HappyScribe vs. Descript: How to Know Which Tool Fits Your Needs

It’s important to have a transcription tool that fits into your workflow while producing content at a fast pace. However, that’s not the only element that matters. You also need to consider the focus of each tool, accuracy, language capabilities, and security to choose an option that will provide high-quality results.

If you’re trying to decide between HappyScribe and Descript, you might see that they both offer transcription, translation, and subtitling features. However, both platforms have different focuses. Here’s what you should know before deciding.

What is HappyScribe?

HappyScribe is an AI-powered language services tool. Its primary functions are performing transcription, translation, and subtitling.

HappyScribe is a great option when you’re working with speech-heavy content such as podcasts, interviews, long-form videos, and speeches. It’ll allow you to repurpose content in a text-based format, pull quotes, generate summaries, make content accessible in many languages, and more.

When comparing HappyScribe against Descript, it particularly stands out for its focused workflow, verified accuracy rates, language capabilities, and security. It offers a true professional solution for businesses and content teams that are creating at scale and need a reliable option.

What is Descript?

Descript is an AI-powered video editing tool. It works off an AI chat function, where you can upload video files and use custom prompts to tell the tool exactly what edits you’d like it to make or effects you’d like added.

Descript’s software is also capable of performing transcription, translation, and subtitling. However, those features are add-ons to the primary video editing tasks you can perform on the platform and have limitations for professional use.

We’ll review the pros and cons in the rest of this article to help you make an informed decision between HappyScribe and Descript.

Essential differences between HappyScribe and Descript

1. HappyScribe vs. Descript: user experience

HappyScribe: user experience

HappyScribe’s user experience is focused and organized. Audio-to-text and video-to-text transcription and translation are core features of the platform, and HappyScribe makes it clear how to perform those tasks immediately when you log in to the platform. You’ll see exactly where you need to go to start a project, upload files, and adjust settings to your liking.

On top of an organized layout, HappyScribe offers several advanced features to make your transcripts more consistent and reviewing outputs efficient:

• Interactive editing: HappyScribe’s editor provides a great interface where you can quickly review outputs side-by-side with the video or audio file. All changes are automatically saved, and you can adjust the format of your text to your liking before exporting it.
• AI assistant: At the top of the editor, you’ll find an option to “Ask AI anything.” Here, you’ll be able to use preset options or enter custom prompts to perform functions like generating an automatic summary, creating a blog post based on your transcript, or pulling important quotes.
• Proofreading helper: HappyScribe’s proofreading helper will highlight any sections of text where accuracy may have been lower during transcription or translation. It makes reviewing outputs more efficient since you know which sections need extra attention.
• Advanced features: You’ll find several advanced features that help with consistency and efficiency, such as automatic speaker labels, glossaries, style guides, and timestamping. Each of these features is easy to find, adjust, and use as needed.

Descript: user experience

Descript’s platform is centered around an AI chat function. When you log in, you’re greeted by a text box where you can type in custom prompts or choose from a few preset options, such as “edit a podcast” or “create social clips.” It’s similar to the layout of tools like ChatGPT.

However, operating directly out of an AI chat can feel a bit jarring at first for a video editing solution since that’s not the typical layout of a video editor. So, that can take a bit of getting used to.

The two other primary considerations to make before using Descript are:

1. Learning curve: The layout and function of Descript can add a learning curve. One of the big things you’ll run into is that you won’t have preset options or buttons you can click for every function Descript provides. For example, there aren’t preset prompts to translate or add subtitles to a video. Those are functions Descript can perform, but you actually have to input a custom prompt to do them.
2. Every task is managed in the video editor: When you ask Descript to perform tasks like video-to-text transcription or translation, it takes you right into the video editor to do them. That makes those features feel a bit clunky and more like add-ons when you’re editing your transcribed text off to the side in the video editor.

While Descript offers a unique video editing experience, it does take some getting used to, and not every feature available feels like a true professional solution. It can reduce efficiency for certain tasks, like transcription, that would benefit from a different layout.

2. HappyScribe vs. Descript: accuracy

HappyScribe: accuracy

HappyScribe has verified accuracy rates of 95% with AI-only transcripts and 99% with expert human proofreading. Having the human proofreading option is a great addition to ensure better accuracy on important content.

You can generate AI-only transcripts in minutes and receive expert proofreading within 24 hours. Rush orders are also available for expert proofreading if you’re facing a tight deadline.

One of the reasons why HappyScribe can continuously provide high-quality outputs is because the team behind it is continuously testing and training the software. HappyScribe is tested and trained daily on 12,000+ hours of content each year. It’s backed by a team that cares about providing professional results each time you use the platform.

On top of that, you can use HappyScribe’s Glossaries feature to make your transcripts more consistent. The Glossaries feature is built to correct any frequently misspelled words, such as names or company-specific terminology that have unique spellings. All you have to do is add them to your glossary, and the software will use the right spelling going forward.

"HappyScribe has completely streamlined our transcription process. It’s faster, more accurate, and far more efficient than anything we used before."

- Georgie Nicholls, Production Manager at Twofour

Descript: accuracy

Descript has unverified accuracy rates, and they don’t mention how often they’re testing or training their transcription, translation, and subtitling tools to maintain or improve performance.

The main benefit Descript offers to help with accuracy is a glossary feature to correct common misspellings, similar to the one you get with HappyScribe. That can help with consistency, but the unverified accuracy rates and lack of testing information still pose concerns when looking for a professional transcription solution to complete a high volume of work.

3. HappyScribe vs. Descript: language support

HappyScribe: language support

HappyScribe provides well-rounded language support when transcribing, translating, or generating translated subtitles. HappyScribe can transcribe in 120+ languages and translate in 65+ languages with AI-only outputs. You can also get expert proofreading for translations and translated subtitles in 85+ languages with 99% accuracy.

In addition to the number of languages HappyScribe supports, there are several other features on the platform that help achieve high-quality results in this category:

• HappyScribe offers side-by-side editing so you can see the original text at the same time as you’re reviewing translated text.
• The Glossaries feature helps consistently correct any inaccuracies during translation, such as people’s names or product names that you don’t want changed.
• Subtitle syncing is available, which will line up subtitles with shot changes in your videos for a better viewing experience. You can also manually adjust timings as needed.
• Several localization features will help you meet important accessibility standards, such as Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (SDH).

These features, along with the number of languages supported, are built to help businesses and professional content teams efficiently produce global content at scale.

Descript: language support

Descript can transcribe in 25+ languages and translate in 20+ languages. They note that some of the available languages are still in beta, so they’re still working on improving accuracy for some. Descript also has unverified accuracy rates across languages, so it’s hard to tell how precise the results will be when using the platform.

Out of Descript’s limited language selection, it’s important to note that it’s missing several of the top 20 languages spoken in the world. Popular languages that Descript doesn’t include are:

• Mandarin: Estimated 990+ million native speakers
• Arabic: 360+ million native speakers
• Bengali: 240+ million native speakers
• Russian: 148+ million native speakers
• Japanese: 125+ million native speakers
• Vietnamese: 86+ million native speakers
• Marathi: 83+ million native speakers
• Tamil: 80+ million native speakers
• Telugu: 75+ million native speakers
• Cantonese: 70+ million native speakers
• Urdu: 70+ million native speakers
• Indonesian: 40+ million native speakers

Missing out on each of these languages, among many others that Descript doesn’t cover, provides a significant gap in the potential audience you can reach when trying to produce content at a global scale.

On top of that, Descript doesn’t offer expert proofreading to help with accuracy during translation or the localization features that you get with HappyScribe to meet accessibility standards.

HappyScribe vs. Descript: language support table

4. HappyScribe vs. Descript: workflows

HappyScribe: workflow

One of the main benefits of HappyScribe’s workflow is its focus on the core transcription, translation, and subtitling features. It makes it easy to collaborate on projects with your team and complete important tasks since the scope of the platform is clear and manageable.

On top of the organized feel, several other advanced features help HappyScribe provide a great workflow:

• Collaboration: You can share files with your team to allow easy access for those involved in projects.
• Project organization: You can create custom project folders to organize everything your team is working on.
• Subtitle styling: When you add subtitles to videos, you can customize their font, size, weight, appearance, color, and position to match your branding and video’s theme.
• Speaker tagging and timestamps: HappyScribe offers a setting to automatically add speaker labels with timestamps to make transcripts easier to review.
• Style guides: Create custom templates for transcripts, translations, and subtitles to control the quality and formatting of all outputs based on your needs.
• Additional features: Several additional tools and features are available on the platform, such as the audio converter and video converter, which can help you change file types based on your needs.

"In the past, we struggled to keep up with our growing content library. With Happy Scribe, we can now process subtitles so quickly that we’re exploring new types of content and expanding our reach."

- Samuel Rostein, Channel Manager at Logicomix

Descript: workflow

Descript provides several similar features within its workflow, such as:

• Collaboration with your team
• Creating custom folders for projects
• Subtitle styling
• Automatic speaker tagging

However, having every feature operate out of the video editor can make the workflow feel clunky in some cases. For instance, it can feel a bit off-putting trying to translate text-based content in the video editor. It makes it feel less specific to the current task you’re working on.

While having many features in one platform is great, offering different interfaces for certain tasks would make working within Descript feel smoother.

5. HappyScribe vs. Descript: security

HappyScribe: security

HappyScribe provides high levels of security and privacy for businesses and professionals using the platform.

As a European-based company, HappyScribe is fully GDPR compliant. That means all data and information are processed and managed with strict protection standards.

Additionally, HappyScribe is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant to provide an additional layer of security and offers secure single sign-on (SSO) login.

Descript: security

Descript is also SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and offers SSO login on its Enterprise plans. However, Descript doesn’t mention being GDPR compliant on its website, so it’s likely they don’t meet all the requirements. That is a concern for businesses and professionals using a transcription tool, where you are worried about how your information is handled and protected.

6. HappyScribe vs. Descript: pricing

HappyScribe: pricing

HappyScribe offers a pay-as-you-go option and monthly subscriptions at different tiers that go as follows:

• Pay-as-you-go: $12 per 60 minutes
• Lite: $9 per month
• Pro: $29 per month
• Business: $89 per month

You can also try it before paying with a limited free trial, or get a 33-34% discount when you sign up for an annual plan.

Descript: pricing

Descript offers monthly subscriptions at different tiers:

• Hobbyist: $24 per month
• Creator: $35 per month
• Business: $65 per month

You can also start with a limited free account to try it, or get a 35% discount with an annual plan.

7. HappyScribe vs. Descript: best use cases

HappyScribe: best use cases

HappyScribe is best for businesses and professionals who need a transcription, translation, and subtitling solution. Its focused workflow, verified accuracy rates, language support, and security all make it stand out as a high-quality professional solution that will help teams operate efficiently while producing content at scale.

Best use cases for HappyScribe include:

• Translating long audio files at a fast pace. (Read how it helped Sterling Associates streamline their workflow)
• Making educational content more accessible in different languages. (See how it helped Growth Tribe)
• Adding localized subtitles to video content. (Read how 3Cat cut localization time from 60% to 10%)
• Repurposing speech-heavy video or audio content into a text-based format.
• Creating summaries or pulling important quotes from content.
• Facilitating collaboration across large teams.

Descript: best use cases

Descript works best as a video editing solution. It offers a unique AI video editing system with a chat function to customize results to your liking.

While it offers transcription and translation features, those feel more like add-ons to the video editing system than true professional features.

Final verdict on HappyScribe vs. Descript: Which is best for your needs?

HappyScribe stands out as the best option for businesses and professionals looking for a transcription, translation, and subtitling tool. It’s an option with a focused workflow that’s tested, trusted, and optimized for high-quality results in those categories. Features that make HappyScribe stand out as the top choice include:

• Verified accuracy rates of 95% on AI-only outputs and 99% with expert proofreading
• Clear information about how it’s tested and trained
• Well-rounded language support with 120+ languages and localization features
• High security standards with GDPR and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance
• An organized interface that’s easy to use

Descript is a great video editing solution with a platform that focuses on helping you efficiently create visual content. However, it isn’t the top option for transcription, translation, or subtitling since it falls short in the categories above.

Try HappyScribe Today

HappyScribe is a professional choice when you need organized and efficient transcription, translation, and subtitling tools. Want to see how it performs and fits into your workflow? Sign up today to try it for yourself!