Rev

What is Rev?

Rev connects freelance transcriptionists with work that pays up to $3 per audio minute

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How it works

You can sign up here by plugging in your name and contact information. However the site will only accept your application if it needs freelancers in your area.

The site takes freelance applications from everywhere in the U.S. except California, as well as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK.

Assuming you’re contacted to go the next step, you’ll need to take a test to assess your English and grammar, and, possibly, prepare a sample transcript to ensure you meet Rev’s quality guidelines.

If you make it through that review, you’ll start getting presented with work that fits your skills. The site offers three opportunities:

• Transcription at rates ranging from 30 cents to 1.10 per audio/video minute
• Captioning at rates ranging from 30 cents to $1.10 per audio/video minute
• Foreign language subtitling, which pays up to $3 per audio/video minute.

Rev Review:

With pay ranging from 30 cents to $3 per audio/video minute — in other words, $18 to $180 per audio hour — it sounds like Rev pays generously. But audio hours are not the same as time on the clock. When you are transcribing tapes and film, it can take up to six times longer to type an accurate transcript.

And freelancers who have worked with Rev complain that the site’s audio files can be hard to hear, which can make the job even more difficult.

Higher pay with experience

Moreover the highest rates of pay here are for those with tons of experience working with Rev and for those who can caption movies (including sounds) and/or translate while they transcribe. That said, if you are a blistering-fast typist and get the hang of it, this site helps you make decent money working from home.

However, because of a huge increase in interest due to the pandemic, it could take as much as three months to process your application.

Our neutral Husl$core balances the low pay for beginners with the rising pay for those who learn the ropes, as well as the flexibility of the job.

What we like

Rev pays freelancers once a week via PayPal. You get to choose the jobs you take, which are listed with the type of transcript you’ll be working on, the length, pay, and the deadline. The site appears to have plenty of work to go around. Click here to sign up.

Recommendations:

If you are a U.S. resident, our top pick in the transcription field is Transcription Outsourcing, which pays more than twice Rev’s base rates.

The site is highly selective, however. And it does not take transcriptionists from California, New Jersey or Massachusetts, where state legislatures have passed restrictive freelance laws.

If you want to sign up with Rev, you can do so here.

What their users say (from Indeed)

The more you do it the faster you’ll get.

If you can type fast, pay close attention to detail, study their guide, and like working alone from your computer at home, this really is great for a bit of extra money. They pay weekly, always on time. But don’t expect it to be a full time income. I’ve enjoyed always having something to fall back on if you need some extra cash.

I’ve been with Rev for almost two years now. Starting out is hard, but it gets easier. I’ve learned a ton from the projects I get to transcribe and love editing and typing. So this is a great fit for me. The pay per hour is usually really bad.

Extremely difficult multi person focus groups, soundalikes, background noises, lots of body cam, prison phone calls and police interview work. So you can imagine the audio, street terms, dialect and accent difficulty. Generally terrible quality audio. Medical files (my specialty) among the lowest payers, .30-.50 per audio minute. Very rare provision of glossary terms for place names and personal names, so a ton of research to get things accurately transcribed, time that pays you zero for accuracy. A thankless job for the perfectionist.

Being hired is easy enough and there are a ton of available projects. But the quality of the projects available is hit or miss.

Flexible

As a college student, having an entirely flexible job was necessary. When I found Rev, I almost thought it was too good to be true. It isn’t! At first, there was definitely a learning curve, but once I got the hang of the work it was such a relief to have a job that I could come to and leave whenever I needed. Every time I have emailed someone from Rev with questions, I have gotten a quick and thorough response. Highly recommend anyone who wants a flexible job to consider and apply!

Overall, a great part-time job. I spend anywhere from 5 to 20 hours a week, but it could easily be done full time. You can choose which projects you work on, and get all the details (including how much each one pays) before you commit to working on it. Only downside I’d say is comparatively low pay, though you can get more efficient through practicing your dictation skills, and you gain access to higher-paying jobs once you’re able to advance your “Revver level” through successfully completing enough projects. At the very least, Rev is good about being upfront and transparent regarding exactly how much pay you’ll receive. This is a terrific job for someone who isn’t huge on interacting with The Public™, since as a captioner you don’t ever interact with customers. Honestly, it’s an introvert’s dream.

Low pay

The payment is extremely low, you can spend an entire day subtitling a video just to get $30 USD. Then it is graded, and the graders can be extremely harsh at times, making it easy for someone to lose their jobs.

Low pay rate, they close the accounts without reason, and don’t respond to appeals. Once your account is closed, you don’t get paid, even if you have done a whole week’s worth of work. You could lose more than $300 if working full time. They don’t respond to emails when you follow up.

Been working here since 2017. The pay is super low for the work you put in. Should be getting paid $1 per video minute at the VERY least. No benefits, not much advancement. Only positive is I can set my own schedule.

Tough to find projects that are worth time. You could be sitting and working on a project for 2 hours or more and only get $20 or so depending on the project. Good job to kill some time and make money.