---
title: "Free Descript Alternatives"
slug: "free-descript-alternatives"
description: "Descript’s free plan against six verified free transcription APIs - Deepgram, Speechmatics, AssemblyAI, Gladia, Groq and Scaleway - with credit, card and catch."
verifiedAt: "2026-10-31"
options: 6
canonical: "https://aifree.dev/compare/free-descript-alternatives"
---

# Free Descript Alternatives

> Descript’s free plan against six verified free transcription APIs - Deepgram, Speechmatics, AssemblyAI, Gladia, Groq and Scaleway - with credit, card and catch.

Descript’s free plan is a text-based editor: 60 media minutes a month, 100 one-time AI credits, 720p local export and transcription in 25 languages, with no card. Past that you move to Hobbyist ($16 a month billed annually, $24 monthly) for 10 media hours. The catalog does not list a free video editor, so this page covers the half of Descript it can back with verified offers: transcription. The six rows below are free speech-to-text services that give you the transcript to edit, subtitle or search; they are APIs, so you bring your own tool for the cutting. Every row is a live offer from the same data as the [free AI audio tools hub](https://aifree.dev/free-ai-audio-tools), re-checked monthly. For the full list of speech-to-text options see [free speech-to-text APIs](https://aifree.dev/compare/free-speech-to-text-apis); for AI video generation see the [free AI video tools hub](https://aifree.dev/free-ai-video-tools).

## Side by side

| Offer | What is free | Card | Status | The catch |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Deepgram Free $200 Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/deepgram-free-credit) | $200 | no card | verified 2026-10-12 | Credit is tied to the Pay As You Go plan; billing switches to pay-as-you-go once the $200 credit is spent. |
| [Speechmatics $100 Free Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/speechmatics-free-credit) | $100 | no card | verified 2026-10-31 | The $100 sign-up credit lasts 12 months and service pauses once it reaches zero; adding a card switches the account to pay-as-you-go. |
| [AssemblyAI Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/assemblyai-free-credits) | $50 | no card | verified 2026-10-12 | Free tier caps streaming at 5 new streams per minute (vs 100/min paid), and LLM Gateway usage is not covered by the credits; the credits do not expire. |
| [Gladia Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/gladia-free-credits) | Free credits | no card | verified 2026-10-12 | One-time credit that expires one year after signup, with no monthly reset; once used you must top up or upgrade to continue. |
| [Groq Free Tier](https://aifree.dev/offer/groq-free-tier) | Free tier | no card | verified 2026-10-12 | Rate limits apply at the organization level and are tight (e.g. 30 RPM and 1K RPD on many models); the docs caution limits may change and exceptions exist. |
| [Scaleway Generative APIs Free Tier](https://aifree.dev/offer/scaleway-generative-apis-free-tier) | 1,000,000 tokens | no card | verified 2026-10-31 | Free Tier applies to your most expensive tokens first; once exceeded, per-token billing starts with a 1,000-token minimum billing unit. |

## The 6 options, in detail

### [Deepgram Free $200 Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/deepgram-free-credit.md)

$200 in free credits for Deepgram speech-to-text and TTS, no card

- Applies to the Pay As You Go plan
- No expiration on the credit
- No minimums
- Moves to pay-as-you-go billing after the credit is used

**Catch:** Credit is tied to the Pay As You Go plan; billing switches to pay-as-you-go once the $200 credit is spent.

### [Speechmatics $100 Free Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/speechmatics-free-credit.md)

$100 in Speechmatics speech-to-text and TTS credit, no card, valid 12 months

- $100 sign-up credit lasts 12 months
- 2 concurrent real-time sessions on the Free tier
- Service pauses when the credit balance reaches zero
- 1 credit = $1; card only needed to continue on pay-as-you-go

**Catch:** The $100 sign-up credit lasts 12 months and service pauses once it reaches zero; adding a card switches the account to pay-as-you-go.

### [AssemblyAI Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/assemblyai-free-credits.md)

$50 in free credits for speech-to-text, streaming, and voice agent APIs

- Free-tier streaming concurrency: 5 new streams per minute
- Free-tier accounts may default to different models than paid accounts
- Credits cover Pre-recorded STT, Real-time STT, Voice Agent API, Speech Understanding and Guardrails; LLM Gateway is not included
- Credits do not expire

**Catch:** Free tier caps streaming at 5 new streams per minute (vs 100/min paid), and LLM Gateway usage is not covered by the credits; the credits do not expire.

### [Gladia Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/gladia-free-credits.md)

One-time €50 speech-to-text credit, valid one year, up to ~312 hours

- One-time 50 EUR credit at signup, valid for one year, no monthly reset
- Roughly 312 h async on Solaria-3, 185 h on Solaria-1 or 73 h real-time at current rates
- 25 concurrent async and 30 concurrent real-time requests on Self-serve
- Top up or upgrade once the credit is used

**Catch:** One-time credit that expires one year after signup, with no monthly reset; once used you must top up or upgrade to continue.

### [Groq Free Tier](https://aifree.dev/offer/groq-free-tier.md)

Free rate-limited Groq API access to hosted open models, no card

- Per-organization limits tracked as RPM, RPD, TPM, TPD
- openai/gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b: 30 RPM / 1K RPD / 8K TPM / 200K TPD
- qwen/qwen3.8-27b: 30 RPM / 1K RPD / 8K TPM / 200K TPD
- whisper-large-v3 and turbo: 20 RPM / 2K RPD, 7.2K audio sec/hour, 28.8K audio sec/day

**Catch:** Rate limits apply at the organization level and are tight (e.g. 30 RPM and 1K RPD on many models); the docs caution limits may change and exceptions exist.

### [Scaleway Generative APIs Free Tier](https://aifree.dev/offer/scaleway-generative-apis-free-tier.md)

1M free tokens and 60 minutes of transcription on Scaleway APIs

- 1,000,000 free tokens (Serverless, token-billed models)
- 60 minutes free audio transcription
- Free quota split proportionally across projects by consumption
- Minimum billing unit of 1,000 tokens after the quota

**Catch:** Free Tier applies to your most expensive tokens first; once exceeded, per-token billing starts with a 1,000-token minimum billing unit.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Descript free?

Yes, there is a Free plan with no card: 60 media minutes a month, 100 one-time AI credits, 720p local export, unlimited projects and transcription in 25 languages, with its AI tools limited. Hobbyist starts at $16 a month billed annually ($24 monthly) for 10 media hours and 1080p export. This was read from Descript’s pricing page on November 1, 2026.

### Is there a free alternative to Descript?

For transcription, yes: Deepgram gives $200 in credit, Speechmatics $100, AssemblyAI $50 and Gladia a one-time €50, none with a card. They return a transcript through an API; none of them is a video editor, so they replace Descript’s transcription, not its text-based editing.

### Which free option transcribes the most audio?

Gladia estimates its €50 credit at about 80 hours of pre-recorded audio. Groq’s free plan serves Whisper models at up to 28,800 audio seconds (8 hours) a day, and Scaleway’s free tier includes 60 minutes of whisper-large-v3 transcription.

### Do these Descript alternatives need a credit card?

No - none of the six rows asks for a card. Deepgram moves to pay-as-you-go billing once the credit is spent, and adding a card at Speechmatics switches the account to pay-as-you-go.

### How current is this comparison?

Every row is generated from the aifree.dev catalog, whose offers are re-checked monthly. Credits and limits shift quietly, so a row changes or disappears when the vendor does.

HTML page: https://aifree.dev/compare/free-descript-alternatives