The short answer
Descript is a video and audio editor from Descript, Inc. in San Francisco where you edit a recording by editing its transcript. Its AI co-editor, Underlord, carries out plain-language requests such as removing filler words, cutting to a target length or making vertical clips, using a model picker with GPT, Gemini and Claude models. The free plan gives 1 media hour a month and 100 one-time AI credits; paid plans are Hobbyist, Creator, Business and Enterprise.
| Made by | Descript, Inc., United States |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes: 1 media hour a month, 100 AI credits once, 720p with watermark |
| Models | Underlord model picker with Auto plus GPT, Gemini and Claude models; Claude Opus 5.5 is the Enterprise default |
| Best at | Podcasts, talking-head video, clips and captions |
| Shows sources | Underlord can search the web for facts, but it cannot open a specific page |
| Team plans | Creator (1 to 3 seats), Business (up to 5), Enterprise |
| Your data | Production AI models use no user data; switch off Share data with Descript in App Settings > Profile |
What Descript is in late 2026
Descript started with one idea that still sets it apart: your recording becomes a transcript, and deleting a sentence from the transcript deletes it from the video. If you can edit a Word document, you can rough-cut a podcast. Around that core it now has a screen recorder, multitrack editing, captions, AI voices and Underlord, its AI co-editor.
Underlord is the part that changed most this year. Underlord v2 arrived on 6 January 2026 with lower AI credit use and a model picker. You open it from the Underlord icon in the right-hand sidebar of any project and type what you want. The picker, behind the cube icon at the bottom of the chat, offers Auto plus several GPT, Gemini and Claude models. Claude Fable 5 and Claude Sonnet 5 were added in August, Gemini 3.8 Flash in October, and since the 12 October release roundup Enterprise drives default to Claude Opus 5.5. Premium models need a paid plan.
The October update also changed how Underlord plans. Before it edits, it now describes the finished video in plain language, and if you already wrote a detailed plan, it asks only about the decisions you have not made. That is worth reading every time, because it is your cheapest chance to catch a misunderstanding.
What Descript is best at
Cleaning up talking-head video and podcasts
This is where Descript earns its place. Remove Filler Words strips the ums and ahs, Studio Sound cleans up echo and background noise, and Eye Contact helps a speaker who reads off screen look at the camera. Because you read and delete text rather than scrub a timeline, a long interview gets its rough cut far faster.
Turning one recording into many clips
Ask Underlord for five vertical clips of 30 to 60 seconds with bold captions and it finds the moments, reframes them and styles the captions. Descript's own prompting guide uses almost exactly this example. You still choose which clips are good, but the search and the reformatting are done.
Bulk edits you would never do by hand
Underlord handles the boring, repetitive work well: centring every speaker, adding lower thirds to everyone, bleeping language, hiding jump cuts with zooms or cutting a long recording down to a two minute version about one topic. Since September 2026 it can also generate background music and sound effects from a description and place them on the timeline at the length you ask for.
Translation and dubbing for teams
On the Business plan, Descript translates and dubs into more than 30 languages with proofreading, and AI Speech runs on ElevenLabs v4 since October, which makes voice clones closer to the original speaker. For a team publishing training videos in several markets, that alone can justify the plan.
Where Descript falls short
- Underlord overpromises. Descript's own help centre warns that it can make wrong assumptions on complex tasks. Review its work, especially multi-step edits.
- It cannot read a web page. Underlord can search the web for facts, but it cannot open a specific article. Paste the text into the chat instead.
- Credits are unpredictable. Each prompt costs AI credits for Underlord's reasoning, plus the cost of any tool it runs, and the amount varies between runs. Open the Usage tab from your account settings and look under Underlord to see where they went.
- It is not a colour grading or effects suite. For cinematic work, a traditional editor such as Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve still does more.
- The free plan is a trial. One media hour a month and a watermark mean you cannot publish real work on it.
How to get better results from Underlord
- Point it at something. Type @, click the + button or right-click a selection and choose Add to Underlord to attach a scene, a script passage, a speaker or a time range. Focused requests cost fewer credits and go wrong less often.
- Use the five parts of a prompt. Descript's guide suggests an action, context, tone, format and constraints. "Cut this to 90 seconds for LinkedIn, keep the customer story, friendly tone, captions on" beats "make it shorter".
- Break big edits into steps. Ask for the cut first, then captions, then music. One huge request is harder to check and harder to undo.
- Read the plan before it builds. Underlord now describes the finished video. If the description is wrong, correct it there.
- Save what you repeat as a skill. If you always want the same caption style and intro trim, save the instruction as a skill and run it from the chat box.
- Roll back freely. If a result is close, ask for small tweaks. If it missed, undo and try a different direction.
You can also reach Underlord from outside the editor. Since June 2026 the Descript MCP connector works in Claude and ChatGPT, and since September there is a Zapier connector. That means an assistant such as Claude can start an edit for you, which is useful if you already plan content there. See our Zapier guide for automations around it.
Privacy settings to check
Descript says its current production AI models use no user data, and its research models use only data from people who opted in to sharing. You are asked to set your sharing preference during onboarding. To switch it off, open App Settings with Command or Control plus comma, choose the Profile tab, find Share data with Descript and click Allowed to turn it off. On Enterprise drives sharing is disabled by default and cannot be switched on. Ask before you clone anyone's voice with AI Speech, including a colleague's.
Which Descript plan suits whom
Start on Free to learn the transcript editing, but expect to upgrade before you publish. Hobbyist is the entry point for regular creators: 10 media hours a month, 400 AI credits, 1080p without a watermark, plus Underlord, Studio Sound and filler removal. Creator is the plan most people who publish weekly end up on, with 30 media hours, 800 credits, 4K export, full Underlord access and video generation. Business adds Brand Studio for the whole team, translation and dubbing and custom avatars for up to five seats. Enterprise adds SSO and data controls. Check the Descript pricing page for current prices. Pick Descript if most of your video is people talking. Skip it if you mainly edit footage without speech, because the transcript then does little for you. Compare it with other voice and video tools on ElevenLabs vs Descript or start a lesson on Descript at Yuzoki.
Prompts to copy
Tighten a raw interview
Remove filler words and pauses longer than one second across the whole recording. Then flag any section where the speaker repeats themselves or loses the thread, but do not delete those yet. List the flagged sections with timestamps.
You get: A cleaner cut plus a short list of judgement calls for you
Make social clips from a podcast
Find 5 moments from this episode that work as vertical clips for Instagram and TikTok. Each clip should be 30 to 60 seconds, make one clear point, start with a strong first line and have bold captions in our brand colours. Put each clip in its own composition.
You get: Five ready-to-review vertical clips
Cut to a target length
Create a 2-minute version of this webinar focused only on [topic]. Keep the speaker's best example and the closing call to action. Describe the plan in plain language before you edit.
You get: A short version and a plan you can correct first
Turn a blog post into a video
Here is the text of a blog post: [paste text]. Write a 60-second script from it for a talking-head video, with a hook in the first 5 seconds. Keep it in plain English and under 150 words.
You get: A script you can record straight away
Write show notes
Write show notes for this episode: a two-sentence summary, five chapter markers with timestamps and three quotable lines. Use only what is said in the recording.
You get: Show notes and chapters grounded in the transcript
Polish the sound
Apply Studio Sound to every speaker, then generate quiet background music that fits a calm, professional tone under the intro only, for 20 seconds.
You get: Even, clean audio with a short music bed