audio to text within 24 hours with 99% accuracy.
Who is behind Scribie?
Scribie started in 2008 as CallGraph, a tool by Rajiv Poddar to record Skype conversations. The company, officially called CGBIZ Corporation, was based in San Francisco and initially focused on recording phone calls. But it soon became clear that customers mainly wanted one thing: those recordings converted into text.
That demand was so great that Poddar changed course. CallGraph became Scribie, fully focused on transcription. The company deliberately chose a hybrid approach: AI does the preliminary work, then human transcribers check everything in four consecutive review rounds. That method proves to work. Scribie has now transcribed more than 10 million minutes of audio for about 98,000 customers.
The company has not attracted external investors and has remained completely self-sufficient. With a network of more than 50,000 certified transcribers, Scribie processes hundreds of hours of audio daily. It remains a relatively small player compared to competitors like Rev, but that focus on quality over growth has built a loyal customer base.
Who is Scribie for?
Scribie targets anyone who needs accurate transcripts without spending hours typing themselves. Researchers use it for interviews and focus groups. Podcasters want show notes or full transcripts for their episodes. Legal professionals need reliable records of interrogations and testimonies. Students convert lecture notes into searchable text.
The service is less suitable for people who need real-time transcription during meetings or lectures. Manual verification simply takes time, usually about 24 hours. Also, if you expect immediate results, you’re at the wrong place. Scribie is built for quality, not speed. And those who need transcripts in exotic languages should probably look elsewhere – the service mainly focuses on English.
What can Scribie do?
Scribie offers two main options: fully automated transcription or manual verification. For the automated version, you pay $1.10 per minute. For the manual service with four review rounds, you pay $1.80 per minute. The latter option gives you access to all additional features.
- 99% accuracy guarantee: With the manual service, your audio goes through four different transcribers. One types everything out, two others independently review it, and a fourth does the final check. This leaves little room for errors.
- Speaker identification: The system recognizes different voices and labels them automatically. Useful for interviews or panel discussions where you want to know exactly who said what.
- Timestamps: Every few sentences gets a timestamp. This way you can quickly find where something was said in the original audio. You can choose stamps per paragraph or per speaker.
- Subtitle files: Scribie exports to SRT and VTT, the standard formats for video subtitling. Upload those files to YouTube, Vimeo, or your own video player and your subtitles sync automatically.
- Strict confidentiality: All transcribers have signed a non-disclosure agreement. Files are encrypted with 256-bit SSL, the same security banks use. After completion, audio files are deleted from the servers.
- Multiple file formats: Upload MP3, WAV, M4A, AIFF, or even video files like MP4 and MOV. The system extracts the audio and processes it further.
- Editable transcripts: You get the text in an online editor where you can make changes directly. Then export to Word, PDF, or plain text.
What does Scribie cost?
Scribie works with a pay-as-you-go system. You pay per minute of audio, without monthly subscriptions or mandatory bundles. Automated transcription costs $1.10 per minute. An hour of audio costs you six dollars. The manual service with four verification rounds costs $1.80 per minute, or $1 for an hour.
There is no permanent free plan. New customers often receive $1 in starter credit to try out the service. That’s enough for 12.5 minutes of manual transcription or nearly two hours of automated transcription. Rush delivery costs extra – delivery within 12 hours costs 100% on top of the regular price, and within 6 hours even 200% extra.
Timestamps are included by default with the manual service. For the automated version, you pay extra for them. Subtitle files in SRT or VTT format are included with both options. Bulk discounts are available starting at 300 minutes per month, but you’ll need to request those prices through customer service.
What should you watch out for?
Scribie doesn’t have a mobile app. You have to handle everything through the website, which is pretty cumbersome on a phone. Uploading large files from your phone is especially challenging. For those who frequently record audio on the go and want to upload directly, that’s a significant drawback.
The automated option isn’t what it used to be. Scribie used to have an affordable AI-only option that was reasonably accurate. That’s gone now. Now you only have a choice between basic automation for ten cents per minute or the full manual service for eight times as much. There’s little in between for people who want more accuracy without paying the full amount.
The dashboard provides unclear status information. You upload a file and see “In Progress,” but not which phase of the four-step process you’re in. Is it still with the first transcriber? Is it in the second check? You don’t know. That makes estimating when your transcription will be ready difficult.
Scribie follows strict formatting rules that you can’t deviate from. Speaker identification gets a fixed format, timestamps appear in predetermined places. For academic research or legal documents with specific formatting requirements, that can be problematic. You get what you get.
Privacy remains a concern with any service where people listen to your audio. Scribie does have NDAs and encryption, but ultimately strangers are listening to your recordings. For sensitive medical information, trade secrets, or confidential legal matters, that’s risky, no matter how good the security is.
Scribie alternatives
Scribie isn’t the only player in transcription. Depending on your priorities, other services might be a better fit.
- Rev: Choose this if speed is more important than price. Rev often delivers within 12 hours, but charges an average of $1.25 per minute. The quality is comparable to Scribie, but you pay more for that extra speed.
- Otter.ai: Go for this if you want to transcribe live meetings as they happen. Otter focuses on real-time AI transcription with reasonable accuracy. Less suitable for finished audio that you upload afterward, but unbeatable for direct notes during meetings.
- GoTranscript: Choose this for non-English audio. GoTranscript supports more than 60 languages with human transcribers. Prices are around those of Scribie, but the language selection is much broader. Slightly slower turnaround time though.
Frequently asked questions
A few questions that often come up about Scribie:
How accurate is Scribie?
For the manual service, Scribie guarantees 99% accuracy. That’s due to the four-step process where four different transcribers check your audio. The automated version doesn’t achieve that accuracy – expect more like 80-85% there, depending on audio quality.
What is the turnaround time?
Standard turnaround is about 24 hours for average-length files. Longer files can take 36-48 hours. For rush delivery, you pay extra: within 12 hours costs 100% on top of the regular price, and within 6 hours even 200% extra.
Is my data safe?
Scribie uses 256-bit SSL encryption for all uploads and storage. All transcribers have signed a non-disclosure agreement. After your transcription is completed, the audio files are deleted from the servers. For extra sensitive information, you can request specific transcribers who have undergone additional security screening.
Conclusion
Scribie delivers what it promises: accurate transcriptions through a combination of AI and human review. The manual service with four verification rounds justifies the price of $1.80 per minute if you really need reliable text. The pay-as-you-go model prevents you from being locked into expensive subscriptions. But the automated option at ten cents per minute is disappointing compared to modern AI alternatives. And without a mobile app, it remains inconvenient for those working on the go. Choose Scribie if accuracy takes priority over speed and you’re willing to wait for quality. For real-time transcription or budget transcriptions, there are better options.
