Descript pricing and what each plan costs for a weekly show
Descript pricing in November 2026 is Free at $0, Hobbyist at $24 a month ($16 billed yearly), Creator at $35 a month ($24 yearly) and Business at $65 a month ($50 yearly), all per person, plus a custom Enterprise plan. Plans are sized by media hours (1, 10, 30 and 40 a month) and AI credits, not by clips. If you only pull Shorts out of finished episodes, the real cost is a full editor subscription for one feature, and that is worth pricing against a tool built for clipping.
Test your own recording in our YouTube Shorts maker while you compare.
Descript plans, as listed on its pricing page
| Plan | Monthly price | Yearly, per month | Media hours per month | AI credits | Export | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | 100 one-time | 720p, watermark | 1 |
| Hobbyist | $24 | $16 | 10 | 400 a month | 1080p | 1 |
| Creator | $35 | $24 | 30 | 800 a month | 4K | 1 to 3 |
| Business | $65 | $50 | 40 | 1,500 a month | 4K | up to 5 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom | n/a | Custom |
Prices are per person. Create Clips is limited on Free and included from Hobbyist up. Business adds a team Brand Studio and priority support, and Enterprise adds SSO and SOC 2 Type II. Descript changes plans often and the page shows two prices per plan without labels, so confirm the live numbers on the Descript pricing page before you pay.
What a weekly 60 minute podcast costs
Take one 60 minute episode a week, four a month. That is 4 media hours, so Hobbyist at $24 a month covers the recording with room for a second show. The catch is people. A host and an editor both need to work in the project, and prices are per person: two editors on Hobbyist is $48 a month, or $32 billed yearly. A podcast with a producer and a clip editor is realistically a Creator team, and three seats at $35 is $105 a month.
Now the clipping job. Create Clips drafts candidate moments from the transcript, and you still review, trim, reframe and caption each one inside the editor. If that review takes 90 minutes a week, you are paying for seats plus about six hours of your time a month.
| Scenario | Descript | ShortsCreator |
|---|---|---|
| Solo host, 4 episodes of 60 minutes | Hobbyist $24 a month, 4 of 10 media hours used | Studio $149 a month ($74 yearly) for 240 of 500 source minutes |
| Host plus clip editor | 2 seats on Hobbyist about $48 a month | Same Studio plan, 3 seats included |
| Agency, 5 client shows | Business at $65 per person, 40 media hours each | Agency $499 a month ($249 yearly), 1,800 minutes, 25 channels, reviewer approval |
Descript is cheaper on paper for the solo host, and that is the honest reading. ShortsCreator wins where the clipping itself is the cost: each suggested moment arrives with the exact quote, a 0 to 100 score and the reason, autopilot clips every new upload on a connected channel from Studio up, and Agency adds a workspace and client approval before anything is published.
When a clipping tool costs less than an editor
If you edit the full episode in Descript anyway, keep it and use Create Clips. If Descript is the tool you open only to cut Shorts, the question is whether a clipping plan billed by source minutes beats paying editor seats. ShortsCreator Creator is $49 a month ($24 billed yearly) for 150 source minutes, Studio is $149 ($74 yearly) for 500 minutes with channel autopilot, and Agency is $499 ($249 yearly) for 1,800 minutes with client workspaces. You can try one video through the one-time demo without a card first.
For a feature-by-feature view, read the Descript alternative page. Comparing more tools against the same month? See the AI shorts maker pricing comparison, the Opus Clip pricing breakdown, and for team plans the best AI clipping tool for agencies. Agencies that also report production emissions to enterprise clients can look at carbonaccounting.ai, which classifies invoices into a Scope 1, 2 and 3 footprint. Plan details are on the ShortsCreator pricing page.
FAQ
Descript lists Free at $0, Hobbyist at $24 a month, Creator at $35 and Business at $65, billed per person, with yearly billing at $16, $24 and $50. Enterprise is custom. Plans differ by media hours, AI credits, export resolution and seats, so match the plan to hours of footage per month.
Descript has a Free plan with 1 media hour a month, 100 one-time AI credits, 720p export and a watermark. It works for testing. A channel needs Hobbyist at $24 a month for watermark-free 1080p export. ShortsCreator has no free plan and offers a one-time demo on your own video without a card.
It is worth it if you edit the full episode by editing text, remove filler words and record in a studio. It is less obvious if you only need Shorts, because you pay per seat for a full editor to use one feature. Price the clipping step separately before you decide.
Hobbyist includes 10 media hours a month, which fits about ten 60 minute episodes. Media hours cover every project you transcribe, not only the final cut, so re-imports and alternate edits use the same pool. Creator raises it to 30 hours and Business to 40.
ShortsCreator is built for cutting Shorts from long videos. It shows the quote, a 0 to 100 score and the reason for each moment, clips new uploads automatically from Studio at $149 a month ($74 billed yearly), and Agency adds client approval at $499 ($249 yearly).