SpeakWrite: Fast-Pace, Poor Pay for Transcription

What is SpeakWrite?

SpeakWrite is a 24-hour transcription service that enlists freelance typists who can work a minimum of four hours a week doing fast-turnaround transcriptions for business, law and insurance companies.

How it works

If you want to sign up, you need to affirm that you are a legal resident of the U.S. or Canada (though not California); fluent in English; can type 60 words per minute with 90% accuracy; and are proficient in Word software, including Word formatting. And that you have at least a year of transcription experience.

You must have a Windows-based PC, with Windows 10 operating system (or newer); headphones and a foot pedal to control audio. (Late-model Apple computers are okay, as long as you have Windows software.)

SpeakWrite review:

SpeakWrite is a fast-paced transcription service that works with lawyers, insurance companies, private detectives, law enforcement as well as corporate clients to transcribe everything from voice-mail messages to depositions.

It does this by enlisting freelance transcriptionists to work at any hour of the day or night — a plus for those who need scheduling flexibility.

Low pay

However, the pay is nothing to brag about. The site pays freelance transcriptionists one-half cent per word, plus bonuses on some jobs. Since transcriptionists who apply here must be able to type at least 60 words per minute accurately, that intimates that your pay could amount to $18 or more per hour.

But, that’s a far cry from the truth.

In reality, you can’t transcribe as fast as you can type. That’s simply because you need to listen to — and accurately transcribe — conversations captured on audio. These can involve several people talking at once, using slang, and talking with hard-to-understand accents on audio of dubious quality.

Naturally your hourly pay depends on how quickly you type — which is often dictated by the clarity of the audio you’re given. However, most reviewers say that the pay is below minimum wage and may be as little as $4 an hour.

Getting paid

Transcriptionists are paid twice a month via check or direct deposit.

Recommendations:

While SpeakWrite offers plenty of flexibility, we think the pay is substandard. There are better options, including  DittoTranscripts. You may also want to check out our blog post: Fast typist? Try transcription.

What their users say (from Indeed)

When I first started, I loved the flexibility of being able to pick my hours, but as of the writing of this review (11/2024), the scheduling process has become awful and it’s difficult to pick up primary paid shifts, so a lot of time is wasted hoping to get a paid job. The pay is very low for the time spent, so you have to be okay with the trade off of picking your own schedule (if hours are available) and the felxibility of typing in your pjs if you so desire.

You can’t reject assigned transcription jobs, even if they’re horrible or not understandable. And there are many rules, and that the manual is ridiculous to follow and not easy to search.

This is a horrible company to work for. Given to do over again, rather than wasting my time for the $4-$5/hr I often made, I would instead get certified as a transcriber through AAERT and do depositions only, into the same form every time, with proper speaker identification and multi channel recording. Speakwrite gives you any and all garbage anyone says into a recorder or phone and you type it into whatever form they want.

Tough but decent

It’s tough work but if you do it well you can make a decent amount of money. You can make a full time job out of it if you work hard. The pay is a little higher than average when it comes to remote transcription work. It all depends on your speed and accuracy and, unfortunately, also the quality of the recording, which we can’t control.

I’ve worked at this company for a few months now. While I do enjoy the flexibility, the compensation is extremely poor. The pay is usually .005 per word or 1 cent for every two words.

Not bad

I am a stay-at-home mom and home school my 7- year- old daughter. I work around her schedule, about 15-25 hours per week or so. SpeakWrite pays $0.005 per word typed for a primary/standby primary shift and they do pay idle time if you are primary. For premier shifts they pay $0.0055 per word. If you’ve done work for other transcription companies you know this isn’t a bad deal. I also work for a captioning service and trust me, this is a lot better. There is a lot to learn with their formatting, but after about 2 months, most of it becomes second nature. 

The typist supervisors are friendly and supportive. Help is available almost 24/7.

The pay is not great, but the benefits of working from home helps.

I’ve been working for SpeakWrite as a General Typist for a few weeks now and I am loving it! I am a stay at home mom, so the ability to hop on and type when I have a free minute is invaluable. I schedule myself for two hours a day (usually in the evenings after my baby has gone to sleep) and I also pick up extra hours whenever they send an email saying they have bonuses on for typist help! It’s great! I am averaging about $50/day for 4-5 hours of typing. It’s so nice to supplement my family with this income and to do it in my pajamas!

Bad dictation

Sometimes the dictations are sloppy with large pauses/errors that are also unpaid and a lot of background noise to filter through.

Clients may submit their dictations in any form whatsoever including noisy environments ie at a party, in a noisy restaurant, TV or radio blaring in background, chewing gum or eating while talking, several seconds (even minutes) of no speaking, flipping documents next to the microphone.

Can’t reject bad tapes

A typist may not reject a poor dictation for any reason whatsoever, even if you cannot hear it or understand due to poor equipment or noisy environment. Such dictations may be very long, thus tying up your ability to make money on a more professionally done dictation.

Contractors must make all changes that a client makes in a dictation, meaning taking out words already typed, and you are only paid for the final word count.

Frustrating work, lack of support from superiors, compensation hasn’t changed in the going-on nine years I’ve typed for them, though they have steadily increased the price of the product for clients.

Updated 1/23/2025