Frequently asked questions
Is this really free? Why no credit card?
Yes — 25 free transcripts without any account (scoped to your browser), and a free account adds another 25 so you start with 50. No card, no trial clock. Paid plans exist because transcription of files without captions runs real compute on our own servers.
What exactly is a credit?
- One captioned YouTube video = 1 credit, no matter its length.
- AI summary on top of a transcript = 1 extra credit.
- Translation = 1 credit per 2,500 characters.
- Uploading your own audio/video (transcribed from scratch) = 1 credit per 90 seconds.
Do I need subtitles on the YouTube video?
Most of the time there are — and if there are, you get them for 1 credit, instantly, word-for-word with timestamps. If a video has no captions, you can still transcribe its audio with our local AI (that’s what the upload/file path is for).
Which languages are supported?
YouTube caption languages for the free path (English, Finnish, Swedish, German, French, Spanish, Polish, Russian, and more when available). For the AI transcription path, Whisper handles 99+ languages.
What can I export?
TXT (plain text), SRT and VTT (subtitles, with timestamps), CSV (spreadsheet-ready), and JSON (segments with start/duration/text). Translation can output bilingual SRT — original line under the translated line, ready for a player.
Can I process whole playlists?
Yes. Switch to the “Batch / playlist” tab, paste a playlist URL or a list of video URLs, and every transcript is fetched automatically — 1 credit per video. Failed items are isolated and free; you only pay for the videos that succeed.
What happens to my data?
Uploaded media is deleted the moment transcription finishes — only the resulting text is stored. Everything lives on EU servers, is never used to train AI models, and is deleted when you delete your account. Transcription runs on our own hardware, not a third-party API.
Is there an API?
Yes — REST + API keys, same credit pricing. Batch up to 25 videos per request, TXT/SRT/VTT/JSON output. There is also an MCP server for AI agents. See the developer docs.
Billing
- Cancel any time — from your account settings. No lock-in, no cancellation fee.
- Switch plans — one click, effective immediately. Upgrades are pro-rated; downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle.
- Refunds — contact us within 14 days of a charge and we’ll look at it. See the pricing page for the current terms.
Common issues
“The video has no captions and ASR is slow”
Videos without captions run Whisper-class speech recognition, which is asynchronous. The call returns a job ID; poll the job endpoint until it is done. For long videos this can take a few minutes.
“My batch job finished as partial”
A broken link, a private video, or a rate limit on one entry does not sink the whole batch. The job finishes as partial, the failed items are listed with their reason, and you are only charged for the videos that succeeded.
“I ran out of credits”
Free credits reset at the start of each calendar month. Paid plan credits reset monthly, one month after your purchase date. If you need more now, upgrade your plan.
Still stuck?
Contact us — the message reaches the owner directly, not a support queue. Or email support@yttranscript.dev.