Descript alternatives for transcription on a Mac

Descript is a full video and podcast editor. You edit the recording by editing its transcript, and it adds AI tools on top: Studio Sound, Remove Filler Words, clips, voice clones, translation and dubbing. Transcription is how it works, so every plan has it, Free included.

That's also why people go looking. If all you want is the text of an interview, a lecture or a meeting, you're paying for an editor you don't open, your media goes to Descript's servers, and every file counts against your monthly media hours. This page is for that person: transcription on a Mac, without the editor. If you edit video or podcasts, the answer may be to stay, and we say when below.

We make Koi, one of the apps below, so read this with that in mind. We didn't run accuracy tests. Every fact about the others comes from their own sites and help pages, checked October 21, 2026.

• Free: 60 media minutes a month, 100 AI credits once, a 1 GB upload limit and a watermark on video exports.
• Hobbyist: $24 a month, or $16 a month billed yearly, with 10 media hours a month.
• Creator: $35 a month, or $24 billed yearly, with 30 media hours. Business: $65, or $50 yearly, with 40.
• Media hours count every file you upload or record, whether you transcribe it or not.
• Transcription covers 25 languages on its pricing page, with speaker detection for 8+ speakers on every plan.
• Transcripts export as .docx, .txt, .rtf, .md or .html, and subtitles as SRT or VTT.
• The desktop app needs macOS 14 (Sonoma) or Windows 11 and newer.

Sources: Descript pricing, its transcript export help page and its download page. Descript says you can delete your account and wipe your data from its servers, which tells you where the data lives.

In Descript, once your file is in a project and transcribed, open Export, pick the transcript, and set the file format to .docx, .txt, .rtf, .md or .html. For subtitles, open Export, choose the Subtitles tab and pick SRT or VTT, with options for speaker labels and line length.

In Koi, on your Mac:

1. Click Tools on Koi's dock and pick Transcribe a file, or choose File, Transcribe Audio or Video… in the menu bar. Dropping the file on the Documents window works too.
2. Watch the page fill in, a line under each time. Cancel is in the card at the foot of the page.
3. Fix any words, then open the page's menu, Export, and pick Subtitles (SRT) or Subtitles (VTT).

From each app's own site. “Not listed” means the site doesn't say.

Descript counts media hours, and they count what you upload or record, not only what you transcribe. Hobbyist gives 10 hours a month. If you transcribe a two-hour lecture every weekday, that runs out in the first week, and top-ups are only on Creator and Business.

Local apps have no meter, because the work happens on your Mac. Koi transcribes files and records calls with no limit on every plan; MacWhisper and Aiko are paid once. TurboScribe's Unlimited has no cap on hours either, in the cloud. If you want a few transcripts a month and nothing else, Descript's free 60 minutes may be all you need.

If you edit in Final Cut Pro, Premiere or DaVinci Resolve and only used Descript for captions, a local app fits in: transcribe the export on your Mac, fix the words, save SRT or VTT, import it into the editor. Koi's subtitles use each timed line as a cue, with your edits, so what you fixed is what shows. For recording the raw material, see recording a Zoom meeting on a Mac or recording your Mac's sound.

• Export the transcripts you want to keep as .docx, .txt, .rtf, .md or .html, and the subtitles as SRT or VTT. A local app won't read your Descript projects.
• Download the original media too. Your recordings live in Descript's cloud, and deleting your account wipes them.
• Check your languages. Descript's pricing page lists 25 for transcription. MacWhisper, Aiko and Koi each list about 100, TurboScribe 98+.
• Check whether you need speakers named. Descript detects 8+ speakers; MacWhisper splits up to 8; Koi and Aiko don't name speakers in a file.
• Check your Mac. Descript and Koi both need macOS 14 or later; MacWhisper 15.2 needs macOS 15. Koi runs on Apple silicon and Intel.

This is where Descript is strongest among the tools here, and it's worth being straight about it. Descript detects speakers and helps you name them; TurboScribe and MacWhisper also tell speakers apart. Koi doesn't in a file: you get one line per stretch of talk, with its time.

Koi does split a call it records itself: your microphone is You, the Mac's sound is Them. So if your interviews happen over Zoom, Meet or FaceTime, recording them with Koi in the first place gets you the two sides apart, which a file dropped in afterwards can't. For an interview across a table, In person records it through your microphone with the sound kept, but without speaker names.

Descript can record remote guests in its Rooms. If you only need the conversation and its transcript, Koi records any call app from your Mac with no bot and no link to send: tap Fn + ⌃, pick Online call, then Audio only or Audio and video. See our list of call recorders for Mac for more.

• Transcripts on your Mac with no meter, plus calls and meetings recorded? Koi.
• Local transcripts with speakers told apart, paid once? MacWhisper.
• The simplest local app? Aiko.
• Unlimited cloud transcripts for little money? TurboScribe.
• Subtitles in many languages, with a person checking them? Happy Scribe.
• Free and open source? Buzz.

More options in our list of Whisper apps for Mac, and the plans are on Koi's pricing page.