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Descript vs Runway

Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.

DDescriptFree · from $16/moVisit site
RRunwayFree · from $12/moVisit site
VS
D

Choose Descript if…

  • you're in its core audience: podcasters, youtube creators
R

Choose Runway if…

  • you want the lower entry price ($12/mo vs $16/mo)
  • you work on iOS, Android
  • you're in its core audience: content creators, marketing teams

Side by side

Feature Descript Runway
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starting price$16/mo$12/mo
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Data retentionPersonal data kept as long as necessary for collection purposes—
Security and complianceSOC 2 Type II, GDPRSOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR
Updates, last 90 days230
Text-based editing—
AI auto-clipping—
Filler/silence removal—
AI dubbing/translation—
Social scheduling—
4K export—
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, iOS, Android, API
CategoryVideo EditingVideo Generators
CompanyDescript, Inc.Runway AI, Inc.
Based inUnited StatesUnited States
Founded—2018
Part of——

Key features

D Descript

  • Edit video and audio by editing the transcript
  • Transcription in 25 languages with speaker detection
  • Studio Sound noise removal and voice enhancement
  • One-click filler word and retake removal
  • Underlord AI co-editor driven by prompts
  • Voice clones, stock AI voices and speech regeneration
  • Automatic clips, captions and video translation
  • API and MCP server for programmatic editing

R Runway

  • Text and image to video with Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0
  • Third-party models such as Kling, Seedance and Nano Banana Pro
  • Music, voice, sound effects and text-to-speech generation
  • Agentic creative collaborator
  • Runway Ads publishes ads to Meta, Google and TikTok
  • 4K upscaling, plus HDR and ProRes output on Max
  • Custom voice clones and brand kits
  • Developer API and MCP server

Plans and prices

From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.

Descript

Free$0
Hobbyist$16/mo billed annually ($24 monthly)
Creator$24/mo billed annually ($35 monthly)
Business$50/mo billed annually ($65 monthly)
EnterpriseCustom

Runway

Free$0
Standard$12/mo billed yearly ($15 monthly)
Pro$28/mo billed yearly ($35 monthly)
Max$76/mo billed yearly ($95 monthly)
EnterpriseCustom

Strengths and limitations

Descript

  • Free plan with no credit card required
  • Text-based editing removes the need to scrub a timeline
  • Recording, editing, captions and publishing in a single tool
  • SOC 2 Type II, SAML SSO, SCIM and GDPR compliance for business use
  • Free plan includes only 60 media minutes a month and 100 one-time AI credits
  • 4K export requires the Creator plan or higher
  • Translation and dubbing only on Business plan and above
  • Paid plans are priced per person

Runway

  • Free plan with 125 credits that don't expire
  • Own models and third-party models available in one workspace
  • iOS and Android apps plus an API
  • Extra purchased credits never expire
  • Free credits are one-time, not monthly
  • Monthly credits on Standard and Pro don't roll over
  • Minimum top-up purchase is 1,000 credits
  • Standard is limited to 3 projects

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Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy