Phonotheca and Descript
A Descript alternative for interviews you keep
Descript is an editor, built to turn a recording into a cut. Phonotheca is an archive, built to keep every interview searchable, quotable, and in the EU, priced by audio hour with no seats to buy.
Subject 04 · part 2
Did anyone keep a record of what was agreed that night?
Only what I wrote down, and I still have it.
EvidenceNobody asked me about it again until you.
Open the sample workspaceNo account needed.
Where they differ
Both start from a transcript. Descript spends it on an edit, and this spends it on an archive you can still search in five years.
| Capability | Phonotheca | Descript |
|---|---|---|
| Transcription hours on the paid plan | 50 | 40 |
| Priced by | Audio hour | Seat and hours |
| Processing and storage in the EU | Included | Not included |
| Opt out of model training on a paid plan | Included | Enterprise |
| Data processing agreement without a sales call | Included | Not included |
| Free plan with the full workspace | Included | 60 min a month |
| Search across every recording at once | Included | Per project |
| REFI-QDA export to coding software | Included | Not included |
Descript figures are its published plans as of August 2026.
Three things that work differently here
The archive is the product
One query reaches every recording you have uploaded, not just the project you have open, and each hit carries its speaker and timestamp.
No seats to buy
A workspace belongs to one person and the price does not move with headcount. Hours of audio are the only meter.
Processed and stored in the EU
Audio and transcripts stay in European regions on every plan including Free, and the data processing agreement is signed without a sales call.
Search a hundred hours of tape at once
A long project accumulates far more recording than ends up in the cut. One query runs across all of it and returns the turn that matched, with the recording, the speaker, and the timestamp that points back to the audio.
Where recordings are processed and stored14 results across 5 recordings
Subject 04 · 00:41:20
Only what I wrote down, and I still have it.
Speaker 2 · 00:12:44
nobody ever wrote down what happened to the files.
Okonjo · 00:26:03
The only reason we know is that someone wrote down the numbers.
Which tool fits which job
Phonotheca fits when you have
- Interviews that accumulate into a body of work you search later
- Passages you quote with speaker, recording, and timestamp attached
- Recordings that have to stay in the EU with a signed DPA
- A backlog of tape as well as this week's session
Descript fits when you have
- A podcast or video to cut, score, and publish
- Editing done by deleting words from a transcript
- Filler-word removal, overdub, and studio sound as a deliverable
- Screen recordings and multitrack sessions to assemble
Both products change. Check each vendor’s site before you switch.
Priced by the hour, not by the seat
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
Pro covers 50 audio hours a month at $0.58 an hour. Compare the plans
Common questions
- Can it edit audio or video?
- No. There is no editor, no overdub, and no publishing. This transcribes what you recorded, keeps it searchable, and gets quotes out with their citations. If the deliverable is a cut, Descript is the tool for that part.
- Where is the audio processed?
- In the European Union, on every plan including Free. Descript states that it processes and stores information in the United States, with no regional option published at any tier.
- Is my audio used to train models?
- No. Descript's opt-out of training sits in its Enterprise tier, and is on by default below it.
- How does the price compare?
- Pro is $29 a month for 50 audio hours in one workspace. Descript's Business plan carries 40 hours and is priced per seat, so a second person doubles it. Prices shown as of August 2026.
- Can I bring transcripts I already made in Descript?
- Yes. Export them as TXT, SRT, or VTT and import the files into a project. Speakers and timings come across as turns you can search, tag, and cite, and an import spends 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, and a project comes out as Markdown, CSV, or a REFI-QDA archive whenever you want it.
Related pages
Keep the interviews, not just the cut
Three audio hours are free, and the archive stays readable whether or not you ever pay.