Phonotheca and Condens
A Condens alternative for one researcher
Condens is a repository a team shares. Phonotheca is the archive behind one person's fieldwork, with transcripts you correct in place, REFI-QDA export, and EU-only processing on every plan.
P07 · onboarding
Walk me through the last time you tried to set it up.
I gave up and asked someone on my team to do it for me.
Setup frictionIt was quicker than reading the thing again.
Open the sample workspaceNo account needed.
Where they differ
Both keep interviews in one searchable place. Condens prices that place by contributor, and this prices it by audio hour for one person.
| Capability | Phonotheca | Condens |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $12 a month | €15 a month |
| Automated transcription included | 20 audio hours a month | Unlimited |
| Next tier up | $29 a month | €500 a month |
| Plan that stays free | Included | 15-day trial |
| Processing and storage in the EU | EU only | EU or US |
| Priced by | Audio hour | Contributor |
| Additional people on a project | Not included | €15 each |
Condens figures are its published plans as of August 2026.
Three things that work differently here
Transcripts you correct in place
Fix a word, split a turn, reassign a speaker, and the audio stays alongside as the record. A misheard sentence is a coding problem, so the fix belongs in the transcript rather than in a note about it.
A project leaves as a REFI-QDA archive
Export a study as .qdpx and open it in the coding software your method already runs on, alongside Markdown and CSV.
EU only, on every plan
Audio and transcripts stay in European regions, the transcription service deletes its copy once the transcript lands, and the data processing agreement is signed without a sales call.
A year of one researcher's work
The entry tiers land within twenty euros of each other. The distance is at the tier above, where the next stop after Condens Lite is Business.
Phonotheca Solo
20 audio hours a month, one researcher
$144
Condens Lite
One contributor, billed yearly
€165
Condens Business
Five contributors, billed yearly
€6,000
List prices as of August 2026, billed yearly where a yearly price is published.
Search reaches every study you have run
One query runs across every interview you have uploaded, not the project you happen to have open, and each hit carries its recording, speaker, and timestamp so you can hear the line said.
Search and export stay open on every plan including Free, so material gathered during a funded year keeps working in a quiet one.
How a UX study moves through it11 results across 5 interviews
P07 · 00:22:49
I gave up and asked someone on my team to do it for me.
P09 · 00:14:26
Eventually I gave up and asked support to import it.
P02 · 00:51:07
Nobody gave up, they just stopped opening it.
Which tool fits which job
Phonotheca fits when you have
- One researcher doing the fieldwork and the analysis
- Transcripts worth correcting because the wording gets quoted
- Coding that happens in NVivo, ATLAS.ti, or MAXQDA afterwards
- Recordings that have to stay in the EU with a signed DPA
- An archive that has to stay readable between funded projects
Condens fits when you have
- A research team sharing one repository
- Stakeholders who need to read findings without doing the analysis
- Continuous study volume rather than a countable number of hours
- Tagging, synthesis, and reporting in the same tool as the transcript
Both products change. Check each vendor’s site before you switch.
Priced by the hour, for one researcher
Every limit is audio hours. Never a seat, never a file count.
Free
Enough to see a corpus take shape.
$0forever
3 audio hours, once
- Unlimited projects, interviews, and tags
- Full-text search across every transcript
- Markdown, CSV, and REFI-QDA export
Solo
A study's worth of interviews, every month.
$12per month
20 audio hours a month
- Hours reset on your renewal date
- Everything in Free, never gated
Pro
RecommendedFor a fieldwork season or a whole cohort.
$29per month
50 audio hours a month
- Hours reset on your renewal date
- Everything in Solo
Solo covers 20 audio hours a month at $0.60 an hour. Compare the plans
Common questions
- Condens includes unlimited transcription. Why is this metered?
- Condens includes unlimited automated transcription on every tier, and Phonotheca meters audio hours, 20 a month on Solo and 50 on Pro. If your volume is continuous and unpredictable, unlimited is the better shape. Metered hours suit a study where you know roughly how many interviews are coming, and they keep the entry price at $12 with search and export ungated.
- What happens when a solo project grows into a team?
- Condens is where that goes. A workspace here belongs to one person, so there are no contributors to add. Condens Lite is €15 a month per contributor and Business starts at €500 a month with five contributors included.
- How do the prices compare over a year?
- Solo is $144 a year for 20 audio hours a month. Condens Lite is €165 a year for one contributor with unlimited transcription. The gap opens at the tier above, where Pro is $29 a month and Condens Business starts at €6,000 a year. Prices shown as of August 2026.
- Is my data in the EU?
- Yes, and only there. Condens states that data is stored and processed in EU data centres and also offers US hosting. Phonotheca runs EU-only on every plan including Free, with zero retention at the transcription step and a published data governance statement naming the subprocessors.
- Can I move my material out?
- A project exports as Markdown, CSV, or a REFI-QDA .qdpx archive, on every plan including Free. Transcripts you already have from other tools import as TXT, SRT, or VTT and spend none of your transcription hours.
- What happens to my archive if I stop paying?
- It stays readable. Search, tags, and export keep working on the free plan, which matters across a gap between funded projects.
Related pages
Put one study in it and search the lot
Three audio hours are free, and the archive stays readable whether or not you ever pay.