There are many online transcription services that both offer to do transcription work for you, and jobs for people to transcribe in return for money – usually in the form of PayPal transfers or gift cards.
In this post, I am going to focus on the labour side of things – that is, making money for doing work. But first, we need to know what we’re even doing.
What is it, and what does it involve?
Transcription is the work of converting audio (and sometimes also video) to written words. To do transcription online, you need:
- A service to pair you with customers; this is one of the countless transcription sites online offering you money for work.
- An internet connection.
- A keyboard and some typing skills.
- Time.
Transcription jobs usually pay by the audio-minute, where every minute of audio transcribed pays a certain amount, usually between £0.50 and £2. If the website you’re looking at pays less than this, then you really need to reconsider.
However, this must be free from errors and match the audio, otherwise you could be kicked out of the program due to low quality.
Obviously, better typists are much better suited to this job. The average typing speed is between 30 and 40 wpm (words per minute), which would make this job tedious and low-paying. If you are even slower than this, then I don’t recommend you do it, especially if your accuracy is low.
However, if you are faster than this, like me, then it’s more up to whether you want to do it or not. I can type around 75 wpm on a good day, which is a suitable speed.
So how much does it actually pay?
As said before, the usual price is around £1 per audio-minute. Although this sounds really good, there are some drawbacks to this:
- If you are slow or inaccurate it can take you a long time to do even a single minute.
- Some jobs are easier or harder than others.
- Some jobs are nearly impossible to do, because the audio is low quality or you just can’t hear the words properly – think a bit like some lyrics in songs. For these jobs, you may do some work and have to stop, meaning you do not get paid for it.
- It can often take a while for jobs to come through – a bit like a lot of survey apps – and once you have done the work, you cannot earn any more. Therefore, it is not a reliable source of income.
- Many companies have a certain amount you need to reach before you can get a payout, so you may never get anything.
Also, many people report only making £3 an hour, or less, which is significantly lower than minimum wage in almost any part of the world – especially those with internet connection. So, although it is advertised as around £1 per audio minute, it seems clear that many people, possibly even most people do not get paid this much.
The company you work for also plays a huge role in this, as some are very cheap and pay barely anything, but others pay more (these companies usually have a more selective sign-up process though).
You should also keep in mind that human transcription is a dying market due to AI tools. These tools can perform the same job, sometimes even better for a fraction of the price. They also have turnaround times that are often thousands of times better than human transcription – sometimes only seconds.
Overall, I do not recommend doing transcription online for the money, as I do not feel as though the payment makes up for the work in today’s world, especially considering as they pay will probably decrease in the future.
How do I sign up?
If you want to sign up to do transcription online, you must first find a company to partner with. Some of the most well-known ones are:
- TranscribeMe.com
- Rev.com
- SpeechPad
- QuickTate
- Crowdsurf
Each of these companies has a different onboarding process, though there are a few things that almost always turn up. This is a sign-up test to see if you can transcribe well, which can often take an hour or two, and a long wait to be accepted.
Most of these companies already have thousands and thousands of applications, not to mention even more transcribers, so you should not expect the turn around time to be quick.
Would I recommend it?
Overall, I would probably not recommend transcription as a way to make money. This could change, but I find it very unlikely. This is because of the low pay, few jobs and high expectation of accuracy and grammar.
I would consider it if you could:
- Type fast – at least around 60-70 wpm.
- Are good with grammar and spelling.
- Have a high typing accuracy.
- Have good hearing.
- Can concentrate well for long periods of time.
- Do not expect high pay.
If you do not meet all or almost all of those criteria, I would consider looking at other ways to make money. Luckily for you, I have you covered. My blog has a wide range of information to do with making money online here.
Enjoy your day!