An honest look at Descript reviews in 2025: Is it the right AI editor for you?

AI video editors are popping up everywhere, all promising to save you a ton of time. Descript is one of the biggest names in the game, built on a really cool idea: what if you could edit video just by editing a text document? For anyone making content, from marketers to podcasters, that sounds almost too good to be true.

But does it actually work as well as it sounds? If you look around, you’ll find a mix of Descript reviews. Some people swear by it, while others are quick to point out some serious deal-breakers.

So, this guide is here to give you a straight, balanced look at Descript. We’ll get into its best features, check out the common problems people run into, and lay out the pricing so you can figure out if it actually fits what you need.

What is Descript?

At its core, Descript is an all-in-one editor for your audio and video, but it has a unique trick up its sleeve: text-based editing. When you drop a file in, Descript automatically creates a transcript. From there, editing your video is as simple as deleting words or moving sentences around in the text. Cut a sentence from the transcript, and Descript snips that exact clip from your video.

The goal is to make video editing feel less technical and more intuitive, especially if you’re not a seasoned pro. On top of that, Descript is loaded with AI tools that handle tedious tasks for you, like cutting out "ums" and "ahs," cleaning up bad audio, or even cloning your own voice for quick corrections. It’s trying to be the only tool you need to go from recording to a finished piece of content.

What Descript does well

Descript got popular for a reason. It has some genuinely clever features that can seriously speed up your workflow. Most of the glowing Descript reviews you’ll find point to these tools as the main reason they stick with it. Here’s a look at what people love.

Editing video like a text doc

The main attraction is the transcript-based editor. Instead of hunting through a timeline and staring at audio waves, you just read through your script and delete the bits you don’t want. This is a huge time-saver if you’re working with anything that’s heavy on dialogue, like interviews, tutorials, or podcasts. You can read way faster than you can listen, which makes it super easy to catch mistakes or clumsy sentences.

A look at Descript's text-based video editing interface, a key feature highlighted in many positive Descript reviews.

Helpful AI assistants

Descript isn’t just about editing text; it uses AI to take care of some of the most annoying parts of post-production.

• Studio Sound: This is a one-click button that magically removes background noise and echo. It’s surprisingly good at making your audio sound like it was recorded in a proper studio.

• Filler Word Removal: Descript can find and delete all your "ums," "ahs," and "you knows" in one go. It’s a quick way to make yourself sound a lot more confident and articulate.

• Overdub: This feature lets you create an AI clone of your voice. If you said the wrong word or need to add something new, you can just type the correction, and Overdub will generate the audio for you, in your voice. It can be a little robotic, but it’s a lifesaver for small fixes.

• Eye Contact: If you’re reading from a script and your eyes are darting around, this AI tool can adjust your gaze to look like you’re staring right into the camera lens.

• Green Screen: This feature lets you remove the background from your video without actually needing a physical green screen. It’s perfect for dropping in a custom background on the fly.

Great for collaboration and screen recording

Descript also works as a screen and webcam recorder, which makes it a solid option for anyone creating tutorials or product demos. And since it’s all cloud-based, working with a team is pretty straightforward, kind of like Google Docs. Teammates can drop comments right onto the transcript at specific timestamps, which is way more efficient than emailing massive video files back and forth with notes.

Common complaints

While the features sound great on paper, a lot of Descript reviews tell a different story, especially for people with more demanding projects. After looking through feedback on places like Reddit and Trustpilot, a few common frustrations keep popping up.

It can be buggy and unstable

Probably the biggest complaint is that the software just isn’t that reliable. People report that the app is often slow, laggy, and crashes a lot, especially when you’re working with longer videos. As one Redditor put it, "I could not believe how unstable it had become. I froze twice trying to make a 60-second clip." That kind of unreliability is a huge problem if you’re on a deadline. The whole point is to save time, but that doesn’t help if you’re constantly worried about losing your work.

It’s not as simple as it looks

Even though it’s marketed as being super easy, some users find that doing basic video editing tasks can feel surprisingly clunky. Editing via text is great for dialogue, but when you need to do a simple trim or a precise cut, it can be a hassle compared to dedicated software like Final Cut Pro or Premiere. One user mentioned it was a "real pain in the rear figuring out how to do" a simple clip split, which is usually just a single keyboard shortcut in other editors.

Export quality can be a letdown

This is a big one for anyone who cares about how their final video looks. The Reddit review that got us looking into this mentioned major compression problems. Their 500 MB source file got squeezed down to just 23 MB on export, resulting in a video quality that was way below what YouTube recommends. You don’t get a lot of control over the export settings, so you might be stuck with a final product that just doesn’t look professional. This is why many people see Descript as a tool for creating a rough cut, not for the final export.

Customer support and updates

Another recurring issue is slow or unhelpful customer support. When you hit a bug that stops your project in its tracks, waiting days for a generic response is beyond frustrating. On top of that, some long-time users feel that recent updates have made the app more bloated, adding flashy new features while ignoring core stability or even removing simple things that used to work just fine.

How much does Descript cost?

Descript has a few different plans, including a free one to let you try things out. But one of the most common points of confusion in Descript reviews is how the paid plans limit your use of the AI features.

The free plan is pretty decent for getting a feel for the tool, but the good stuff is limited. You only get one hour of transcription a month, and after your first video export, everything else has a watermark and is capped at 720p.

The paid plans give you higher resolutions and more transcription hours, but the AI tools run on "AI credits." As one recent Trustpilot review pointed out, "A month’s worth of credits lasts about a day. All these supposedly amazing AI features are there to look at and not use as the AI credits costs renders them unusable." If you lean heavily on features like Studio Sound or Overdub, you can burn through your monthly credits very quickly.

Here’s a simple breakdown of the plans from their official pricing page:

Feature	Free Plan	Hobbyist Plan	Creator Plan	Business Plan
Price (Annual)	$0	$16 /person/month	$24 /person/month	$50 /person/month
Media Hours	1 hour/month	10 hours/month	30 hours/month	40 hours/month
AI Credits	100 (one-time)	400/month	800/month	1500/month
Video Export	720p (with watermark)	1080p	4K	4K
Studio Sound	Limited	Included	Included	Included
Filler Word Removal	Limited	Included	Included	Included
Overdub/AI Speech	Limited Trial	Included	Included	Included
Best For	Testing the platform	Beginners and casual creators	Serious podcasters & YouTubers	Teams needing collaboration

The final verdict: Is it right for you?

After digging through dozens of Descript reviews, it’s pretty clear who this tool is for. Descript is genuinely innovative and a huge help for a certain kind of creator. If your content is mostly people talking, like podcasts, interviews, tutorials, or simple talking-head videos, and you just want to edit your script and cut out filler words quickly, Descript is fantastic. The text-based workflow is fast and intuitive for those specific jobs.

However, if you’re a professional video editor or anyone who needs top performance, stability, and fine-tuned control over your final product, Descript is not going to replace tools like DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere. The bugs, export issues, and clunky interface for advanced edits mean it works best as a first-pass tool, not a full-on editing suite.

Picking the right AI tool is all about matching its strengths to the job you need to do. For making certain types of content faster, Descript has earned its spot. But when it comes to a core part of your business, like customer support, you need an AI platform that’s built from day one to be reliable, easy to set up, and integrated with the tools you already count on.

That’s where a different kind of AI comes in. While Descript helps with your content, eesel AI helps with your customer and internal support. It connects to your helpdesk and knowledge bases in minutes, giving you a reliable AI assistant without the bugs or instability. If you’re thinking about how AI can help your business beyond content creation, see how eesel AI can make a real difference.