Human Transcription vs Automated Transcription

Transcribing is not fun, and choosing human transcription vs audio transcription has become quite a challenging decision. Who do we choose? There are cons and pros to both human transcription and automated transcription. We’d like to help you make the right decision. Here is our comparison of human transcription vs automated transcription.

Human Transcription

Benefits of Human Transcription

There are a lot of benefits to human transcription. This can impact your choice of service. Here are a few of the main benefits of human transcription:

1. They are extremely accurate
2. There are terms that humans know that speech-to-text does not understand
3. Humans have better context and understanding of language

Negatives of Human Transcription

1. Wait times
2. Cost
3. Most human transcription services don’t have a platform you can access right after

Still deciding? We know it’s a tough decision, If you are considering human transcription please take a look at our full guide here:

Here is a list of great human transcribers:

IScribie

Automated Transcription

Benefits of Automated Transcription

• Provides transcript immediately
• Need a transcript immediately
• Are limited on budget
• Have a clear audio with only 1-2 speakers
• Only need a rough draft
• Have time to edit it yourself
• Want to search the audio for specific keywords
• Are looking for a few specific quotes

Negatives of Automated Transcription

Who uses automated transcription?

Journalists, graduate students, radio stations, podcasters. (This list is not exhaustive. There are also instances when people in these industries choose human transcription instead.)

Choose human transcription if you:

• Need accurate results
• Have a flexible budget
• Don’t want to spend time on editing
• Have publication as an end goal
• Have an audio file with heavy accents or multiple speakers

Who uses human transcription?

Video production companies, market research firms, lawyers. (Again, this list is not exhaustive. There are also instances when people in these industries choose human transcription instead.)