Phonotheca and Dedoose
A Dedoose alternative that transcribes too
Dedoose codes media against a transcript you bring. Phonotheca makes the transcript, keeps the study searchable and tagged, and exports to Dedoose when the analysis needs it. $12 a month for 20 audio hours.
Cohort A · 02
What did the funding decision change day to day?
We stopped planning past the end of the term.
Short horizonEverything became a pilot so nothing had to be renewed.
Open the sample workspaceNo account needed.
One subscription instead of two
A Dedoose project needs transcripts, and those come from a transcription service billed separately, usually by the file or the minute. Here the hours are part of the plan, so twenty of them a month cost $12 and nothing else.
See what each plan includesDedoose Individual plus transcription
$17.95 an active month, with transcripts bought from a separate service
$17.95 + audio
Phonotheca Solo
20 audio hours of transcription a month, in the subscription
$12
Phonotheca Pro
50 audio hours of transcription a month, in the subscription
$29
Dedoose figure is its published individual rate as of August 2026. USD, tax exclusive.
From recording to coded project
Transcription is the subscription
Upload the recording and the speaker-labeled transcript comes back, usually within minutes. Solo covers 20 audio hours a month, Pro 50, and nothing counts files.
The project opens in Dedoose
Export as a REFI-QDA archive and transcripts arrive as sources with your tags as codes, so the deeper analysis can happen where you already do it.
Audio stays in the EU
Recordings and transcripts sit in European regions, the transcription service deletes its copy once the transcript lands, and nothing is used to train models.
Where they differ
Dedoose expects a transcript you already have. Phonotheca makes it, holds the recording behind it, and charges less a month to do both.
| Capability | Phonotheca | Dedoose |
|---|---|---|
| Transcribes your audio | Included | Not included |
| Speaker-labeled, timestamped transcripts | Included | Not included |
| Transcription hours in the price | Included | Not included |
| Free plan with the full workspace | Included | Not included |
| EU processing and storage | Included | US |
| Monthly price | $12 | $17.95 |
Which tool fits which job
Phonotheca fits when you have
- Recordings that still need transcripts before anything can be coded
- Themes you mark as you read rather than a full analytic codebook
- Quotes headed for a chapter with participant and timestamp attached
- Recordings that have to stay in the EU and out of model training
Dedoose fits when you have
- Transcripts already written and a codebook to apply to them
- Code co-occurrence, descriptor fields, and mixed-methods charts
- A team on one account with centralized billing
- Months where you touch the project and months where you do not
Both products change. Check each vendor’s site before you switch.
Transcription in the price
Every limit is audio hours. 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
A 20-interview round of hour-long interviews fits inside a single month of Solo. Compare the plans
Common questions from researchers
- Does Dedoose transcribe audio?
- It plays and codes media synced to a transcript, and the transcript is something you supply. That is the gap this fills: transcription is in the price here, metered at 20 audio hours a month on Solo.
- I like only paying for the months I work. Does this do that?
- Differently. Solo and Pro are monthly and cancel in the billing portal, and the free plan keeps projects, search, tags, and export open with no card, so a dormant stretch costs nothing and the corpus stays where it is.
- Can I keep using Dedoose for the analysis?
- Yes. Export the project as a REFI-QDA .qdpx and Dedoose imports it, with transcripts as sources and your tags as codes still attached to the passages they marked.
- How does tagging work here?
- Define the themes you want per project, mark passages as you read, then filter or export by tag. One tag gathers the same theme from every participant, with each quote carrying its speaker, interview, and timestamp.
- Can I hand a coded project to my supervisor?
- Export it as a REFI-QDA archive and they can open it in Dedoose, NVivo, ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA, or Quirkos, with your tags arriving as codes still attached to the passages they marked.
- What can I put in an ethics application?
- Audio is processed and stored in the European Union, deleted from the transcription service once the transcript lands, and never used to train models. The privacy notice sets out the subprocessors and retention so it can be quoted or attached.
Related pages
Get the transcripts your codebook needs
Three audio hours are free, which covers the first few participants.