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One of my favorite ways to work online is to do transcription. I don’t have to talk to people. I don’t have to pretend I know stuff. I don’t have to glue my butt in my chair and crank out ‘whatever’. And because there are several companies that hire beginners, all I really have to do is listen and type.
Which is good because that’s about all I can do.
True. Just about anyone can make money doing online transcription, as long as you have the basics like a laptop, decent typing skills and can listen to audio files.
There’s one problem with this line of work, though. Sorting through a bunch of companies trying to find the best paying transcription jobs can suck !
That’s why we did it for you. We took a hard look at the best known places where you can make money doing transcription and sorted them by highest payers.
Let’s back up a sec. What is an audio file, you ask ? It’s the backbone of transcription. You listen to a file and type out what you hear. Don’t worry, I’ll explain it in greater detail later.
I hope you read through this entire post because after I list the companies – in order of best paying to worst – I have some valuable, tried-and-true information that will get you better paying jobs and possibly a full-time income doing transcription from home.
Now, Let’s Get To The Reason For This Post:
What Are The Best Paying Transcription Jobs ?
♥ Before we go any further, maybe you want to take this FREE 7-day mini-course to pick up on the tips and advice that’ll help newbie transcribers? ♥
Rev
Best $0.40 cents to $0.60 cents per audio minute; $24.00 to $36.00 an audio hour. Which, if it takes a couple hours to do a file, you can expect to make $12.00 to $18.00 an hour.
You’ll need to pass a skills test before getting work with Rev, but don’t worry, the tests aren’t too hard. And if you don’t pass the test you can re-take it 45 days later. After a while, when you get more experience, you can apply to be a captioner or a translator. These positions earn a few pennies more per minute of work. Rev pays every Monday via Paypall and claim the average earners make $245.00 a month.
You can apply for a job with Rev here.
Transcribe Me
SECOND PLACE $0.33 cents per audio minute; up to $20.00 per audio hour. Considering an audio hour could take 2 hours to transcribe, you may earn up to $10.00 an hour.
Just like Rev, you’ll have to pass a skills test. But, If you fail, you have to wait 6 months before re-trying. Once you pass the test, though, you’re in! And with a pay of $20.00 per audio hour, this is one of the better paying online transcription companies. Better yet, they pay weekly via Paypal. On the downside, there is a waiting list.
You can apply for a job with Transcribe Me here.
Scribbie
THIRD PLACE They pay $5.00 to $20.00 an audio hour and give a monthly $5.00 bonus for every 3 audio hours you complete. Considering each audio file can take up to 2 hours to complete, you can expect to earn $2.50 to $10.00 an hour.
This is a very popular company for beginners because it’s easy to get promoted from being a transcriber to a reviewer – and possibly making twice the money. You can pick and choose the audio files you want to work on but be sure you complete the transcription within the two hour turn around time.
You can apply for a job with Scribbie here.
AccuTran Global
AVERAGE PLACE They pay $0.004 to $0.0055 per word and $0.40 per audio minute for projects with longer turnaround times. Assuming you can transcribe 60 words a minute, that would equal an earning of $.24 cents a minute, or $14.40 an hour. Assuming it takes twice as long to actually transcribe the words that would come to $7.20 an hour. For the higher paying audio files – the ones that have longer turn around times, you may earn up to $12.00 an hour.
AccuTran Global is a Canadian based company that hires work-from-home transcriptionists in the US and Canada. At first glance, their pay seems extremely low but it is on par with most companies that hire beginners. Your earnings will be deposited into your bank account on or before the 15th of each month.
You can apply for a job with Accutran Global here.
QuickTate
LOW PLACE You might make $6.00 an audio hour. Here’s my reasoning: My typing speed is about 60 words per minute. At a pay rate of .01 cent for every four words, that’s .15 cents a minute. Which is $9.00 an hour…IF I have a perfect audio file AND I make no mistakes and IF I actually transcribe for an hour. Accounting for the reality that comes with doing transcription, I ‘questimate’ I would make closer to $6.00 an audio hour.
Once you pass the skills test, you can start making .01 cent for every four words transcribed. Although not the best payer, the audio files are short and simple – mainly voicemail messages. After a while, under good standings, you may be promoted to iDictate, QuickTate’s sister company. With the promotion comes twice the pay. Which is weekly via Paypal (for both Quick Take and iDictate).
Here’s something to consider, straight from QuickTate’s sign-up FAQ page: “After you pass the Quiz and the typing test, we will run a background check on you. You agree to pay the $20 cost of the background check…”
You can apply for a job with QuickTate here.
Go Transcript
TIED FOR LOW PLACE $0.60 cents an audio minute, $3.00 to $6.00 per audio file, the potential to make up to $6.00 an hour.
To see if you’ve got the chops, for your skills test this company intentionally gives you an audio file that contains non-native English speakers. And, because they say a lot of their files are like that, you can expect to have a lot of somewhat difficult files to transcribe. They pay up to .60 cents per audio minute with the average monthly earning being $150.00. Although I cannot yet confirm this, I have read that the audio files are either 5 or 10 audio minutes long. This translates into $3.00 or $6.00 earning per file. And, assuming the majority of your files are on the difficult side, it can take you at least an hour to complete a 10 minute file.
You can apply for a job with Go Transcript here.
Casting Words
YIKES! $10.00 an audio hour = potential for $5.00 an hour.
Because you can pick and choose the transcription jobs you want to do, the amount you get paid can be all over the place. They pay per audio minute as well as per task. And because of this, it’s hard to track down exactly how much you can expect to be paid. A recent glassdoor.com review of Casting Words stated the pay is about $10.00 an audio hour for the beginner transcriber. And, as we know, an audio hour can mean two hours of actual work. They pay weekly, every Friday, once you have accumulated at least $1.00. When you sign up, you will have to complete a short transcription test so you may want to take a look at their Style Guide.
You can apply for a job with Casting Words here.
Neil R. Gross
HONORABLE MENTION I did a lot of research on this company but could not come across any reliable sources indicating the rate of pay. So, assuming they are in line with the rest, consider this job one of those that will bring in a few hundred a month.
A good place to get some verbatim court reporting and transcription experience under your belt. According to their website:
If you type over 60 words per minute and need to work from home, you may be what we’re looking for in a legal transcriber. No transcription experience necessary, but you must be willing and able to work on overnight delivery. Timeliness is a must, as are excellent English language skills. Please apply only if you can transcribe at least 5 hours of audio per week.
You can apply for a job with Neil R. Gross here.
1-800Typeitup
WATCH IT ! They charge a non-refundable application fee of $10.00 I want to put this one on this list because is is the highest payer as of this date, at $0.60 cents to $3.00 per audio minute ($36.00 to $180.00 per audio hour). But there’s still the fee.
You can check out 1-800Typeitup here.
The Transcription Learning Curve For Beginners
So now you know there are plenty of companies where you can do transcription from home. But did you know you more than likely will have to pass a skills test?
But don’t let those tiny little words scare you. Even if the company takes on beginners, they want to be sure you have the chops: Is your typing up to snuff? Have a good ear for the English language? Know your way around a simple audio file?
I strongly recommend taking this FREE 7-day transcription course (that you can do online). It shows you what you need to get started and covers the basics so you have a leg-up on the competition.
Practice Makes Perfect
In the case of Rev, I know from personal experience that the application process starts with a quick little typing test. followed with a 10 minute grammar test, where you select the right answer to a series of questions and statements, and ending with you doing a sample transcription.
All very simple. Sorta. Unless you’re me. And your typing sucks.
So if you want to be sure you have the chops, hop on over to TypingTest.com and take a sample typing test. Then scurry on over to Exam English and check out your grammar and vocabulary prowess. I promise, you’ll be glad you did.
You May Need More Than One
Once you pass the skills test, you can start working. For beginners, transcription is a great way to make money at home, but if you only work for one company you won’t make a full-time income. And the work may be sparse at times. So, what I recommend, is signing up with a few of these companies and working as much as you can.
Pro Tip: When I first started out, I worked for Rev, Scribbie, and AccuTran and pulled in about 650.00 a month. My busy life only let me I work about 10 hours a week and because I used three companies there always seemed to be plenty of work to do.
Audio Files Are The Backbone Of Transcription
You listen to a file and type-up what you heard. It’s an easy job, but it can be repetitive – sometimes you have to re-play an audio file because you didn’t understand what was said. Poor quality, unclear dialog, broken English and thick accents all contribute to replaying audio files, which adds more time to the overall transcription process. But the longer you do it, the better you get.
Audio Hour vs. Work Hour And How You Are Paid
When trying to figure how much you will make by the hour, you need to to a little bit of math.
Audio hour = the length of the audio file – or culmination of audio files – that make up an hour of someone talking.
Work hour = the length of time it takes to transcribe an audio hour.
Audio hour is not the same as work hour. It can take more time to transcribe an audio file than the actual length of the file. In my experience, often twice the time.
Yeah, I know. A bit confusing.
Let’s say an audio file is 30 minutes long. That’s 30 minutes of someone talking. And the pay is .40 cents an audio minute. That’s potentially $12.00 for this 30 minute file.
So you might think to yourself “if I do one file an hour, that’s $12.00 an hour ! Woohoo! “ Not so fast. As a beginner, it could take you an hour to complete the transcription for this 30 minute file. So you spend 1 hour working but get paid the rate for the 30 minute file…$12.00. That 30 minute file equals $6.00 an hour.
And because each company pays differently, how much you are paid is a tough question to answer. But I will tell you this: every company I have come across pays by the audio minute (or rounded up by the audio hour) – not the working hour.
Ready To Start Making Money Today?
Now that you have a good idea of the best paying transcription companies, go ahead and fill out the applications and take the tests. Start making money today – even if it starts out as just a little extra cash. In no time it could turn into a full-time career, especially if you invest in yourself and take this FREE 7-day mini-course that will show you more than the basics of making money doing online transcription.
WOW ! Lisa: had a bad experience, did ya ? Instead of being on the nasty side, why not provide a little help to us job seekers? Like, what companies are you talking about when you say “There are plenty of companies out there that will hire beginners at a reasonable, NON-insulting pay rate…”
Personally, I like working with REV and GMR. Sure, the pay is not as much as if you were a sole proprietor doing this for a living, with all the training and such, but I make around $7.85 an hour. Yes, too low to live off as is, because I do it less than 14 hours a week, but I work around my baby’s schedule and I don’t have to go anywhere to do it nor do I have to find clients on my own. So, weighing the options, this is the best job for me.
Thank you, Lisa, for your honest feedback but please keep in mind that these companies are legitimate and do pay. Reading through the post, one will see that I touched on the potential earnings under various conditions. One should be able to come to their own conclusion whether or not this work is for them. Like Sharon, I have done work with REV. I averaged $195 a month – just with this one company. I wrote this based on my personal experience with my time at REV, such as how long I guestimate it took to complete a file.
Hi there
QUICKTATE charges $20 for the background checks to be done before you can begin.
THESE are the “best paying” transcription jobs you could find??? First of all, it takes AT LEAST FOUR HOURS for an experienced, fast-typing transcriptionist to transcribe one audio hour, NOT two, not including proofing. So, if a company is paying $10/audio hour, you will MAYBE make $2.50/hr. If you’re a beginner and type slowly, you’re looking at about $1.50/hr. That pay is insulting, beginner or not, and shouldn’t even be legal because it will NEVER reach minimum wage.
There are plenty of companies out there that will hire beginners at a reasonable, NON-insulting pay rate. NO ONE should work for a transcription company that pays any less than .50/audio minute. I can’t believe you wrote a blog with so much misinformation and are encouraging people to work for insulting, slave-labor rates! Do some actual research and provide USEFUL TRUTHFUL information or change your title to “Worst Paying Transcription Jobs & Lies About How Much You Will Make!”
GoTranscript files consist of ten minutes of audio each for $6.00. So this would make it $36 per audio hour…and then divide $36 by the number of hours it takes to transcribe.
Still on my quest to find the most suitable and best paid transcription agency to work for…UK market as well.
Useful article.
Thank you,
Emma
Thank you for this great article, it was an interesting reed 🙂 I had some experience doing transcription gigs on fiverr and few other small companies. Recently I tried the exams in most of the places you mentioned. My impression was that they are just taking advantage of people… in the sense that they make you familiarize yourself with so many guidelines, writing styles etc…then they ask you to transcribe anything between 6 and 18 min of audio – for absolutely no pay… At the end they have some software check your score and you fail even for the most minor little thing… I understand – of course there should be a test but why so long ? And why do they expect you to learn the guidelines back to front before hiring you… I assume that they want people to type in a certain format so that their system can evaluate it and this way they don’t need to pay an actual person to review the submissions manually… Long story short – those guys do whatever they can to avoid paying… and yes some are plainly using people to transcribe their files for free… It’s a shame…
Thank you for your honest opinion, Eshter. Ya…I get what you’re saying, when I tested a few of them I felt the same way at first. Seemed like the lengthy test was actually work I was doing the work for free, but I did eventually get a gig with Rev.
Yes, Ester you are right.
All the way From Kenya.
Thanks a lot. I needed that big time.
Thanx Tylor ur a life saver. I have applied to the same 3 as Kat did. Im studying for the grammar part now as I failed on a site before. It was real devastating to my ego buy now Im more pumped than ever becuase I brought my typing speed up to 55Wpm. Now I feel that I can finish a 30minute file in less than an hour.
Who the hell can do 1 hour transcription in 2 hours???
Hi Mike,
It’s definitely possible, especially if the file is a decent one and you have some experience. Which company have you worked for?
I highly suggest not working for Go Transcript. I as not paid for work done. I have been doing transcription for the past four years and have not been treat this poorly before. Their pay rate is far below the average pay rate for transcription falling around $.20 to .30 per minute for the worst audio imaginable. I received a few low ratings because the audio was indecipherable. This resulted in me being removed from the transcription team. I was fine with that because I did not want to continue working with them anyway.
However, I went to request payment for the work I had completed while still on the team and received the reply, “I am sorry, but if you are removed from transcribers you can’t work for us anymore” from Peter Trebek (the CEO). I replied clarifying that I only wanted payment for the work completed that received high ratings while I was still working for them. He said, “That is not possible sorry” and then stopped replying to my messages.
Tylor,
That is terrible ! I really appreciate you sharing your experience as it will be helpful to other readers. Please let me know if you ever get paid.
im interested