Is Cleanvoice worth it in 2026?
What an hour of cleanup costs on pay-as-you-go and subscription plans, which one a monthly or weekly show should buy, and where automatic edits go wrong.
The quick answer
Cleanvoice is worth paying for if filler words, mouth sounds and dead air cost you an hour or more of editing per episode: it charges by audio length, from $2.20 an hour on the smallest pay-as-you-go pack down to $0.75 an hour on the largest yearly plan. For most one-hour weekly shows, two 30-hour pay-as-you-go packs ($90, valid two years) beat a subscription. Listen to every edit before publishing; automatic cuts can sound choppy.
Short answer: Cleanvoice is worth paying for to remove filler words and noise if you edit spoken audio regularly, and it is cheap per episode: $11 buys 5 hours of processing on pay-as-you-go, and $11 a month buys 10 hours on a subscription, per Cleanvoice’s pricing page as of October 29, 2026. The real question is which of its two billing models fits your show.
Cleanvoice is an upload-and-download tool. You give it an audio or video file, and it removes filler words (um, uh), stutters, mouth sounds and breaths, long silences and background noise, then hands back a cleaned file or a timeline export for your editor. It also produces a transcript and summary. Every plan includes every feature; you only choose how many hours of audio to buy.
Cleanvoice prices in US dollars, as of October 29, 2026
Prices exclude VAT or sales tax. Pay-as-you-go credits last two years. Subscription credits roll over up to three times the monthly allowance.
| Feature | Hours | Price | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 30 minutes | $0, no card | $0 |
| Pay-as-you-go | 5 | $11 once | $2.20 |
| Pay-as-you-go | 10 | $20 once | $2.00 |
| Pay-as-you-go | 30 | $45 once | $1.50 |
| Subscription, monthly | 10 a month | $11/month | $1.10 |
| Subscription, monthly | 30 a month | $28/month | $0.93 |
| Subscription, monthly | 100 a month | $90/month | $0.90 |
| Subscription, yearly | 10 a month | $110/year | $0.92 |
| Subscription, yearly | 30 a month | $300/year | $0.83 |
| Subscription, yearly | 100 a month | $900/year | $0.75 |
What you get
- ✓Cheap per episode: $0.75 to $2.20 an hour of audio, depending on plan.
- ✓Credits that last: pay-as-you-go hours stay valid for two years.
- ✓Every feature on every plan: fillers, mouth sounds, silences, noise, transcript and summary.
- ✓Works with your editor: timeline export lets you review cuts in your own software.
- ✓Stable pricing: unchanged since mid-2024 apart from a $2 cut on the 30-hour monthly plan.
The trade-offs
- ✕Automatic cuts can sound choppy: a 2021 test found clipped words around removed fillers.
- ✕Not an editor: you still need separate software to assemble and publish.
- ✕Rollover is capped: subscription credits bank only up to three times the monthly allowance.
- ✕Files deleted after 7 days: download results promptly.
- ✕Prices exclude tax: VAT or sales tax may be added at checkout.
Worth it if…
- →A podcaster who edits in another tool and loses an hour or more per episode to ums, breaths and pauses.
- →A narrator or voiceover artist cleaning breaths and mouth sounds from long reads.
- →A production team processing 30 or more hours a month, on a yearly subscription.
Skip it if…
- →You already pay for Descript and its cleanup is good enough for your show.
- →You want a scripted, tightly paced edit; automatic filler removal still needs a human pass.
- →You record once in a while; the 30-minute free trial and a $11 pack may be all you need.
How has Cleanvoice’s price changed?
Barely, and the one recent move was down. The US-dollar plan data in the July 21, 2024 snapshot lists the same pay-as-you-go packs ($11, $20, $45) and the same 10-hour and 100-hour subscriptions ($11 and $90 a month) as today. The 30-hour monthly subscription was $30 in that snapshot and still $30 on September 15, 2026; by October 15, 2026 it was $28. Yearly prices did not change.
The product has a longer public history than most AI audio tools. Its founder launched it on Hacker News in November 2021, where the post drew 221 points and 117 comments, and described building it to edit his own stutters and filler words.
Pay-as-you-go or subscription? The podcast math
Cleanvoice bills by the length of each file, rounded up to the next minute with a 1-minute minimum: a 10-minute 20-second file costs 11 minutes. Failed uploads are not charged, and multitrack uploads currently cost no extra, though the FAQ says that will change.
Monthly show, one 60-minute episode: that is 12 hours a year. A 10-hour pack ($20) plus a 5-hour pack ($11) covers 15 hours for $31, and those credits stay valid for two years. The cheapest subscription is $110 a year billed yearly. Pay-as-you-go wins by about $79 in the first year (our arithmetic).
Weekly show, one 60-minute episode: about 52 hours a year. Two 30-hour pay-as-you-go packs cost $90 for 60 hours, valid two years. The 10-hour yearly subscription costs $110 and gives 120 hours, but you can only bank up to 30 hours of rollover, so most of the extra hours expire. For one weekly hour, pay-as-you-go is cheaper (our arithmetic).
Several shows or a production team, 30 hours a month: now the subscription wins. The yearly 30-hour plan is $300, or $0.83 an hour, against $1.50 an hour on the largest pay-as-you-go pack. If you process raw multitrack interviews before cutting them down, count the raw length, not the published one.
What do users say about Cleanvoice?
The fullest independent test is old but instructive. In a June 2021 review on The Podcast Host, an audio editor ran English and German test files through Cleanvoice and found that it clipped the ends or beginnings of real words around removed fillers, while catching most “ah” fillers in the German test; of the English edit, the reviewer wrote: “This created unnatural and choppy sentences.” The tool has had years of updates since, so treat that as the failure mode to listen for, not a current score.
The same concern surfaced in the 2021 Hacker News thread, where a commenter found the pauses left after removed fillers slightly too long; the founder replied that the setting was not adjustable then. Today’s timeline export, which lets you review edits inside your own editor, is the practical answer: let Cleanvoice mark the cuts and keep the final call yourself.
Cleanvoice or Descript?
Descript Hobbyist is $16 a person a month billed annually, or $24 monthly, with 10 media hours a month, and you get a full text-based audio and video editor with it. Cleanvoice’s 10-hour yearly plan is $110 a year against $192 for Descript Hobbyist billed annually (our arithmetic), but Cleanvoice does not replace an editor: you still assemble, trim and publish elsewhere.
Pick Cleanvoice if you already edit in Audition, Hindenburg, Reaper or a video editor and only want the tedious cleanup automated. Pick Descript if you want one tool for editing by transcript plus cleanup. Auphonic is worth a look for leveling and noise reduction: it offers 2 hours a month free, with a jingle added to free productions.
Files are stored for 7 days and then deleted permanently, so download cleaned audio promptly. Prices are shown without VAT or sales tax, and Cleanvoice sells through Paddle, which takes cards, PayPal and Apple Pay.
Academy data: of the 5 podcast prompt packs in our library, none names Cleanvoice. The Claude podcast show notes prompts (30 prompts) cover the step after cleanup, turning the transcript into notes and titles.
The verdict
Cleanvoice is worth it for anyone who edits spoken audio regularly and already has an editor they like: at $1.50 an hour on a 30-hour pack, cleaning a weekly one-hour show costs under $2 an episode. Buy pay-as-you-go for one or two shows a month, and switch to the yearly subscription once you process around 30 hours a month.
It is not a substitute for listening. Spot-check every edit, especially around removed fillers. What would change the verdict: a subscription that keeps all unused hours, or evidence that automatic cuts no longer clip words on accented or fast speech.
Better alternatives?
If it is not the right fit, these are worth a look.
Descript
Text-based audio and video editor; Hobbyist $16 a month billed annually with 10 media hours.
Riverside
Records remote interviews and includes editing tools.
Krisp
Removes noise live during calls and recordings, before the edit.
Auphonic
Audio leveling and noise reduction with 2 free hours a month.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Cleanvoice cost in 2026?▾
As of October 29, 2026, pay-as-you-go is $11 for 5 hours, $20 for 10 or $45 for 30. Subscriptions are $11, $28 or $90 a month for 10, 30 or 100 hours, or $110, $300 or $900 a year.
Is there a free version of Cleanvoice?▾
There is a free trial of 30 minutes of processed audio, and the pricing page says it needs no card. After that you buy hours, either as a one-off pack or a subscription.
Do Cleanvoice credits expire?▾
Pay-as-you-go credits are valid for two years. Subscription credits roll over month to month up to three times your monthly allowance, and if you cancel they can be used until the end of the billing period.
How does Cleanvoice bill audio length?▾
By file duration, rounded up to the next minute with a 1-minute minimum, so a 10-minute 20-second file uses 11 minutes. Failed uploads are not charged, and multitrack files currently cost no extra.
Is Cleanvoice better than Descript?▾
It is cheaper for cleanup alone, from $0.75 an hour, but Descript includes a full editor. Use Cleanvoice if you already edit elsewhere; use Descript if you want editing and cleanup in one tool.