Descript Review 2025: Is It The Best Text-to-Speech Tool

Descript Overview

If you often find yourself creating thousands of videos and animations for your clients, you might have heard about Descript. It is a new kind of audio or video editing tool that claims to use AI to streamline the video editing process. It also offers a text-to-speech feature that can turn your written scripts into natural speech.

You can either create your own AI voice clone or choose any stock AI voices from the available options to generate speech. While Descript claims that the AI voice model has been trained to sound like a human, some AI voices may sound too robotic. On the other hand, Speaktor is a Descript alternative that is known to generate human-like and natural-sounding AI voiceovers.

If you want to try Descript to generate an AI voiceover, there is a free trial of 5 minutes of AI speech available. While paid plans are available, you will have to pay around $12 per month for 30 text-to-speech minutes, making it expensive. Speaktor is much more affordable than Descript, with its paid plan starting at just $4.99 monthly and including 300 minutes of text-to-speech.

Key Features of Descript

Descript's unique feature is that the AI audio and video editing tool helps you edit videos in a standard text editor. Here we will reveal the key features of Descript, so you know what exactly you are paying for:

Create AI Voice Clones

Descript lets you generate your own voice clone or use one of the stock voices available to fix audio mistakes in the recording and create a podcast from the written text. It also offers customization options that help you add emphasis, pauses, and excitement to the AI voice so it sounds natural.

20+ Realistic AI Voices

Descript's text-to-speech feature can create incredibly realistic voices with different emotions and styles. You can choose from different voice types, such as conversational, corporate, masculine, or feminine, to find the one that suits your project needs.

Studio Sound

Descript's Studio Sound feature helps you improve the sound quality of any audio or video file. For example, it can remove unwanted background noise and distortions to generate a cleaner sound. This is especially important for podcasts, where clear audio is essential to keeping the audience engaged.

Pros of Descript

Descript gained popularity among video editors as a podcast editing tool, and rightly so. It is easy to use and suitable for creative content creators who would like to keep their audience engaged without spending a lot of time on editing.

Cons of Descript

Depending on your needs and the features you are looking for, Descript may or may not be the exact text-to-speech tool you want. Here are some of the cons of the AI tool that will shed light on Descript's limitations and why it might not be the right tool:

Descript Pricing and Plans

Descript offers a free version and four paid plans that are suitable for professionals, small teams, and large enterprises. Let us explain the different pricing plans and what each of them includes:

Free ($0/month)

The free version gives you access to the basic video editing features, though the text-to-speech feature is limited to only 5 minutes per month. While it can help you test the feature, the free trial might seem limited to most users.

Hobbyist ($12/month)

The Hobbyist plan includes 30 text-to-speech minutes per month, along with other features such as transcription, studio sound, and remote recording. However, the plan only supports around 23 languages, which is limited to its competitors.

Creator ($40/month)

If you are a podcaster or creator with frequent AI speech needs, you can try the Creator plan, which includes 2 hours of text-to-speech per month. Other features include remote recording, translation, and transcription.

Business ($40/month)

Small teams can try the Business plan, which includes 5 text-to-speech hours per month along with other features like transcription, translation, and remote recording. You will also get access to priority support with an SLA from Descript's customer support team.

Enterprise (Custom)

Descript offers an Enterprise plan for large enterprises with many video editors. It includes high-security features like SSO, dedicated account representatives, live onboarding, custom invoicing options, and priority support with SLAs.

Descript Reviews on G2

There are many customer reviews about Descript available on G2, Trustpilot, and Capterra. The response from most users is great, as this video editing tool has made work easier for beginners and professionals. However, some of them have shared the limitations that make Descript a less reliable choice. Here is a quick summary:

According to some users on G2, the best part of Descript is the easy-to-use interface and overdub feature. One user appreciated the user-friendly interface and the Overdub feature of Descript:

Another user appreciated that Descript can help audio and video editors save hours and generate clips for social media:

When checking the negative reviews of customers to understand what they disliked, we found mixed responses. For example, some said the app crashes on small devices, whereas others said that Descript experiences occasional lag. Here is a quick summary of the negative user reviews:

One user pointed out that Descript is limited compared to its competitors:

Another user pointed out the flexibility flaw in the studio sound feature: