Amara

by Participatory Culture Foundation

Open subtitling platform run by the Participatory Culture Foundation.

Looking at Amara? Try this first.

Drop your audio. Transcript in seconds. First transcript free, then $4 = 300 min

TL;DR

Best for activist creators, NGOs, and educators who run community-driven subtitling. Pricing: freemium.

What it is

Amara has long been the open-source-flavored subtitling and translation platform — community subtitlers, paid Amara On Demand service, and an editor optimized for collaborative subtitle work.

Best for: Activist creators, NGOs, and educators who run community-driven subtitling.
Watch out for: Community workflows assume volunteer translators.

Install / use

Go to Amara amara.org

Features

Speaker diarization	No
Word-level timestamps	No
Streaming / real-time	No
Languages supported	100
HIPAA eligible	No

Amara vs Whipscribe

Feature	Amara	Whipscribe
Category	Products	Transcription APIs
Pricing	Not verified	$4–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · $2 single unlock · 60 min free on signup
Speaker diarization	Not verified	Yes
Word timestamps	Not verified	Yes
Streaming	Not verified	No
Languages	100	99
Platforms	Web	Web, API, MCP

Alternatives to Amara

Otter.ai

Meeting-bot transcription product for Zoom/Meet/Teams.

free / Pro $8.33/mo annual ($16.99 monthly)

Rev

Human + AI transcription, highest accuracy tier on the market.

AI from $0.25/min · human from $1.99/min

Descript

Audio/video editor that treats the transcript as the timeline — different product category.

free / from $16/mo

Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.