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Cost verdict: Budget paid editors, imported/recorded media and AI credits separately. Unlimited projects do not mean unlimited processed media. The previous Pro/$48 and unlimited-hour model has been removed.
Current plan inputs
| Plan | Annual rate / monthly rate, per person | Media hours per editor/month | AI credits/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 | Check current free allowance |
| Hobbyist | $16 / $24 | 10 | 400 |
| Creator | $24 / $35 | 30 | 800 |
| Business | $50 / $65 | 40 | 1,500 |
| Enterprise | Custom quote | Custom | Custom |
Paid annual rates are monthly equivalents of an annual subscription, not a cancellable monthly price. Creator advertises teams up to three, Business up to five, with additional people billed separately. See the exact workspace offer before assuming credit or media-hour pooling.
Three bill scenarios
| Scenario / assumption | Recurring calculation | Annual subscription |
|---|---|---|
| One editor, up to 10 media hours; Hobbyist annual | 1 × $16 × 12 | $192 |
| Three editors, Creator annual; each within allowance | 3 × $24 × 12 | $864 |
| Five editors, Business annual; each within allowance | 5 × $50 × 12 | $3,000 |
At monthly rates those subscriptions cost $288, $1,260 and $3,900 over twelve unchanged months. Tax, purchased top-ups and enterprise services are not included. These are modeled scenarios, not customer case studies.
Choose for the limiting resource
If one editor imports 12 hours, Hobbyist's ten-hour allowance is not enough for that month. Creator increases media capacity, but the correct decision still depends on AI use and required export/features. Creator and Business offer media/AI top-ups; the total depends on the current pack price. No invented overage rate is included here.
Free's one media hour can test a workflow, not sustain a high-volume production team. Hobbyist allows watermark-free 1080p export; Creator offers 4K. Imported media, generated AI actions and export quality are distinct constraints. Test the actual work before committing to a year merely for a lower headline rate.
What this comparison does not establish
We have not measured editing speed or transcription accuracy. A meeting recorder, a timeline editor and a text-based editor are not identical products. A cheaper subscription can cost more in staff time if it omits the required workflow, but no hourly labor saving is assumed. Adobe task-specific economics provides a different creative-suite decision.
Verify the plan before paying
Prices and allowances checked October 8, 2026 against Descript's official pricing and feature grid. Evidence link intentionally direct. Check current Descript pricing for your paid editors uses the owner-verified exact pricing destination.
For wider budgeting use annual versus monthly break-even, total-cost assumptions, the calculator directory and other software cost references.
Live meetings or imported media?
For upload counts and a usable-hour model, see Fireflies vs Otter cost. Descript remains the edited-media pricing owner; an editor and a meeting assistant are not automatically equivalent. To choose between meeting capture, transcript editing and subtitle workflows first, see AMF's transcription workflow comparison.