Pay as you go: subtitle timing without a subscription
By Yana Li · 2026年7月20日 · 6 min read
Buy one, two, or three 60-minute subtitle timing packs in a single checkout. No auto-renewal, no expiry, and the same quality checks a plan gets.
Most subtitle work is not monthly. You finish a course module, deliver a client batch, publish three episodes in a row, and then nothing for weeks. A recurring fee keeps billing you through the quiet stretch anyway, which is why so many people end up back on free auto-captions that quietly rewrite their wording.
TimedSubs now sells timing minutes outright. You buy exactly the capacity a batch needs, use it whenever the next batch arrives, and never pay for an idle month.
What you can buy
Every account starts with a one-time allowance of 15 free Timing Minutes, enough to run a real episode through the full script to SRT workflow end to end. After that, you can buy one, two, or three 60-minute packs in a single checkout:
- 60 minutes for $6
- 120 minutes for $12
- 180 minutes for $18
There is no auto-renewal and no expiry. Minutes stay in your workspace until you use them, whether that takes a week or six months. For scale: a $6 pack covers roughly three 20-minute episodes.
How minutes are counted
Each Script + Audio file is measured from the voiceover and rounded up to the next minute. A 12 minute 10 second episode costs 13 minutes. A 4 minute 05 second clip costs 5.
Nothing is deducted for a file that fails before producing a result. If a job breaks partway, the minutes stay in your balance rather than disappearing into a failed attempt. That rule exists because pay-as-you-go only works if you can trust the meter.
Your wording survives the process
This is the part that separates TimedSubs from transcription-first tools, and it applies to purchased minutes exactly as it does to any plan.
You upload the script you already approved and the narration that was recorded from it. The system uses the audio only to find where each line lands in time. Your text is never paraphrased, trimmed, or "improved": if the audio disagrees with the script, the disagreement is flagged for you to decide, instead of being silently overwritten. If you have ever had auto-captions change a product name, a number, or a carefully worded claim, the auto captions accuracy guide explains why that happens and why a script-first workflow avoids it by design.
Under the hood this is forced alignment: the transcript is treated as the source of truth and only the timing is derived from the audio. It is the difference between "close to what I wrote" and "exactly what I wrote, on time."
Checked before you download, not after you publish
Every job, purchased or subscribed, goes through the same review before export: reading speed, line length, overlapping subtitles, invalid durations, and timing that runs past the end of the audio. Problems are shown to you while they are still cheap to fix, instead of surfacing as a viewer comment after publishing.
Two details worth knowing. First, a subtitle file can pass every technical validation and still be uncomfortable to read; the caption readability check guide covers the failure modes a validator cannot see. Second, long lines are often a segmentation problem rather than a writing problem, and the line break rewrap guide shows which of those can be fixed mechanically. If you just want to audit an existing file first, the free subtitle checker runs entirely in your browser, no account needed.
Files that drop straight into your workflow
Jobs paid with purchased minutes are eligible for the full export set: SRT, VTT, SBV, ASS, timecoded TXT, JSON, or a ZIP of everything. Where the files go next is documented per platform:
- Uploading to YouTube Studio: the YouTube SRT workflow
- Cutting in CapCut or Jianying: the CapCut SRT workflow
- Publishing on Bilibili: the Bilibili subtitle workflow
- Starting from a plain text file: creating an SRT from text
Who pay as you go actually fits
- Course and training producers who ship a module every few weeks. Modules are long, schedules are lumpy, and wording accuracy is non-negotiable because the script was reviewed before recording.
- Freelancers and small studios billing subtitle delivery per project. A pack is a direct cost you can price into the invoice; an idle-month subscription eats the margin.
- Scripted YouTube channels with irregular upload rhythms, especially long-form episodes where timing drift compounds toward the back half.
- Anyone evaluating the workflow who wants to push a real batch through before committing to anything recurring.
When a subscription is genuinely cheaper
Pay as you go is not the cheapest route for steady volume, and it does not try to be.
| Your situation | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Irregular batches, unpredictable months | Packs: $6 per 60 minutes, no expiry |
| Four or more packs in a month | A plan includes more capacity for less |
| You need subtitles in other languages | Plans include source-locked subtitle translation, which keeps every timestamp fixed while translating the text |
| Recurring team delivery, API access | Studio and Agency plans |
The honest rule of thumb: buy packs while your volume is unpredictable, and switch to a plan once you can predict it. The pricing page shows both side by side.
See a real result before paying anything
You do not have to take any of this on faith. The sample project is a real 17-minute Script + Audio result you can inspect without signing up: the timing, the review findings, and the exported file all come from an actual run, not a marketing mockup.
When you are ready, the 15 free Timing Minutes run your own script and narration through the identical audio-script alignment pipeline. And the free browser tools stay free regardless: checking, converting, shifting, merging, and splitting subtitle files all happen locally in your browser, and your files never leave your machine.
Common questions
Do purchased minutes expire? No. They stay in your workspace until used. There is no monthly reset and nothing to cancel.
What happens if a job fails? Nothing is deducted. Minutes are only consumed by jobs that produce a result.
Which export formats do purchased minutes unlock? The full set where the export passes the pre-download checks: SRT, VTT, SBV, ASS, timecoded TXT, JSON, and ZIP.
Do minutes cover translation? No. Source-locked subtitle translation, API access, and team features are subscription capabilities. Purchased minutes cover timing and eligible exports.
Can I buy again later? Yes, whenever the next batch shows up. Each checkout carries one, two, or three packs; if you find yourself doing that every month, a plan will cost less.
If there is a finished script and a matching voiceover sitting in your project folder right now, that is the whole prerequisite. Start with the free minutes and let the first real result make the argument.
announcement · pricing