FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What GistCite does, who it is for, what is free, how pricing works, how data is handled and which engines are used. Every answer is on this page, not behind a click.
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About the product
- What does GistCite do?
- It turns videos, podcasts and recordings, documents and web pages into transcripts and clean text, then summarizes them with citations to the second or the page, answers questions about them, and drafts posts, briefs, captions and clips from them. The web app and the API share one account and one quota.
- Who is it for?
- Independent professionals and consultants, content creators and podcasters, marketers and social analysts, researchers and students, and developers and AI builders: anyone whose work crosses videos, documents and recordings and has to say where a point came from.
- What is free and what is paid?
- The free plan includes 100 units a month for YouTube transcripts (with Markdown, Word and PDF downloads), document extraction, PDF editing, the Markdown editor, text to speech and dictation. Pro ($15 a month list price, 2,000 units) adds AI summaries, Ask and Create, Media Tools, Web Extractor, Sentiment Analysis, Open Library and batches. API ($49 a month list, 10,000 units) is the same at volume. Prices are charged by Stripe and shown live on the pricing page.
- How is pricing structured?
- By quota units. A transcript, a document or a page is 1 unit; an AI summary is 10 at Standard or 30 at Deep; transcription is priced per started minute; OCR per page. Downloads are free. The cost of an action is shown before it runs, and every metered API response reports what it cost.
- Do failed requests or unused units cost anything?
- A request that fails is never charged. "Fails" has a fixed meaning: the request ended with an error instead of a result, whether the cause was ours, the source's (no captions, an unreadable file) or the model's (a refusal, a timeout). Units are taken only when a result is returned. A result you are unhappy with is a different case, covered in the next answer. A plan's monthly units reset each month; top-up packs (500 units) never expire and carry over from month to month, on any plan, Free included.
- What if an AI result is wrong or unusable?
- AI output is not guaranteed to be right, which is why every point links to the second or page it came from, so you can check it. If a summary, answer or draft misstates its source or cites a place that does not support it, write to support within 14 days with the source and what is wrong, and we return the units that result cost. Extraction (transcripts, document text) is only as accurate as the captions or the file: auto-generated captions and scans carry their own errors.
- How long does it take to get started?
- Seconds. Paste a YouTube link on the homepage and the transcript appears; no account is needed for a few transcripts. An account takes an email address; Pro is a Stripe checkout.
- How is my data protected?
- Uploaded files are processed in memory and never stored; only extracted text is kept, in your history, and you can export or delete everything yourself. TLS in transit, hashed passwords and API keys, no advertising trackers. We describe our security controls honestly, including what we have not been audited for.
- Which integrations and formats are available?
- A REST API with API keys for every tool; exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, Markdown, DOCX, PDF, XLSX, CSV, JSON and more; and the same content flows between tools, so a transcript can be summarized, questioned, turned into a draft or captioned without re-uploading. Python and JavaScript SDKs, an MCP server for AI assistants, an n8n node, a Chrome extension and a Zapier app are listed on the developers page, each marked Coming soon until it is published.
- Which AI models are used?
- Summaries, Ask and Create run on Claude by Anthropic; transcription runs on Whisper; document extraction on Docling and pypdf. Only extracted text is sent to a model, never the original file.
YouTube Transcripts
- Does it work on videos without captions?
- The web page reads the caption track YouTube provides, manual or auto-generated, so a video with captions disabled has nothing to fetch there. On a paid plan the API can transcribe the speech instead (mode=auto falls back to it, priced like Speech to Text), or you can upload the audio to Speech to Text.
- Is the transcript accurate?
- As accurate as the captions: manual captions are usually excellent, auto-generated ones vary with audio quality. The tool opens the English auto-generated track by default; switch to a manual track in the language menu when the video has one.
- Can I get transcripts for a whole playlist?
- Yes, on Pro or API. Paste the playlist link or a list of up to 25 video links and download the results together.
- Do I need an account?
- Not for a few transcripts. An account adds history, API keys and the monthly quota; Pro adds batches, playlists and every AI feature.
Document Extractor
- Which file types are supported?
- PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, TXT, Markdown, EPUB and HTML, uploaded or fetched from a link.
- Does it handle scanned PDFs?
- Yes, on Pro and API: pages without a text layer are OCR'd at 3 units a page. The free plan extracts the text layer only.
- Are my files stored?
- No. Files are processed in memory and discarded; the extracted text is kept in your history so you can come back to it.
- How big can a file be?
- 25 MB on the free plan, 200 MB on Pro and API.
PDF Editor
- Is my PDF uploaded when I annotate it?
- No. Annotation, signatures and watermarks are applied in your browser. Only merge, split, protect and unlock send the file to the server, and nothing is kept after the response.
- Can I sign a PDF?
- Yes: draw or type a signature, place it, and save. The signature is flattened into the page.
- Does it edit existing text?
- It adds text boxes and annotations over the page; it does not rewrite the original text layer.
Workflow
- What does a workflow cost?
- Nothing by itself. Each step costs what its tool costs on its own page, the most a run can cost is shown before it starts, and a failed step costs nothing.
- How large can a workflow be?
- Up to 20 steps in a workflow, 50 workflows in an account and 3 runs at a time. There are no loops or schedules yet.
- Can a workflow start from a file I upload?
- Not directly. Upload the document on Documents or the recording on Speech to Text, then start the workflow from it with the From your library step.
- Can I send the result to n8n, Zapier or Make?
- Yes. The Send to webhook step posts the result as JSON to any HTTPS address, which is how those tools receive it.
AI Summary, Ask and Create
About AI Summary, Ask and Create
- Which AI model is used?
- Claude by Anthropic: Sonnet at Standard quality and the largest available Claude model at Deep quality. With your own Anthropic or OpenAI key saved on the Account page, AI actions run on that key for 1 unit a call.
- How much does a summary cost?
- 10 units at Standard, 30 at Deep; a cached repeat of the same source and quality is 1 unit. Pro includes 2,000 units a month.
- Is the original file sent to the AI?
- No, only the extracted text; the file itself is never stored.
- Can I use it without a paid plan?
- AI features need Pro or API, a top-up balance, or your own AI key. Extraction, PDF editing, the Markdown editor, TTS and dictation are on the free plan.
Speech to Text
- Is dictation really free?
- Yes. It uses the browser's own speech recognition and sends nothing to GistCite.
- What formats can I upload?
- Common audio and video files up to 500 MB.
- How accurate is it?
- Whisper handles clear speech well and degrades with noise and crosstalk; the vocabulary hint improves names and jargon.
TTS Reader
- Which voices are available?
- Whatever your browser and operating system provide; the MP3 export uses a neural voice on the server.
Markdown Editor
- Is my text saved anywhere?
- Only in your browser while the tab is open. Download the file to keep it.
Web Extractor
- Can it extract pages behind a login?
- No. The extractor fetches public pages only.
- How many pages can a crawl cover?
- Up to 200 pages and 5 levels deep, with scope rules to stay within a section of the site.
Media Tools
- What file sizes are supported?
- Uploads up to 500 MB.
- Can I import from TikTok or Instagram?
- Yes, public videos from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Bilibili; downloads are metered at 1 unit per MB.
Sentiment Analysis
- Does it work on any video?
- Any public video with comments enabled.
- What does scoring measure?
- Sentiment (positive, neutral, negative), emotions, toxicity and language, per comment.
Open Library
- Can I download any book?
- Only items each source marks as free to keep: public-domain books and open-access papers.
Still have a question?
Write to the team; support, billing and privacy each have their own route on the contact page.