HappyScribe vs. Maestra AI: Choosing the Best AI Transcription Option

You need to create high-quality transcriptions and captions for livestreams, audio, and video content. Both HappyScribe and Restream offer those features, but they can differ quite a bit in key categories, such as collaboration, subtitle styling, language support, and editing options.

Which is best for your needs? Here’s what you should consider before you decide.

What is HappyScribe?

HappyScribe is a language services tool that offers AI-powered transcription, translation, and subtitling features. It’s built for professional use and working on speech-heavy content, such as podcasts, interviews, and speeches. It’s trusted by over 6M users and 40K+ professional media teams, researchers, journalists, and content creators worldwide.

Standout features of HappyScribe include:

• AI-powered transcription, translation, and subtitling in minutes with 95% accuracy
• An expert proofreading option with 99% accuracy
• Collaboration options to share files across large teams
• An interactive editor that makes reviewing and formatting files easy
• Localization features to meet compliance needs, such as subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH)
• Subtitle styling to customize outputs based on your brand and the video’s theme
• Full GDPR compliance to meet security standards

All of these features and more that you get with HappyScribe make it a trusted option for professional use.

What is Maestra AI?

Maestra AI is another AI-powered transcription, translation, and subtitling tool. It’s a basic option that can help you generate quick outputs and work on smaller projects.

However, it does lack features that an option like HappyScribe has to make it a great fit for true professional use during fast-paced content production. For example, it doesn’t have verified accuracy rates, localization features, or meet all important security standards.

We’ll compare these two tools in-depth throughout the rest of this article to help you weigh the pros and cons.

Essential differences between HappyScribe and Maestra AI

1. HappyScribe vs. Maestra AI: user experience

HappyScribe: user experience

HappyScribe offers several advanced features that create a smooth and accessible user experience during professional use, including:

• Fast outputs: HappyScribe’s AI-only transcriptions, translations, and subtitles generate within minutes with 95% accuracy. It’s a great choice for professional content teams that need fast results during high-volume content production.
• Interactive editor: The interactive editor makes adjusting outputs easy. You can make changes to transcribed or translated text while playing the video or audio file back side-by-side. All changes are automatically saved, and you can share files with your team as needed for collaboration.
• AI assistant: At the top of the editor, you’ll see an option to “Ask AI anything.” You can use this feature to generate summaries, get blog post ideas, or pull impactful quotes from the text automatically to save time while producing or repurposing content.
• Proofreading helper: HappyScribe’s proofreading helper will highlight any sections of text where the AI may have struggled with accuracy to help you review transcripts and translations more efficiently.
• Advanced options: You can use several advanced settings, such as automatic speaker labeling, style guides, and subtitle customization, to ensure consistent outputs that meet your needs.
• Integrations: HappyScribe integrates with other top platforms, such as Google Drive, Vimeo, and YouTube, and supports 45+ file formats to easily fit in with your workflow.

Each of these features is available on an organized platform. When you log in, you’ll easily be able to find where you can start new projects, upload files, and adjust settings to your liking to help you get started quickly.

Maestra AI: user experience

Maestra makes generating transcripts, translations, and subtitles straightforward. The platform is overall easy to use, and you’ll clearly see where to go to upload files and start generating transcripts, translations, or subtitles.

Similar to HappyScribe, Maestra offers a good editing interface where you can adjust outputs and formatting. However, you will notice it lacks several features that HappyScribe has.

With Maestra, you can generate a quick AI summary or automate some other simple tasks like chapterizing or pulling keywords from your generated text. That said, you won’t get all of the advanced features you get with HappyScribe’s AI assistant, such as pulling quotes, generating blog post ideas, or inputting your own custom prompts.

Maestra also lacks the option to add a style guide to make outputs more consistent. That means your team will have to adjust for stylization preferences manually each time you’re working on a new piece of content.

Lastly, some features are a bit clunky within the interface. For example, Maestra will automatically add speaker labels by default, but there isn’t an option to completely remove them in the editor. You can only remove speaker labels when you’re exporting the file. So, some small things like that can detract from the user experience in certain cases.

2. HappyScribe vs. Maestra AI: accuracy

HappyScribe: accuracy

HappyScribe has verified accuracy rates of 95% on AI-only outputs. You can also boost accuracy up to 99% with HappyScribe’s expert proofreading service for any important pieces of content.

AI-only outputs in HappyScribe are generated within minutes, and you’ll receive expert human proofreading within 24 hours. You can also add rush orders for expert proofreading to speed up the process when you’re on a deadline.

HappyScribe is backed by a team that cares about continuously improving its transcription and translation capabilities. It’s trained and tested daily on 12,000+ hours of content each year to ensure it continues to deliver high-quality results.

Additionally, you can use HappyScribe’s Glossaries feature to improve accuracy further. Whenever you notice words or phrases that commonly get misspelled, such as people’s names, product features, or company-specific terminology, you can simply add them to your glossary to consistently achieve the correct spelling during transcription or translation.

"We rely on Happy Scribe’s accuracy because it ensures that our translations—especially from French to English—are correct. This is critical since English subtitles are our most-watched globally."

- Samuel Rostein, Channel Manager at Logicomix

Maestra AI: accuracy

Maestra doesn’t list an accuracy rate on its website, so it’s hard to tell exactly how accurate it is. They also don’t mention how often they’re testing their tools to maintain high-quality results or improve performance.

The one comparable feature to HappyScribe here is that Maestra offers a Dictionary feature that works similarly to HappyScribe’s Glossaries, where you can input commonly misspelled words to correct them in future transcriptions.

However, with the unverified accuracy and potential lack of testing for future improvement, it might lack everything professional content teams and businesses are looking for in this category.

3. HappyScribe vs. Maestra AI: language support

HappyScribe: language support

HappyScribe can transcribe and subtitle in 120+ languages and translate in 65+ languages with AI-only outputs. You can also get expert human-translated subtitles in 85+ languages with 99% accuracy. With HappyScribe’s continuous testing on 12,000+ hours of yearly content, the team behind it is continuously working to improve its language capabilities.

HappyScribe offers several advanced features that help with language support, including:

• Side-by-side editing: The editing interface places the translated output side-by-side with the original text to help you efficiently review and make changes.
• Glossaries: The Glossaries feature helps with any inaccuracies in translation, such as people’s names or company terminology you don’t want changed.
• Subtitle syncing: HappyScribe uses AI-powered subtitle syncing when you add translated subtitles to your videos. It lines up all subtitles with shot changes to create a great viewer experience. You can also manually edit subtitle timing as needed.
• Localization features: HappyScribe’s localization features will help you meet accessibility standards, such as Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (SDH).

Each of these features will help content teams produce global content at faster paces while still ensuring high-quality results.

Maestra AI: language support

Maestra lists 74+ languages that it can transcribe and 110+ languages that it can translate. While it offers good overall language support, it’s important to remember that Maestra doesn’t list any accuracy rates for transcription or translation or provide information about the company’s testing process.

Another thing to consider is that Maestra uses DeepL to assist with translation for some languages it lists.

DeepL is a translation software run by a different company, so Maestra has much less control over the results and testing for any languages translated by it. That makes it different from an option like HappyScribe, where the team behind it is continuously optimizing the tool to ensure high-quality outputs across each supported language.

Additionally, Maestra doesn’t offer subtitle syncing when you add translated subtitles or the localization features you get with HappyScribe. Not having those advanced features leads to less well-rounded language support for professional content production on a global scale.

4. HappyScribe vs. Maestra AI: workflows

HappyScribe: workflow

HappyScribe’s workflow is built to help professional content teams collaborate while producing fast-paced content. Advanced features HappyScribe offers that help with this are:

• Collaboration: You can share project access with your team.
• Organized system: You can create custom folders and add labels to ensure all your projects are easy to find and access.
• Subtitle styling: After HappyScribe adds subtitles to your videos, you can customize them to match your branding and video’s theme. That includes adjusting fonts, colors, weight, appearance, and position of the text.
• Speaker tagging and timestamps: HappyScribe makes it easy to add automatic speaker tags with timestamps to organize transcripts and translations.

“Happy Scribe transformed our workflow, allowing us to focus on what we do best while knowing the transcription and translation were in expert hands.”

- Diane Grandchamp, Assistant Editor, Skydance Sports

Maestra AI: workflow

The workflow within Maestra is comparable to HappyScribe in several ways. It allows you to:

• Share project access with team members
• Set up folders with labels for projects
• Style the font, color, appearance, and position of subtitles

These all make it easy for you to collaborate with your team, stay organized, and perform basic customizations.

While Maestra’s workflow is good overall, there are some drawbacks to the layout that can add a learning curve. One of the main ones is that figuring out how to perform important functions can feel tricky in some cases.

For example, the only way to save the document or undo an edit is by using keyboard shortcuts. To learn what those keyboard shortcuts are, you have to click the Help button in the editor to open a dropdown with them. Once you figure it out, it’s fairly straightforward, but elements like those within the platform can make it harder to use and integrate within your team’s workflow.

5. HappyScribe vs. Maestra AI: security

HappyScribe: security

HappyScribe is a secure choice for business and professional use when you’re worried about how a transcription tool is handling and protecting your information.

HappyScribe is a European-based company that’s fully GDPR compliant. That means all data on the platform is stored, managed, and processed with high privacy standards.

Additionally, HappyScribe offers an option for secure single sign-on (SSO) login and is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant to add extra layers of protection.

Maestra AI: security

Maestra is also GDPR compliant and offers SSO login. However, Maestra isn’t SOC 2 compliant, which implements extra security controls for data protection. It’s worth considering that aspect when businesses and professional content teams want to do everything possible to keep their information protected.

6. HappyScribe vs. Maestra AI: pricing

HappyScribe: pricing

HappyScribe offers pay-as-you-go pricing and monthly subscriptions at different tiers. Pricing options include:

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

You can also get a 33-34% discount when you sign up for an annual plan.

Additionally, HappyScribe offers a limited free trial to test it before paying.

Maestra AI: pricing

Maestra also 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: $29 per month
• Basic: $49 per month
• Premium: $99 per month

Maestra offers a limited free trial so you can test it, and a 20% discount if you sign up for an annual plan.

7. HappyScribe vs. Maestra: best use cases

HappyScribe: best use cases

HappyScribe is the best choice for businesses and professional content creation. It’s an option that’s continually tested and optimized, lists verified accuracy rates, and provides an organized user experience. It’s an option you can trust to achieve high-quality results while producing global content at a fast pace.

Some of the best use cases for HappyScribe include:

• Creating interview transcripts for easier editing. (See how it helped Twofour improve efficiency)
• Translating video and audio files on a large scale. (Read how it helped Sterling Associates)
• Making educational content more accessible with translated subtitles. (See how it helped Growth Tribe expand its capabilities)
• Repurposing marketing and training materials.
• Scaling content production across departments with full team support.
• Turning video and audio content into summaries, blogs, and other text-based content.

Maestra: best use cases

Maestra is best for smaller projects and personal use. It’s a good basic transcription, translation, and subtitling option. However, it lacks some of the more advanced features like localization, interactive editing, style guides, and expert proofreading to make it a top choice for larger-scale content production where accuracy and consistency are essential.

Final verdict on HappyScribe vs. Maestra: Which comes out on top?

HappyScribe is the top choice for business and professional use. It stands out because of its:

• Ease of use with an organized interface and interactive editor
• Localization features that help meet accessibility standards
• Verified accuracy rates of 95% on AI-only outputs and 99% with expert proofreading
• Advanced features like style guides and subtitle syncing that improve consistency and content quality
• High security standards with GDPR and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance

Maestra is a good option with an accessible interface, but it lacks several of the features above, making it a better option for occasional, smaller projects.

Get started with HappyScribe today

HappyScribe is a tested, trusted, and consistent transcription and translation tool. Ready to see how it can help you? Sign up today to try it for yourself!