Per-minute transcription, billed by the second.

What is per-minute transcription?

Per-minute transcription means you pay for transcription by the length of your audio rather than through a flat monthly fee. Human transcription services have long charged per audio minute; AI services apply the same logic at a fraction of the cost, because the work takes seconds instead of hours.

On Vook.ai, per-minute billing goes one step further: your hours are debited by the second of audio. A 4-minute voice note uses 4 minutes, a 47-minute interview uses 47 minutes, and nothing is rounded up to the next block.

How billing by the second works on Vook.ai

Every file you transcribe is deducted from your available hours at its exact duration. The same rule applies whether your hours come from a 10-hour pass or from a subscription, and the pricing section on this page shows the current rates.

• One rate per pass. The 10-hour pass works out to the same price per hour and per minute, with no tiers to compare.
• No rounding. Each file is debited to the second, so a short clip costs only what it lasts.
• Hours that never expire. Pass hours stay in your account until you use them, with no subscription.
• Free daily transcription. You get 1 free transcription per day, up to 30 minutes, with no credit card.

Factors that affect transcription accuracy

Vook.ai reaches up to 99% accuracy on clear audio in supported languages. Several recording conditions influence that figure:

• Audio clarity. Recordings made in quiet rooms with a good microphone produce the highest accuracy.
• Overlapping speakers. Simultaneous speech reduces accuracy and makes speaker attribution harder.
• Phone call quality. Compressed, low-bitrate audio from phone recordings lowers precision.
• Strong accents. Regional accents may reduce accuracy, and the built-in editor makes corrections quick.
• Language. Vook.ai supports more than 100 languages and detects the language automatically.

Manual vs. AI transcription: a practical comparison

Human transcriptionists typically charge per audio minute and deliver work in hours or days. AI transcription delivers results in seconds at a fraction of the cost, and on clear audio the accuracy gap is small for most professional uses.

Human transcription still has an edge on highly specialized vocabulary, heavy accents or very poor audio. Vook.ai narrows that gap with a built-in editor: you get the speed of AI, then refine the text before exporting to PDF, DOCX, Markdown, SRT or HTML.

How to get the best results from your recordings

A few simple practices before you record will significantly improve your transcript quality:

• Use a dedicated microphone. Even a basic USB microphone outperforms a built-in laptop mic for transcription.
• Record in a quiet space. Background noise is the single biggest cause of transcription errors.
• Avoid cross-talk. Ask participants to speak one at a time when possible; this improves speaker diarization.
• Choose lossless or high-bitrate formats. WAV and FLAC preserve audio detail, and MP3 at 128 kbps or above is also fine.
• Check the file limits. Vook.ai accepts files up to 10 GB with no duration limit on the Unlimited plan.

Data privacy and transcription: what to check

Before uploading sensitive audio, check where a transcription service stores your data, whether it uses your recordings to train its models, and how long it keeps them.

Vook.ai stores your audio files and transcripts in France (EU), encrypts them with AES-256 at rest and never uses them for model training or advertising. Your files stay in your account until you delete them. A Data Processing Agreement is available for organizations that need one, and GDPR rights, including deletion, are respected.