The pay-once Good Tape alternative
Same accurate transcripts, without the monthly subscription. Pay once for the minutes you use, and your credits never expire.
60 min free · no card required · we never train on your audio
Is Pepys a good Good Tape alternative?
Pepys is a pay-once alternative to Good Tape: instead of a monthly EUR subscription with a 20-hour cap, you buy credits once and they never expire, so you only pay for the minutes you transcribe. You still get speaker labels, timestamps, 99+ languages, and AI summaries. First 60 minutes free, no card.
Good Tape's Pro plan gives you 20 hours of transcription a month, priced in euros on a rolling subscription, with speaker labels and AI summaries. That's a clean fit if you record a steady amount every month. But if your work is bursty (a batch of interviews, then a quiet stretch), you keep paying the monthly bill even in the months you barely transcribe.
Pepys works the other way: buy credits once, spend them whenever, and they never expire. You get clean, timestamped, speaker-labeled transcripts in 99+ languages, with AI summaries, chapters, and chat with the transcript built in. We never train on your audio or text, and you can auto-delete source files after processing. Start with 60 minutes free, no card.
Pepys vs Good Tape, side by side
Good Tape vs Pepys, head to head
Public, verifiable facts only. Where something isn't publicly stated, we leave it blank rather than guess.
| Feature | Pepys | Good Tape |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go – buy credits once, no subscription | Subscription – billed monthly |
| Price | From about $1/hr, down to $0.85/hr at volume | About €16/mo on Pro (billed annually) |
| Do credits / minutes expire? | Never – credits don't expire | No credits – a monthly hour allowance |
| Monthly usage cap | None – use credits at any pace | About 20 hours per month on Pro |
| Free tier | 60 minutes free, no card | 3 transcriptions/month, up to 30 min each, no card |
| Per-file length | Long files chunked and stitched automatically | 30 minutes per file on the free tier |
| Speaker labels & timestamps | Yes – on every transcript | Yes |
| Languages | 99+, auto-detected | 100+ |
| Built-in AI features | AI summary, chapters, and chat with the transcript | AI summaries on paid plans |
| Paste a link to transcribe | Yes – YouTube, podcasts, social | – |
| Exports | TXT, Markdown, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT, JSON | TXT, DOCX, SRT, plus custom subtitle export |
| Data privacy & hosting | Never trains on your audio or text; optional auto-delete | Says it never trains on your recordings; EU-hosted (GDPR) |
Why people switch to Pepys
No subscription – buy credits once, and they never expire, so a quiet month costs you nothing.
No monthly cap – Good Tape's Pro plan is about 20 hours a month, while your credits work at whatever pace you do.
Every transcript includes speaker labels, timestamps, an AI summary, chapters, and chat – Good Tape keeps its AI summaries for paid plans.
60 minutes free on signup with no card, then pay-as-you-go from about $1 an hour, no recurring bill.
Any language – 99+ detected automatically
- English
- 中文
- Español
- العربية
- हिन्दी
- Français
- 日本語
- Português
- Русский
- Deutsch
- 한국어
- Italiano
- বাংলা
- Türkçe
- فارسی
- Tiếng Việt
- தமிழ்
- Polski
- ไทย
- Українська
- Nederlands
- עברית
- Ελληνικά
- తెలుగు
- Bahasa Indonesia
- اردو
- Svenska
- मराठी
- Română
- Magyar
- Čeština
- ગુજરાતી
- Kiswahili
- ქართული
- Tagalog
- አማርኛ
Common questions about Good Tape and Pepys
Is Pepys better than Good Tape?
For bursty or occasional work, yes – Pepys is pay-once, your credits never expire, and every transcript includes speaker labels, an AI summary, and chat. But if you record a steady 20 hours a month, or you specifically need all data processed inside the EU, Good Tape's EU-hosted subscription may suit you better.
Is Pepys cheaper than Good Tape?
It depends on your volume. Good Tape's Pro is a monthly subscription with a 20-hour allowance, priced in euros – good value if you transcribe a steady amount each month. Pepys is pay-once: you buy credits, only pay for the minutes you use, and they never expire, which usually suits bursty or occasional work better.
Does Good Tape have a free plan?
Yes. Good Tape offers a free plan of 3 transcriptions per month at up to 30 minutes each, with no card required. Pepys gives you 60 minutes free on signup, also with no card, and every transcript includes speaker labels, timestamps, an AI summary, chapters, and chat with the transcript.
Can I paste a YouTube or podcast link into Pepys?
Yes. Paste a link from YouTube, a podcast, or social, and Pepys ingests it directly – no downloading first. Good Tape works from uploaded files, so with it you'd download the audio yourself before transcribing.
Do speaker labels come free on Pepys?
Yes. Speaker labels, timestamps, AI summaries, chapters, and chat with the transcript are included on every Pepys transcript, with no subscription. Good Tape includes speaker diarization too, though its AI summaries are reserved for paid plans.
Do either of them train AI on my recordings?
Neither does. Pepys never trains on your audio or text, and you can auto-delete your source audio after it's processed, so nothing lingers unless you keep it. Good Tape states it never shares, sells, or uses your recordings to train AI models, and is EU-hosted and GDPR-compliant.
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Try Pepys free – no card
Pay as you go – credits never expire, nothing to cancel. Compare the transcript against Good Tape with 60 free minutes.