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Descript vs LinkToText

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 publishes a starting price ($16); LinkToText does not. Both have a free tier. Only Descript ships a public API.

DescriptEdit video and podcasts by rewriting the transcriptLinkToTextFree browser tool that turns a pasted video or audio link from YouTube, Instagram, or a podcast into a text transcript.

Side by side

FactDescriptLinkToText
CategoryAI Video EditingSpeech-to-Text & Transcription
Pricing modelFreemiumFree
Starts at$16 month—
Public APIYesNo
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, Web, APIWeb
CompanyDescriptLinkToText
Launched2017—
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 1, 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

LinkToText

LinkToText solves one narrow job, pasting a social or podcast link and getting text back, without asking for a login on the free path described by reviewers. Because the vendor's own site could not be verified directly, claims here rest on secondary coverage and should be treated as less certain than a directly confirmed listing.

Pros

  • Accepts direct links instead of requiring a file upload
  • Covers multiple platforms including YouTube, Instagram, and podcasts
  • Exports timestamped SRT/VTT captions
  • No cost reported by any source checked

Cons

  • The vendor's own site returned an access-blocked response on every direct visit attempted for this review
  • No verifiable accuracy figures or company identity
  • Free-only claim could not be cross-checked against an official pricing page

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 LinkToText if you need

  • Creators repurposing a video link into a blog post or captions
  • Researchers who need a quick transcript without downloading a file

More comparisons

Browse all AI Video Editing →