Tool profile
Maestra: cost, fit and limits
Maestra is an AI transcription, subtitling and translation platform made by Katara Tech Inc. that sells credits and monthly plans for turning audio and video into transcripts and subtitles in other languages, with API access on higher tiers.
What to know first
Maestra sells a pay-as-you-go credit pack at $12 for 60 credits and monthly plans named Basic, Premium and Business, plus a custom Enterprise tier. One credit covers a minute of transcription or subtitles, and half a minute when subtitles are translated. The pricing page names a free trial without stating its length. The privacy policy states US hosting and about 30 days of retention after the service ends.
Maestra at a glance
| Maker | Katara Tech Inc., United States |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | $12 per 60 credits (pay as you go) |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Captioning and Subtitling Software in 2026, rank 4 of 11 |
| Website | maestra.ai |
Who Maestra is best for
Localization teams
Premium adds OpenAI translation with prompts and Business adds DeepL plus a translation glossary, so teams can tune terminology across languages.
Developers
API access starts on Premium at $79 a month, with Teams and centralized billing, which suits products that send media in programmatically.
Occasional subtitle buyers
The $12 credit pack avoids a subscription; it covers 60 minutes of subtitles or 30 minutes of translated subtitles per pack.
Maestra plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Pay As You Go | $12 per 60-credit pack | 60 minutes of transcription, or 60 minutes of subtitles, or 30 minutes of translated subtitles per pack, with no subscription. |
| Basic | $39 per month (displayed price) | 360 minutes a month of transcription or subtitles, AI summaries, a custom dictionary and subtitle import. A yearly toggle with a 20% saving is shown. |
| Premium | $79 per month (displayed price) | 900 minutes a month of transcription or subtitles, AI rewriting of subtitles, OpenAI translation with prompts, API access and Teams with centralized billing. |
| Business | $159 per month (displayed price) | 1,800 minutes of subtitles, or 900 minutes translated, DeepL translation, a translation glossary and an embeddable player. |
| Enterprise | Custom quote | Custom development, a custom master services agreement and custom usage volumes arranged through sales. These terms are negotiated rather than published, so expect a sales conversation first. |
Checked October 2026.
What Maestra does
- Custom dictionary
- Basic and above let you add a custom dictionary, which helps with product names, acronyms and speaker names that recognition engines often miss. Add recurring names before the first long upload to cut manual fixes.
- AI rewriting of subtitles
- Premium and above can rewrite subtitles with AI, for example to shorten lines that exceed reading speed, though the pages give no detail on controls.
- Choice of translation engine
- Premium translates through OpenAI with prompts, and Business adds DeepL, so the same transcript can be translated with different engines for comparison. Because the engine is a plan setting, compare both outputs on one paragraph before you commit to a tier.
- Translation glossary
- Business includes a glossary that fixes how named terms are translated, useful when brand names must stay unchanged across ten subtitle tracks. Saving the glossary once stops a company name from being translated literally in every subtitle track.
- Embeddable player
- Business adds an embeddable player so finished subtitles can be shown on a web page without a separate video host plugin. Embedding is aimed at marketing pages and course sites that want captions shown next to the video.
How Maestra handles your data
The privacy policy says personal data is used to provide, administer and improve the service, and it contains no statement on training models with customer content. Data is kept while the account is open and typically deleted about 30 days after the service ends, or sooner on request unless the law requires otherwise. The service is hosted and operated in the United States, with development and support in other countries. No security certifications are listed in the policy text, which mentions encryption and PCI-compliant payment providers.
Where Maestra falls short in practice
- Credits are consumed unevenly. A 60-credit pack buys 60 minutes of subtitles but only 30 minutes of translated subtitles, so multilingual work costs double per source minute. Compare cost per finished language, not per source minute, before you pick the Pay As You Go route.
- Developer features sit on Premium. API access and Teams begin at $79 a month, so a hobby project that wants programmatic access cannot start on Basic. Teams that only want a quick integration test still pay the Premium price for the first month.
- Translated volume is lower. Premium lists 900 minutes of subtitles but 450 minutes with translation, which matters when you plan monthly output across several languages. Divide your monthly footage by the number of target languages to see whether Premium is large enough.
Works with
Alternatives to Maestra
Maestra: common questions
How many minutes does a Maestra credit buy?
One credit buys one minute of transcription or one minute of subtitles. Translated subtitles use two credits per source minute, so a 60-credit pack at $12 covers 60 minutes of subtitles or 30 minutes of translated subtitles. Confirm the rate on the pricing page, since credit rules can change.
Does Maestra offer API access?
Yes, from the Premium plan at $79 a month, which also includes Teams with centralized billing. Basic does not list API access. The pages we read do not document rate limits or endpoint details, so ask for the documentation before you design an integration.
Which translation engines does Maestra use?
Premium lists OpenAI translation with prompts, and Business adds DeepL translation and a glossary. Maestra's own transcription engine is not named on the pages we read. Translate one paragraph in your target language through each engine and have a native reader judge the result.
Does Maestra train on my uploaded media?
The privacy policy does not state whether customer content trains models. It says personal data is used to provide, administer and improve the service. If a client requires a no-training clause, ask Maestra to confirm in writing, because silence in a policy is not a promise.
How long does Maestra keep my files?
The policy says data is kept while the account is open and typically deleted about 30 days after the service ends, or sooner on request, unless the law requires otherwise. Export finished subtitles and transcripts before closing the account, and request deletion in writing if you need it sooner.