Comparisons
GistCite vs. transcript APIs
What GistCite's API does next to transcript-only APIs, with the prices those services listed when we checked on 28 September 2026.
By GistCite team, Product and engineering · For developers and ai builders, marketers, researchers and students
Published · Reviewed
Key takeaways
- A transcript API returns the words; GistCite's API also extracts documents, web pages and audio, and returns summaries and answers cited to the second or page, under one key and one quota.
- For raw YouTube captions alone at volume, a transcript-only API can cost less per call: GistCite's API plan works out to about $4.90 per 1,000 caption fetches.
- The conventions developers expect are there: failed requests are never charged, top-up units never expire, retries with an Idempotency-Key are charged once, and every response reports its cost.
- Competitors' prices and features below are as their public pages listed them on 28 September 2026. They change; check the linked pages before you decide.
What this page compares
Developers who need text out of videos usually start with a transcript API: send a video id, get the captions back. This page sets out what GistCite's API does next to three such services, using only facts we can point to. GistCite's facts come from its own pricing and API pages. The other services' facts are what their public pages listed when we read them on 28 September 2026; we have not re-checked them since and have not tested their APIs. None of them is affiliated with GistCite.
What GistCite's API includes
One API key covers every tool in the web app. A YouTube transcript from captions is 1 unit, and so is a TikTok, Instagram or Facebook post read from its own captions; a document, a web page or a PDF operation is 1 unit; uploaded audio is 1 unit per started minute (minimum 3). AI summaries cost 10 units at Standard quality or 30 at Deep, and Ask This Source answers with citations for 10. Every summary point and answer links to the second or the page it came from.
Plans are Free (100 units a month), Pro ($15 a month list price, 2,000 units) and API ($49 a month list, 10,000 units). At 1 unit per caption fetch, the API plan is about $4.90 per 1,000 fetches, with the AI and document tools included. Top-up packs of 500 units never expire.
- Failed requests are never charged.
- An Idempotency-Key makes a retried call charge once.
- Every metered response carries X-Quota headers and a usage block with its cost.
- API-key requests are rate limited per key: 30 a minute by default.
- Transcripts download as Markdown, Word, PDF, TXT, SRT or VTT at no cost, and a free metadata endpoint returns a video's chapters, description and publish date.
- Python and JavaScript SDKs, an MCP server and an n8n node are built; the developers page marks each Coming soon until it is published.
What three transcript APIs listed on 28 September 2026
The prices and features below are copied from each service's public pages on that date, not measured by us. Prices change; follow the links under References for the current ones.
- transcriptfetch.com, a transcript API for social video: a free tier of 50; paid tiers from $5 per 1,000 up to $229 per 250,000; speech to text at 1 credit per 5 minutes; failed requests free; channel, playlist and search listing, upload monitoring, batch, and Make and Zapier integrations.
- fetchtranscript.com, a YouTube-only API: $1 per 1,000, prepaid credits that never expire, 25 free a month; chapters and description in the response; over 100 languages; channel listing.
- transcriptapi.com, a YouTube API: from $5 a month for 1,000; top-ups from $1.50 to $2.50 per 1,000; channel, playlist and search endpoints; free channel-upload tracking via RSS; agent skills for coding assistants.
Choosing by what happens after the transcript
If the job is raw YouTube captions at high volume and nothing else, a transcript-only API listed at $1 to $5 per 1,000 costs less per call than GistCite's roughly $4.90. If the same pipeline also needs documents, web pages or recordings, or a summary or an answer that says where each point came from, GistCite does those under the same key, account and quota, and the transcript is already in place when the AI step runs.
Both kinds of service share the conventions developers now expect: no charge for failures, credits that do not expire, and a response that says what it cost.
Keeping this page honest
This comparison is dated and lists its sources. When a service's pricing or features change, or GistCite's do, we update the page and its date. If a fact about your product is wrong here, write to us from the contact page and we will correct it.
Questions
- Is GistCite cheaper than a transcript API?
- Not for raw captions alone at volume: GistCite's API plan is about $4.90 per 1,000 caption fetches, and some transcript-only APIs listed $1 to $5 per 1,000 on 28 September 2026. GistCite's price includes documents, web pages, audio and cited AI under the same quota.
- Are failed requests charged?
- No. A request that fails costs nothing, and a retried call with the same Idempotency-Key is charged once.