Silestis vs free transcripts & doing it by hand
Free captions and manual note-taking work — until you need accuracy, timestamps, search, and answers.
You can copy YouTube's auto-captions or paste a link into a free transcript site. For a one-off, that's fine. But free captions are often unpunctuated, speaker-blind, and wrong on names and jargon — and they leave you with a wall of text you still have to read.
Silestis turns a supported video into a searchable transcript with the output available from the selected mode: timestamps from timestamp-capable modes, speaker labels from Speakers mode, cited AI answers, notes, chapters, and flashcards. Review important quotations against the source.
| Silestis | Free / manual | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free to start, then from €8.99 incl. VAT | €0 |
| Accurate punctuation & names | Yes | Often poor |
| Speaker labels (who said what) | ||
| Timestamped AI answers ([mm:ss]) | ||
| Search across many recordings | ||
| Notes, chapters & flashcards | ||
| Works on many supported sites + uploads | Varies | |
| Time to a usable result | Background processing; varies by source and mode | Manual cleanup |
When to use which
- Free captions are fine for a single short clip you'll read once.
- Silestis pays off the moment you transcribe regularly, need accuracy or timestamps, or want to search and ask questions across many recordings.
See how it works for YouTube videos, lectures, and podcasts — or start free on the pricing page.
free transcripts — FAQ
Can't I just use YouTube's free captions?
For a quick read, often yes. Auto-captions can still lack punctuation or speaker labels and may struggle with names and jargon. Silestis adds a searchable transcript and AI tools; timestamps and speaker labels depend on the selected mode, and important quotations should be checked against the source.
Is there a free plan?
Yes — Silestis includes 3 free transcriptions so you can compare the output to free captions yourself. No credit card required.
How is this faster than doing it manually?
Transcription runs in the background, then you can search and ask questions instead of scrubbing. Completion time depends on source duration, format, selected mode, and current load.
Start from the supported lecture page you already use.
Open the video and click Silestis to start a transcript, summary, and notes workflow on the page. Timestamp-capable modes can also return cited answers, including when no source transcript exists.
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