Phonotheca and Rev
A Rev alternative that keeps the interviews
Rev hands back a transcript file. Phonotheca puts every interview in one searchable corpus, tagged and quotable, priced at $12 a month for 20 audio hours.
Practitioner 08
What did you do the first time the system went down?
We went back to paper and nobody wrote it down anywhere.
WorkaroundBy the third time it was just how we worked.
Open the sample workspaceNo account needed.
The thirtieth transcript is the problem
One transcript is a file. Thirty of them in a folder is a question you cannot answer, because the passage you half-remember could be in any of them and opening each one in turn is the only way to find out.
Search here runs across the project. The result is the turn that matched, in the interview it came from, at the second it was said.
See how the workspace works12 matches across 9 interviews
00:26:11 · 47:20
so we kept a second copy on paper for the whole quarter.
00:18:33 · 39:57
We went back to paper and nobody wrote it down anywhere.
00:51:02 · 1:04:38
everyone had their own paper version by then.
What happens after the transcript lands
Search runs over the whole project
One query reaches every interview in the study and returns the turn that matched, with the speaker and the timestamp that points back to the audio.
Tags collect a theme across recordings
Mark a passage while you read. Later, one tag gathers the same theme from every participant, and the export carries each quote's citation with it.
No one listens to the recording
The pipeline is machine-only, on an EU endpoint, and the transcription service deletes its copy once the transcript lands. Audio and transcripts stay in European regions.
Where they differ
Rev sells transcription as a service. Phonotheca sells the archive those transcripts go into, metered by the hour of audio you put through it.
| Capability | Phonotheca | Rev |
|---|---|---|
| Tags and cited quote export | Included | Not included |
| REFI-QDA export to coding software | Included | Not included |
| Free plan with the full workspace | Included | 45 min a month |
| EU processing without a sales call | Included | Not included |
| GDPR terms on the entry plan | Included | Top tier |
| Metered by | Audio hour | Seat and minutes |
| Entry price | $12 a month | $25.49 a seat a month |
Which tool fits which job
Phonotheca fits when you have
- Interviews that add up to a corpus rather than one-off files
- A question you can only answer by searching every transcript at once
- Passages you quote with speaker, source, and timestamp attached
- Recordings that have to stay in the EU and out of model training
Rev fits when you have
- Audio hard enough that a person should check the transcript
- Captions and subtitles to deliver alongside video
- Verbatim standards for legal, medical, or broadcast use
- Source languages beyond the ones a general model handles well
Both products change. Check each vendor’s site before you switch.
Priced by the audio hour
No per-file charge, no seat to buy.
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
Prices are in USD, tax added at checkout. Compare the plans
Questions before switching
- What does it cost?
- Free covers 3 audio hours once, Solo is $12 a month for 20 hours, and Pro is $29 for 50. Rev's entry subscription is $25.49 a seat a month, with human transcription priced per file on top. Prices are in USD, tax added at checkout.
- Can I import the transcripts I already bought from Rev?
- Yes. Export them as TXT, SRT, or VTT and import the files into a project. Rev's Speaker (00:00:03) format is read directly, speakers and timings come across as turns, and an import spends none of your transcription hours.
- How do I fix a transcript that got a speaker wrong?
- Split the segment at the word where the turn actually changes and reassign the speaker, or merge it back into the segment above. Tags follow both halves of a split, so an edit never drops a quote from an export.
- How do I get a quote out with its citation?
- Copy the passage and the speaker, interview, and timestamp come with it. Tagged passages export as Markdown or CSV with those citations attached, and a whole project exports as a REFI-QDA archive.
- Where is the audio processed?
- In the European Union, on every plan including Free, with no request to make and nobody to ask. Audio and transcripts sit in EU regions and transcription runs on an EU endpoint with zero retention. Rev offers an EU region on its API by arrangement with an account manager, and it does not cover human transcription. The privacy notice lists our subprocessors.
- What happens if I stop paying?
- The archive, search, tags, and export stay open on the free plan. Only new transcription pauses.
Compared with the other tools
Bring the transcripts you already paid for
Import them free, then transcribe the next three hours on us.