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What makes Poddin a great Descript alternative

Poddin is a simple and lightweight alternative to Descript. It is an independent, self-funding and fast-responding podcast transcription tool. Poddin is here to provide you the most accurate podcast transcription service.

2 years ago   •   4 min read

I often have podcasters contact me to inquire why Poddin is a better investment than Descript, since the latter is less expensive and has more features.

When I reach out to new potential customers through email, I often get similar queries: we're using Descript and generally feel happy, is Poddin somehow better than it?

It's a huge compliment, and it's an honour for Poddin to be compared to Descript. We're more like a shrimp in a tiny pond of podcast tools, whereas Descript is really a big fish. No, a whale.

Poddin vs Descript comparison: What are the differences?

Simple vs complex podcast transcription

For most podcasters, Descript is overkilled. It is a powerful but complex tool that takes time to understand and requires training. Descript offers so many features that most people find only a small percentage of these features have a real and regular use.

Not surprisingly, Descript is a big, full-blown podcast tool giant, very much integrated, very much funded, strong on advertising and marketing. They are supposed to get complicated.

And we are shrimps.

Poddin is easy to use and understand, no training or prior experience is required. poddin provides only accurate transcriptions, thus eliminating noise.

Web-based app, no projects, no teams, no fancy features. Get your podcast transcription in a few clicks, so you can focus on your content.

Podcast focused?

Transcription is a big market, conference transcription, customer service transcription is a rich field. But Poddin only focuses on podcast transcriptions.

We are committed to making your podcast episodes more accessible. We have also developed several features to help podcasts grow and reach audiences. Simply put, all we do is get your voice seen by more people.

Descript, on the other hand, is a beast that strikes out in all directions. Podcast transcriptions, audio editing, video editing, screen recording and more, they compete with a lot of apps.

Ambitious, but?

But, this means that podcast users are not the only ones for Descript. This also means that Descript support is decentralised. When you make feature requests and give feedback, you may not be the one who gets the highest priority. Sadly, similar complaints are already making the rounds in some podcast communities.

Lightweight and overweight.

Descript is a heavy duty application and you will need to download different versions of it to your computer in order to run it, meaning that it is software.

This is of course due to its various and complex functions. But this also brings with it a slow pace of upgrading and development.There are all kinds of bugs. The more complex a system is, the more unknown bugs there will be.

Also, fixes and new features can be slow to roll out. Most companies have an iteration cycle of two to four weeks. This is because they are too heavy and complex.

But not Poddin, we are simple enough, both from a user experience and technical point of view.

So we can react quickly. Whether it's bugs and feature requests submitted by users, we can provide feedback within 24 hours. Most bugs submitted by users are fixed within 8 hours. Most feature requests can be developed within 3 days.

Accurate transcription?

We are proud that we deliver top-notch transcription accuracy, whether it is a noisy background or a different accent, we deliver a fairly accurate transcription file.

Check our user Danny Brown's tweet, he got Scottish accent, but we still do a great job!

Keep in mind that unlike Descript, we are just a podcast transcription tool and look forward to the podcast transcriptions that can help the podcast grow and reach its audience.If you want to learn what transcription can help you with your podcast, check this blog post.

However, based on our testing and some community feedback, Descript seems to be inferior in transcriptional accuracy.

It is also well understood that Descript is actually an audio and video editor based on transcribed text. Compared to the timeline editor, audio editing will be more efficient if the user can read the transcribed text. So accuracy is not what it is after, at least not the highest priority.

So if you are after a very accurate transcription service and don't want to spend three or four hours doing corrections, Poddin is obviously a great choice. Free trial support is available so you can give it a try.

Self-funded and investment-driven.

Unlike many startups, Poddin has no investors and is completely self-funded. On the one hand, we despise the "gangster culture" and "unrealistic busyness" of Silicon Valley, but on the other hand, we are against becoming a big, bloated company.

We don't have the pressure of user growth, we don't have the fingerprints of investors, everything is organic and most of our users come from word of mouth.

Our revenue comes only from the monthly subscription fees of our users. We use it to cover necessary expenses, such as paying staff salaries and server costs.

Overall, we've gone through a positive cycle. the better Poddin does, the more subscribers we get and the more money we make, allowing us to hire great people and expand our product and community. And then the better Poddin gets...

David vs Goliath

Most podcasters are familiar with and have tried Descript, which is also the largest audio and video production software company in the industry.

Multiple rounds of investment, a large number of developers, a huge funding and marketing budget. This all makes Descript look like Goliath.

But not us. Poddin is a small team, so small that the Silicon Valley mob ignores it. But we still have a place in this crowded market. What's exciting is that there are many, many podcasters who like us. By using Poddin, you will support indie-developers, indie-businesses and the indie podcasters. You can learn more about us.

Why is Poddin a great Descript alternative?

Poddin is a simple and lightweight alternative to Descript. It is an independent, self-funding and fast-responding podcast transcription tool.

Poddin is here to provide you the most accurate podcast transcription service. All you have to do is simply upload and wait for the transcription to complete (the transcription consumes roughly 10% of the episode's length).

Do you have a podcast show? Give Poddin a chance. Sign up for free trial and explore our simple and easy-to-use podcast transcription app.

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