Happy Scribe Review: Pricing, Features & More

 Gone are the days of listening to the video and converting spoken words into text (or, more realistically, inevitably transcribing manually with less accuracy). Now, with a transcription app like Happy Scribe and the click of a button, you can transcribe media files directly from the computer and store them in the workspace. 

While Happy Scribe does a decent job of automating the transcription and subtitling, it falls short in certain instances. As a content creator and podcaster, I have had the opportunity to test this popular transcription service. After in-depth testing, I have created this detailed Happy Scribe review — so you know if it's worth your hard-earned money. 

What is Happy Scribe? 

Happy Scribe is a dedicated transcription and subtitling tool that is both highly accurate and easy to use — but you have to do basic proofreading and editing to make the transcript fit for publishing purposes. 

Happy Scribe has an edge over some other voice-to-text tools as it offers automatic and human-made transcription services. If you want a tool with a fast turnaround but have some time on hand for quick editing, the automatic service might be a good choice. 

Alternatively, if you care more about the transcription accuracy and less about the turnaround time, Happy Scribe's human-generated transcriptions might be the right choice for you. (Just be ready to pay $1.75 per minute of audio if you choose human service over AI.)

If you want to choose an AI tool that is more accurate yet affordable, check out the 10 Happy Scribe alternatives guide that includes Notta, Otter.ai, Rev, and more. 

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Pricing and Plan 

Happy Scribe offers different plans and packages for individuals, small teams, and large enterprises. The free plan, for example, lets you test the AI transcription, subtitles, and translation services for a few minutes per month. 

If you want more, upgrade to the Happy Scribe's basic plan, which starts at $17 per month and offers 120 minutes per month. Besides the free and basic plan, the transcription tool offers Pro (at $29 per month) and Business (at $49 per month) plans for recurring needs. 

While there is no doubt that there are various plans and packages available, it might prove to be a costly choice for large teams. For example, you'll have to pay $49 per month to transcribe 600 minutes — which is relatively expensive compared to its alternatives. 

Technical Details 

There's no doubt that Happy Scribe gives you the option to generate transcripts of pre-recorded media files, but it also helps you create subtitles in multiple languages. But before you choose to try the free plan or invest in the paid one, here are a few technical details to check out. 

Supported Platforms: You can use this speech-to-text application on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Ubuntu — assuming you are using the Chrome browser with no issues. 

Deployments: Happy Scribe is a web-based transcription tool, which means you don't have to focus on setting up hardware. You can sign up for a free account to test the tool, but you have to upgrade to a paid plan to receive more transcription minutes as you continue. 

Categories: The primary aim of the AI-powered tool is to generate transcripts and subtitles of pre-recorded audio or video files. Having said that, Happy Scribe isn't as versatile as its competitors, which offers plenty of features like real-time transcription, automatic correction, and more. 

Integrations: Happy Scribe currently does not offer many integrations with third-party apps or platforms. But the platform claims to offer Google Drive, YouTube, Vimeo, Box, Brightcove, Dropbox, Wistia, Microsoft Stream, Panopto, and Vidyard soon. 

Features & Functionality 

The hype surrounding the AI tool and positive Happy Scribe reviews hasn't unfolded, as the tool comes with some decent features and functionalities. Here's what I found when I tested the transcription and subtitling features to create this detailed Happy Scribe review. 

Transcription

I'll admit, Happy Scribe looks a bit simplistic and user-friendly at first glance, but it does not include any stellar transcription features — that are beyond basic. 

I tested the automatic transcription tool and played around with the other features, like timecode, to see how well it can transcribe media files, and here are the results. 

As you can see, the transcribed file is pretty much accurate — but I could spot punctuation errors, and it interpreted some words inaccurately. It's very likely that you'll have to proofread and edit the transcript before you publish it anywhere. 

Subtitle

Happy Scribe offers automatic and human-made subtitle generator features to create subtitles for your videos in minutes. You can expect an accuracy rate of 85% with a 5-minute turnaround time. 

Though it's a bit slower than its alternatives, the subtitling was pretty much accurate. Once the transcription tool is done with generating subtitles, click the 'AI Assist' feature to create summaries, chapters, blog posts, emails, or quizzes. 

These handy options let you summarize, create emails or blog posts, or write chapters without having to do the manual work. I tested these features and found that they did a great job, but the summary generated was a bit longer than I had expected. 

While Happy Scribe is easy to use and thoughtfully designed to help users with transcription and subtitling features, it took about five minutes to upload and generate subtitles of a 10-minute audio file. 

Accuracy & Speed 

Happy Scribe is a web-based voice-to-text transcription service that lets users transcribe media files with 85% accuracy — but it is currently far from perfect. 

Automatic Transcription Services

Happy Scribe's automatic transcription service uses state-of-the-art AI to extract speech from any media file, which is then converted into text. Typically, it transcribes files in more than 120 languages with an expected accuracy rate of 85%. 

The amount of time it takes to transcribe files will majorly depend on the quality of the uploaded media. When I tried transcribing a 13-minute audio file, it took around 3-4 minutes to generate a transcription — which is a little longer than other apps. 

Human-Generated Transcription Services

If you have a flexible budget and can shell out more money, there is an option to hire transcribers from Happy Scribe. These are trained professionals who can generate transcripts with nearly 99% accuracy.  

But, it will take more or less 24 hours to complete the transcription process. This can be quite challenging, especially for users looking for quick transcriptions with maximum accuracy. 

Security & Customer Support 

Happy Scribe has a security and privacy policy that states that user data is protected. The AI application is GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant to protect the data of users and give them full control over their personal information. 

On top of being a dedicated transcription and subtitling application, Happy Scribe provides multiple ways to contact the customer support team, such as help center, email, live chat, and priority support. 

The live chat feature is available on the website, but don't expect a quick response from the team (when I tested the live support feature, the team took more than an hour to respond). 

Happy Scribe Jobs & Pay

Happy Scribe offers remote transcription jobs to individuals from the United States, United Kingdom, Philippines, Kenya, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, and more. 

You can expect around €0.90 per minute with an average monthly pay of €450. The Happy Scribe team will give you an assessment test to evaluate the necessary skills required for the role. 

The Final Verdict 

If your transcription requirements need additional capabilities not covered in this Happy Scribe review, consider some of the platforms targeted at recording, transcribing, and summarizing meetings. Notta, for example, has affordable pricing models aimed at larger enterprises. 

With this Happy Scribe alternative, you can do more than just transcribe media files. It's a productivity tool where you can organize your schedule, turn the speech into action items, and generate decent AI summaries. If you want to try Notta, sign up for a free account and see if it's the AI meeting assistant you're looking for. 

FAQs 

What Are the Top Alternatives for Happy Scribe? 

Notta is an AI meeting assistant that can help anyone record, transcribe, and summarize lengthy meetings into text. It's like a sidekick for knowledge workers who attend meetings often but find it challenging to remember what was discussed. 

Whether you want to write notes during group meetings or capture thoughts on the go, Notta's recording and transcription features can help. The voice recording and transcription feature makes brainstorming sessions, recording notes, and transcribing pre-recorded audio/video content an absolute breeze. 

While Happy Scribe is mainly for transcription and subtitling media files, Notta's features go beyond transcribing. It integrates with Google Meet, Webex, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, which reduces the stress of recording and transcribing live meetings. 

Moreover, it can also integrate easily with Salesforce and Notion, so cross-collaboration becomes easier. 

Is Happy Scribe Legit? 

Yes, of course! On TrustPilot, Happy Scribe has a rating of 4.7/5, whereas it stands tall at 4.8/5 at G2,  making it a legitimate choice for knowledge workers and transcribers.

How Much Does Happy Scribe Pay? 

Collaborators are paid on a per-minute basis for transcription or subtitling services — though the compensation solely depends on the language and complexity level. 

For example, easier audio files that are not too complex have a slightly lower payment — since you'll be spending less time on transcription or subtitling. However, the rates will change (or become higher) when transcribing complex files.

According to the Glassdoor Happy Scribe job reviews, many employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.5 out of 5 — which is quite good given the current market conditions.