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Descript vs Hello8

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. Descript starts at $16, Hello8 at $21. Both have a free tier. Only Descript ships a public API.

DescriptEdit video and podcasts by rewriting the transcriptHello8Subtitle and translation service that runs AI transcription past human editors before delivery

Side by side

FactDescriptHello8
CategoryAI Video EditingSubtitles & Captions
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$16 month$21 month
Public APIYesNo
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, Web, APIWeb
CompanyDescriptHello8
Launched2017—
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

Descript

Descript is the right tool when your footage is people talking and you would rather edit a document than a timeline. Anyone cutting to music, working frame-accurate, or grading footage will fight it the whole way.

Pros

  • Transcript-first editing genuinely collapses the time to a rough cut for spoken content
  • Studio Sound rescues bad room audio well enough to skip a re-record
  • The API is included with any paid plan rather than sold as a separate tier
  • One project holds recording, editing, captions, translation and publishing

Cons

  • Two independent meters, media hours and AI credits, so either can strand you mid-month
  • The API cannot export a media file directly, you still download through the app
  • Entry paid tier is single-seat and capped at 10 media hours
  • Free tier watermarks exports, so it is a demo rather than a usable tier

Hello8

Positioned between raw auto-captioning and a full localisation agency: machine speed, but a review pass before the file ships, which is the difference that matters for broadcast or client-facing work. European hosting and GDPR framing make it an easier sell inside EU organisations. The credit model means long-form video eats an allowance fast, and no legal entity or country is named on the site.

Pros

  • Automated review across eight subtitle quality criteria before delivery
  • Human editors correct the machine transcript
  • 90-plus languages for transcription and translation
  • Exports SRT, VTT or a subtitled video file
  • Files hosted in Europe under GDPR terms

Cons

  • Credit metering plus per-plan video-length caps (5 minutes free, 30 minutes on Starter)
  • Prices quoted in euros only, so USD cost moves with the rate
  • No legal entity or country disclosed

Which one fits

Choose Descript if you need

  • Podcasters and interview shows where the edit is driven by what was said
  • Course, demo and webinar recordings that need a fast, clean pass
  • Teams with no trained editor who still have to ship weekly video
  • Automating repetitive transcribe-clean-caption pipelines through the API

Choose Hello8 if you need

  • documentary and corporate video needing clean subtitle files
  • EU teams with data-residency requirements
  • agencies delivering subtitles across many languages

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