I Built AI Prompts to Calculate Transcription Costs

Calculate my podcast transcription costs across different services based on my production schedule.

MY PODCAST DETAILS:
- Episodes per month: [NUMBER]
- Average episode length: [MINUTES]
- Number of speakers per episode: [NUMBER]
- Do I need speaker labels? [YES/NO]
- Do I need timestamps? [YES/NO]
- Output format needed: [TXT/SRT/VTT/JSON]

CALCULATE FOR THESE SERVICES:

1. **BrassTranscripts** (Pay-per-use)
   - $2.50 flat for 0-15 min files
   - $6.00 flat for 16-120 min files
   - Includes speaker ID and all formats

2. **Otter.ai** (Subscription)
   - Free: 300 min/month
   - Pro: $16.99/month for 1,200 min
   - Business: $30/user/month for 6,000 min

3. **Temi** (Pay-per-use)
   - $0.25/minute
   - Speaker ID included

4. **Descript** (Subscription + Transcription)
   - Free: 1 hour/month
   - Creator: $15/month (10 hours)
   - Pro: $30/month (30 hours)

5. **Rev AI** (Pay-per-use)
   - $0.25/minute base
   - Speaker diarization included

FOR EACH SERVICE, PROVIDE:
- Monthly cost calculation with math shown
- Annual cost projection
- Cost per episode
- Cost per audio hour (effective rate)
- Whether my needs exceed plan limits
- Hidden costs I might miss (speaker ID add-ons, format charges, storage)

THEN RECOMMEND:
- Best option for my specific usage pattern
- Break-even point where switching services makes sense
- What would change my recommendation (more/fewer episodes, longer/shorter)

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Prompt by BrassTranscripts (brasstranscripts.com)
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Calculate total transcription budget for my research project.

PROJECT DETAILS:
- Total number of interviews: [NUMBER]
- Average interview length: [MINUTES]
- Interview format: [IN-PERSON / PHONE / VIDEO CALL]
- Number of participants per interview: [NUMBER]
- Do I need verbatim transcription? [YES/NO]
- Do I need speaker attribution? [YES/NO]
- Timeline: [DAYS/WEEKS to complete all transcription]
- Budget constraint: [AMOUNT or "flexible"]

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Language(s): [LIST LANGUAGES]
- Technical terminology: [FIELD/DISCIPLINE]
- Confidentiality level: [STANDARD / IRB-COMPLIANT / HIPAA]

CALCULATE FOR:

1. **AI Transcription (BrassTranscripts)**
   - $2.50 (0-15 min) or $6.00 (16-120 min) per file
   - Include estimated review/correction time at $[HOURLY_RATE]/hour

2. **AI Transcription (Other services)**
   - Compare Otter, Temi, Rev AI at current rates

3. **Human Transcription (Rev)**
   - $1.50/minute for standard
   - $3.00/minute for verbatim
   - Include typical turnaround time

4. **Hybrid Approach**
   - AI transcription + professional review
   - Estimate total cost and time

FOR EACH OPTION, CALCULATE:
- Total transcription cost
- Estimated review/correction hours needed
- Total project cost (transcription + review time)
- Timeline feasibility
- Risk factors (accuracy for technical content, speaker attribution reliability)

PROVIDE:
- Recommended approach for my budget and timeline
- What I'd sacrifice by choosing the cheapest option
- What I'd gain by choosing the most expensive option
- Break-even analysis: at what volume does human transcription make sense?

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Prompt by BrassTranscripts (brasstranscripts.com)
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Calculate whether DIY transcription can replace our conversation intelligence platform.

CURRENT SITUATION:
- Number of sales reps: [NUMBER]
- Current platform: [GONG/CHORUS/REVENUE.IO/OTHER/NONE]
- Current monthly cost: $[AMOUNT] or [UNKNOWN]
- Calls recorded per rep per month: [NUMBER]
- Average call length: [MINUTES]

WHAT WE USE THE PLATFORM FOR:
- [ ] Call recording
- [ ] Automatic transcription
- [ ] AI-generated call summaries
- [ ] Objection tracking
- [ ] Competitor mention alerts
- [ ] Coaching scorecards
- [ ] CRM integration
- [ ] Deal risk scoring
- [ ] Pipeline analytics

CALCULATE DIY ALTERNATIVE:

1. **Transcription costs** (BrassTranscripts)
   - Calculate: [reps] × [calls/rep] × $6/call
   - Monthly and annual projection

2. **AI analysis costs** (ChatGPT/Claude)
   - Estimate prompt usage for call analysis
   - $20/user/month for ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro
   - Or API costs at ~$0.01-0.03 per call analysis

3. **Total DIY cost**
   - Transcription + AI tools
   - Compare to current platform cost

4. **Feature gap analysis**
   - What we lose without enterprise platform
   - What we keep with DIY approach
   - What we might gain (flexibility, no lock-in)

PROVIDE:
- Monthly savings (or additional cost) of DIY approach
- Annual savings projection
- Break-even team size (where enterprise makes sense)
- Recommendation based on our checked features
- Implementation effort estimate (hours to set up DIY workflow)

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Prompt by BrassTranscripts (brasstranscripts.com)
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Plan my transcription budget as a content creator with variable output.

MY CONTENT PRODUCTION:
- Primary platform: [YOUTUBE/PODCAST/COURSES/MIXED]
- Content pieces per month: [RANGE, e.g., "2-6"]
- Average content length: [MINUTES]
- Busiest month (last year): [PIECES] pieces, [TOTAL HOURS] audio
- Slowest month (last year): [PIECES] pieces, [TOTAL HOURS] audio

WHAT I USE TRANSCRIPTS FOR:
- [ ] YouTube captions/subtitles
- [ ] Blog post creation
- [ ] Social media quotes
- [ ] Show notes
- [ ] Course materials
- [ ] SEO optimization
- [ ] Accessibility compliance

CALCULATE THREE SCENARIOS:

**Scenario A: Slow Month**
- Minimum expected content
- Calculate costs across services

**Scenario B: Average Month**
- Typical content volume
- Calculate costs across services

**Scenario C: Busy Month**
- Maximum expected content
- Calculate costs across services

FOR EACH SCENARIO, COMPARE:
1. BrassTranscripts (pay-per-use): $6/file over 15 min
2. Otter Pro ($16.99/mo): 1,200 min included
3. Descript Creator ($15/mo): 10 hours included
4. Descript Pro ($30/mo): 30 hours included

ANALYSIS:
- Which service wins in each scenario?
- What's my expected annual cost with variable production?
- At what consistent volume does subscription beat pay-per-use?
- Hidden costs for my specific use cases (SRT export, speaker ID, etc.)

RECOMMENDATION:
- Best primary service for my variability pattern
- Backup option for overflow months
- Annual budget range to plan for

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Prompt by BrassTranscripts (brasstranscripts.com)
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Help me decide: should I subscribe to a transcription service or pay per use?

MY USAGE HISTORY (be honest):
- Transcription hours last 3 months: [MONTH1], [MONTH2], [MONTH3]
- Expected hours next 3 months: [MONTH1], [MONTH2], [MONTH3]
- Highest single month ever: [HOURS]
- Lowest single month ever: [HOURS]
- How predictable is my usage? [VERY/SOMEWHAT/UNPREDICTABLE]

SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS I'M CONSIDERING:
1. [SERVICE]: $[PRICE]/month for [MINUTES] minutes
2. [SERVICE]: $[PRICE]/month for [MINUTES] minutes

PAY-PER-USE BASELINE:
- BrassTranscripts: $6/hour (files over 15 min)

CALCULATE:

**Utilization Analysis**
- Average monthly usage: [calculate from history]
- Usage variability: [standard deviation or range]
- Subscription utilization rate: [% of included minutes I'd actually use]

**Cost Comparison**
- Subscription annual cost: [fixed]
- Pay-per-use annual cost: [based on actual usage pattern]
- Effective per-hour rate for each option

**Break-Even Analysis**
- Hours/month where subscription becomes cheaper
- How often do I actually hit that threshold?

**Risk Assessment**
- Cost of unused subscription capacity
- Cost of pay-per-use in high-volume months
- Which risk is more expensive for my pattern?

DECISION FRAMEWORK:
- If utilization would be >80%: Subscription likely wins
- If utilization would be 50-80%: Calculate carefully
- If utilization would be <50%: Pay-per-use likely wins
- If usage is highly variable: Pay-per-use reduces risk

RECOMMENDATION:
- Clear recommendation with reasoning
- What would change my recommendation
- Suggested review period (when to recalculate)

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Prompt by BrassTranscripts (brasstranscripts.com)
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Calculate transcription costs for our organization and identify optimization opportunities.

ORGANIZATION DETAILS:
- Departments using transcription: [LIST]
- Total users who transcribe: [NUMBER]
- Monthly audio hours (organization-wide): [HOURS]
- Current solution: [CENTRALIZED/DEPARTMENTAL/AD-HOC]
- Current annual spend: $[AMOUNT] or [UNKNOWN]

USAGE BREAKDOWN BY DEPARTMENT:
- [DEPT 1]: [HOURS/MONTH], [PRIMARY USE CASE]
- [DEPT 2]: [HOURS/MONTH], [PRIMARY USE CASE]
- [DEPT 3]: [HOURS/MONTH], [PRIMARY USE CASE]

REQUIREMENTS:
- Compliance needs: [HIPAA/SOC2/GDPR/NONE]
- Data residency requirements: [US/EU/NONE]
- SSO/enterprise authentication: [REQUIRED/PREFERRED/NOT NEEDED]
- Admin controls: [REQUIRED/PREFERRED/NOT NEEDED]
- API access: [REQUIRED/PREFERRED/NOT NEEDED]

CALCULATE:

**Current State Analysis**
- Total current spend across all departments
- Per-hour effective rate
- Unused capacity (if subscription-based)

**Consolidation Scenario**
- Single enterprise contract pricing (request quotes)
- Estimated discount for combined volume (typically 15-30%)
- Implementation and change management costs

**Hybrid Scenario**
- Enterprise solution for high-volume departments
- Pay-per-use for low-volume/variable departments
- Combined cost optimization

**Build vs Buy Analysis** (if relevant)
- Self-hosted WhisperX infrastructure costs
- Break-even volume for self-hosting
- Hidden costs (maintenance, updates, DevOps time)

RECOMMENDATIONS:
- Optimal structure for our organization
- Negotiation leverage points with vendors
- Expected savings from optimization
- Implementation roadmap

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Prompt by BrassTranscripts (brasstranscripts.com)
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