Sonix
Transcription billed by the recorded hour, with a synced editor, subtitle exports and video-editor timelines
Paid
Decision snapshot
Fast-read signals for fit, pricing, and trust.
- Category
- Video & Audio Production
- Best for
- ai transcription tool
- Pricing
- Paid
What is this tool?
Measured against Pay As You Go at US$10 an hour, Core pays for itself at about 2.5 recorded hours a month, Advanced at 5 and Pro at 8 — before their AI allowance, storage and support count for anything. That arithmetic is the decision for most buyers, and it tips earlier than the plan cards suggest. The other half is what happens to the transcript: this suits work where you will correct it against the audio, cut subtitles from it or hand it to Premiere, Final Cut, DaVinci or Avid. There is no free tier beyond a 30-minute trial, and HIPAA, SSO and audit logs sit on Enterprise only.
By QT Desk
Read full overviewHide full overview
The Sonix workflow is upload, wait, correct, export. Media comes in by file, from Google Drive or Dropbox, from a connected Zoom account, from the mobile recorder or through the API; the vendor states processing takes roughly five minutes per hour of audio. What comes back is a transcript with speakers, word-level timestamps and a choice of verbatim or clean style, opened in an editor where the text and the recording move together. From there you share a read-only or password-protected link, embed the interactive media player, leave timestamped comments for collaborators, or export to Word, PDF, plain text, subtitle formats or a video-editor XML.
The pricing has two halves and they behave differently. Pay As You Go charges by the hour of media, prorated on the plan's hourly rate with a minimum of 1 cent per file, and gives 5 GB of storage. Core, Advanced and Pro bundle a monthly block of transcription-and-translation hours (5, 20 or 40), a larger block of AI workspace hours (5, 25 or 100), more storage and faster support, and any hours beyond the block are billed at US$10 an hour. Enterprise adds compliance paperwork (SOC 2 report, HIPAA, GDPR, DPA and BAA), SSO/SAML, audit logs, 1 TB of storage and an account manager on custom pricing, and the FAQ points organisations with 100+ hours of content there.
Is this right for you?
Quick fit check against how you actually work.
Choose this if
- Your volume is irregular and you would rather buy hours at US$10 per recorded hour than commit to a monthly plan
- Your deliverable is a subtitle file, burned-in captions or a timeline in Premiere, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Avid rather than a plain transcript
- Your recordings mix languages or need translated subtitles from one source file, and the language list covers what you record
- Your recordings are sensitive and you want a vendor statement that your data is not used for training and staff cannot access it without consent, on a self-serve plan
Consider alternatives if
- You need a permanent free tier: the pricing page lists none, only a 30-minute trial
- You need HIPAA with a BAA, SSO or audit logs without an Enterprise contract, since the pricing page lists those under Enterprise only
- You need AI summaries on a pay-per-hour basis, because that allowance exists only on Core, Advanced and Pro
- You are a team of several editors on a modest volume: subscriptions include one user, and adding seats at US$25 each per month can cost more than the plan itself
- You need a written statement of who owns the transcripts or whether commercial use is restricted, which the security page does not address
Key features
What you can actually do with this tool.
An editor that stays locked to the audio
Click any word to hear that moment, rename detected speakers, and edit text without losing timestamps. The vendor itself says accuracy depends on recording quality, so budget a correction pass on anything that will be published, and load the custom dictionary with the names and jargon that recur in your recordings before the first batch.
Subtitles and timelines, not just text
Export SRT, VTT or TTML with control over line length, reading speed and styling, burn captions into the video, produce SDH subtitles, or send an XML with word-level timestamps into Final Cut Pro, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve or Avid for paper edits.
Transcription in 54+ languages, translation in the same file
The API language list runs from Arabic to Welsh, including Cantonese, Mandarin and a mixed Spanish-English mode. A Translate action then adds target-language transcripts and subtitles you can review before export; translation shares the transcription hour allowance on subscriptions.
AI analysis metered as a separate allowance
Summaries, action items, chapters, sentiment, entity detection, custom prompts and questions across a folder of transcripts. On subscriptions these draw on an 'AI workspace usage' allowance that is distinct from transcription hours, and the allowance is not offered on Pay As You Go.
Zoom recordings transcribe themselves; Drive and Dropbox import
A Zoom connection transcribes cloud recordings automatically, files can be pulled from Google Drive or Dropbox, Zapier links Sonix to other apps, a REST API automates the pipeline, and a mobile app records in the field and syncs to the workspace.
A written no-training, no-access position on your audio
The security page rules out training on anything you upload and staff access without your written consent, names AWS in the USA as the store, and puts deleted files beyond recovery within 30 days. HIPAA with a BAA is reserved for Medical Sonix and Enterprise.
Integrations
Tools and platforms this connects with.
ZoomZapierGoogle DriveDropboxAdobe Premiere ProFinal Cut ProDaVinci ResolveAvid
Plans & pricing
Pricing tiers and what's included in each.
Pay As You Go
US$10/hr
- Pay as you go transcription & translation
- AI workspace usage: Not available
- 5 GB storage
- Single-user account workspace
- Self-serve Help center & docs
Core
US$25/mo
- US$275/yr on the annual toggle (Save $25)
- 5 hrs/mo (60 hrs/yr) transcription & translation
- 5 hrs/mo (60 hrs/yr) AI workspace usage
- 25 GB storage
- 1 user included, +US$25/mo per extra seat
- Email support, 48-hour response
Advanced
US$50/mo
- US$550/yr on the annual toggle (Save $50)
- 20 hrs/mo (240 hrs/yr) transcription & translation
- 25 hrs/mo (300 hrs/yr) AI workspace usage
- 50 GB storage
- 1 user included, +US$25/mo per extra seat
- Email + chat support, 12-hour response
Pro
Starting paid planUS$80/mo
- US$880/yr on the annual toggle (Save $80)
- 40 hrs/mo (480 hrs/yr) transcription & translation
- 100 hrs/mo (1,200 hrs/yr) AI workspace usage
- 100 GB storage
- 1 user included, +US$25/mo per extra seat
- Priority email + chat support, 4-hour response
Enterprise
custom pricing
- Everything in Pro
- SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, DPA & BAA
- SSO/SAML and audit logs
- 1 TB storage
- Unlimited team members (the vendor's word)
- Dedicated account manager
Official pricing pagePricing may have changed. Always verify before purchasing.
Frequently asked
Common questions about this tool, answered.
Is there a free plan or a free trial?
Every new account gets 30 minutes of free transcription with no credit card required, and the vendor says you can cancel anytime. There is no ongoing free tier on the pricing page: after the trial you either buy hours on Pay As You Go or take a subscription starting at US$25 a month.
What is the difference between transcription hours and AI workspace hours?
The pricing page prints two separate allowances for each subscription but does not define 'AI workspace usage'. Transcription and translation draw on the first allowance; the AI features described elsewhere on the site (summaries, chapters, sentiment, entity tagging, custom prompts, questions across folders) are the only other metered capability, and Pay As You Go lists that allowance as not available. Confirm with the vendor how a specific AI action is counted before sizing a plan.
What happens to my recordings and transcripts?
Sonix's security page states that no data processed through the service is used to train its models, that employees cannot access your audio or transcripts unless you give express written consent to investigate an issue, that all data is stored on AWS in the USA, that SOC 2 Type II is independently audited annually, and that your files stay accessible after a subscription ends. Deleting a file or your account removes audio and transcript, with permanent removal from servers within 30 days. The page does not say who owns the transcripts or address commercial use.
Can I use the API on Pay As You Go?
Ask the vendor before you build on it. The current pricing page prints no API line under any plan. The June 2026 API documentation said the API was available to paying subscribers, that trial accounts had to email for a key, and that a plan without access returns an 'upgrade to Core or higher' error; the same documentation described an MCP server for AI assistants. Treat that as the shape of the offer rather than as today's entitlement.
How it compares
Context for choosing between this tool and alternatives.
A subscription buys transcription and a lot of machinery for what happens to the transcript afterwards — the synced editor you correct in, the subtitle formats and timeline XML you hand on, translation, an AI allowance for searching and summarising. If the transcript is the deliverable and nothing follows it, all of that sits unused and Pay As You Go at US$10 an hour is the honest way to buy this.