Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Descript VS BeyondWords

Compare Descript VS BeyondWords and see what are their differences

Descript logo Descript

Text-based audio editor and automated transcription

BeyondWords logo BeyondWords

BeyondWords is an AI voice and audio CMS platform that brings frictionless audio publishing to writers, newsrooms, and businesses. Free Pilot plan available!
  • Descript Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20
  • BeyondWords Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-02-10

BeyondWords is an AI voice and audio CMS that brings frictionless audio to writers, newsrooms, and businesses.

Our voice library offers over 720 advanced AI voices across 64 languages. You can even commission a fully custom ethical voice clone to represent your brand.

Production

Auto-convert content using our API, RSS Feed Importer, WordPress plugin, or Ghost plugin, or use our text-to-speech editor to create audio manually.

Distribution

Distribute audio anywhere with our automatic player embeds, API, or SDKs. Create a podcast feed to publish on platforms like Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.

Analytics

Measure audio engagement to granular detail with our analytics, which can be connected to your Google Analytics account, and use insights to optimize your audio strategy.

Monetization

Upload audio ads from sponsors, use VAST to connect to programmatic ad platforms like Google Ad Manager or restrict audio access to subscribers only.

BeyondWords

$ Details
freemium $99.0 / Monthly (1M characters per month, 2 projects, Up to 5 members)
Platforms
Wordpress Ghost Marfeel REST API Cross Platform WooCommerce Shopify Magento Drupal Browser Windows iOS Android Mac OSX Chrome OS Google Chrome Nation Builder Hubspot Embedly ARC Publishing Amazon Alexa Google Home Squarespace Wix Substack EidosMedia

Descript features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Descript offers an intuitive interface that simplifies audio and video editing, making it accessible even to users with limited technical skills.
  • Automated Transcription
    The platform provides high-quality automated transcription services, allowing users to convert audio to text quickly and with a high degree of accuracy.
  • Collaborative Editing
    Descript enables multiple users to collaborate on the same project in real-time, which is particularly useful for teams working remotely.
  • Multi-Functionality
    Descript is not just a transcription tool but also a full-fledged audio and video editor, offering a wide range of features such as overdubbing, sound effects, and video editing.
  • Overdub
    This feature allows users to create synthetic voiceovers from text, which can be used to correct or add to existing audio without needing to re-record.
  • Seamless Integration
    Descript integrates with other platforms like Zoom, Dropbox, and Google Drive, making it easy to import and export files.

Possible disadvantages of Descript

  • Pricing
    Descript's subscription plans can be relatively expensive for individual users or small teams, especially when compared to other transcription and editing tools.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its intuitive design, some advanced features and functionalities may require a learning curve, especially for users new to audio and video editing.
  • Limited Free Version
    The free version of Descript comes with limitations, such as restricted transcription minutes and fewer features, which may not be sufficient for heavy users.
  • Occasional Transcription Errors
    While the automated transcription is generally accurate, it can sometimes produce errors, especially with uncommon terms, multiple speakers, or background noise.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported that the application can be slow or laggy when working on large files or complex projects, potentially hindering productivity.
  • Privacy Concerns
    As with any cloud-based service, there are inherent privacy and security concerns related to the uploading and storage of sensitive audio and video files.

BeyondWords features and specs

  • Voice Library
    550+ AI voices across 140+ language locales, on demand
  • Voice Cloning
    Use our state-of-the-art voice cloning technology to create custom AI voices that truly resonate with your target audience. Use your own voice or work with a voice actor.
  • Distribution Methods
    Distribute audio anywhere with our automatic player embeds, API, or SDKs. Create a podcast feed to publish on platforms like Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.
  • Automatic SSML
    Our natural language processing algorithms convert text into speech synthesis markup language (SSML), ensuring AI voices deliver accurate pronunciations.
  • Monetization
    Upload audio ads from sponsors, use VAST to connect to programmatic ad platforms like Google Ad Manager, or restrict audio access to subscribers only.
  • Analytics
    Measure audio engagement to granular detail with our analytics, which can be connected to your Google Analytics account, and use insights to optimize your audio strategy.
  • Ethical Custom Voices
    All of our premium cloned voices are created in collaboration with voice actors using the Voice Cloning Contract. We have also made the template publicly available, to encourage the ethical creation and use of voice clones everywhere.

Descript videos

Descript - Hands On: Ultimate Podcast / YouTube Editor

More videos:

  • Review - Descript's Podcast Studio launches: we try it out
  • Review - Audio Editing with Descript Software
  • Demo - Introducing Descript

BeyondWords videos

Introducing BeyondWords

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Publishing audio articles at scale with BeyondWords
  • Tutorial - Publishing other types of audio content with BeyondWords
  • Tutorial - How to create audio in the Text to Speech Editor

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Descript and BeyondWords)
AI
63 63%
37% 37
Transcription
100 100%
0% 0
Text To Speech
0 0%
100% 100
Video
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Descript and BeyondWords

Descript Reviews

Top Otter AI Alternatives in 2024
Descript is one of many editing and transcription tools used to write, record, transcribe, edit, collaborate on, and share videos and podcasts. Descript offers automatic transcription services with industry-leading accuracy, near-instant turnaround, and affordable prices. For just pennies on the dollar, you can choose one of four plans and transcribe whatever you need in 22...
Top 10 Podcasting Audio to Text Transcription Software
In case you are looking for software you can use to record, edit and transcribe your podcasts, then you shouldn’t look much further than Descript. This cross-platform tool can be used to edit both audio and video files, while the Lyrebird AI enables you to correct any mistakes by simply typing what you really want to say. Descript automatically transcribes your videos with...
The 12 Best Notta.ai Alternatives for Better Transcription in 2024
Descript is a versatile tool for editing videos and podcasts with ease. It uses AI to simplify the editing process, making it accessible for users who may not have advanced technical skills. You can edit audio and video as if you were editing a text document. Transcription is one of the many unique features provided by Descript’s intuitive AI.
Source: sonix.ai
Top 10 AI Subtitle Generators to Try in 2024
Descript combines transcription, video editing, and captioning into one easy-to-use platform. Its advanced AI helps you create accurate subtitles with little effort and can translate them into multiple languages. Descript also offers editing tools to customize subtitle appearance, making sure they match your video’s look and feel.
11 Best AI Voice Generators to Explore in 2024
Descript Overdub: Excellent choice for life-like voice cloning and editing within the Descript ecosystem.

BeyondWords Reviews

  1. BlessedLifeDiscovery
    · Admin at BlessedLifeDiscovery.com ·
    Wordpress newbie having no problem using it

    I am Wordpress newbie. BeyondWords plugin works well in my blog website (I am using free version of Vantage theme). No problem at all thus far. Very easy to set up and this plugin read out my website automatically. Read out in Mandarin and English like human being, sweet and professional. I am using free version. Many choices of voice to choose from.

    Thanks so much BeyondWords!


How To Convert Articles Into Audio Podcast 2022: (Top Pick)
To give you a small and simple statement, SpeechKit is known for offering various ways to increase your subscriptions, engagement, and revenue.
How to Convert Article into Audio Podcast?
Meant for news articles, SpeechKit will instantly turn your text into audio using their library of realistic voices bound to increase engagement. You can try out their instant demo on their website. Just copy and paste the URL of the news article and watch the magic.
Source: geekflare.com
7 Best Text-To-Speech WordPress Plugins
SpeechKit (4.3 stars) offers frictionless integrations for WordPress, along with several other CMS platforms, plus an enterprise API. Once the plugin is installed and an account created through the website a minimal audio player appears at the top of each post. Every time a new post is published an audio version will appear within seconds. From the SpeechKit dashboard you...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Descript should be more popular than BeyondWords. It has been mentiond 12 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Descript mentions (12)

  • how do you handle your podcasts transcription and timestamps
    For transcripts, I use Descript. Descript is able to identify all four of our panel members, and I usually spend an hour or so cleaning it up and setting the transcript into a video for YouTube. Source: about 2 years ago
  • looking for video editor that auto cuts conversations
    I don't understand exactly what you are trying to do, but I'm pretty sure Descript can do what you want. Source: about 2 years ago
  • What is your preferred way to make a voice-over?
    I tried to use descript.com but found out that they didn't have a download for Linux and that their online version doesn't allow you to edit your transcript. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Needing some assistances
    Edit your audio with software like Descript or Audacity. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Video snippit of your episode text animation recommendations
    Looks like an 'audiogram' from descript.com - you can make them on their paid service. Source: about 3 years ago
View more

BeyondWords mentions (3)

  • How to set up your own personal blog: Step-By-Step Guide
    Create or sign in to your BeyondWords account. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • I have been seeing these "Listen to this article" widgets on a lot of websites lately and they all look the same aside from some color scheme differences. Does anyone know what service/add-on this is?
    Not the one in your example, but I'm currently using https://beyondwords.io/. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Article To Audio File Conversion Service
    Just did a quick Google search because I'm sure something like this must exist. This one looked interesting since you can apparently "clone" your voice. So then you can listen to the articles read in your own voice 😅. Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Descript and BeyondWords, you can also consider the following products

Otter.ai - Your AI meeting assistant that takes live notes and generates summaries and other insights using Meeting GenAI.

Play.ht - AI Voice and Speech Generation tool

HappyScribe - Happy Scribe automatically transcribes your interviews

Blogcast - Turn your articles into audio

Adobe Premiere Pro - Edit video faster than ever before with the powerful, more connected Adobe Premiere® Pro CC.

Google Cloud Text-to-Speech - Text to speech conversion powered by machine learning