Rev Review: Is It a Good Way to Make Extra Money? - Vital Dollar (2023)

If you’re looking for a side hustle, you may have considered transcription. However, it is crucial that you choose a legitimate platform that will pay you for your time and effort. Here we’ll delve into Rev to help you to determine if it would be a good option for you.

A Brief Overview

Rev has been around since 2009. This company provides translation, captioning, and transcription services to a variety of companies and industries, including Comcast and PBS. Rev accomplishes this with both an in house team and work from remote freelancers.

The company has won a number of awards, including the Editor’s Choice Award from PC Mag. It has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Tech Crunch.

Rev has four types of positions available for freelancers, but for the purposes of this article, we will be concentrating on the transcriptionist role.

How Rev Works

Rev works in a very similar way to other online transcription jobs. The client uploads a video or audio file to Rev. These files are then shared with you for transcribing. So, you’ll essentially need to sit at your computer and type out the things you hear on the file.

This can be simple. But, be aware that you may need to deal with poor audio quality, multiple voices, or difficult-to-understand accents.

Once your application to become a Rev transcriptionist is accepted, you’ll have access to log into the site and see the available transcription jobs. There are usually hundreds of jobs on the platform. You can choose the jobs you are interested in, working as little or as much as you like.

The Job Requirements

Rev has very basic requirements for its transcriptionists. This makes it a great choice for beginners. Although it doesn’t offer the highest rates in the marketplace, you don’t need to demonstrate previous experience to have your application accepted.

The requirements include:

• Strong English language skills
• The ability to accurately transcribe audio
• Decent grammar skills
• A laptop or desktop computer with a reliable internet connection.

Rev is open to transcriptionists in the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, providing you meet the English language requirement. The company also provides guidelines to help ensure that your transcription sample meets the quality standards to help your application pass.

Please see our article on transcription equipment for more details on the items that will help you in your work.

How Much Can You Earn?

While Rev is quite beginner-friendly, the pay rates do reflect this. You can earn between $0.24 to $0.90 per audio minute. Experienced transcriptionists may be able to transcribe 20 minutes of audio in one hour. This works out to approximately $8 to $15 per hour for an experienced worker. However, those with limited experience may find that it takes up to 8 minutes to transcribe one audio minute. This will cut your rate significantly. At this level, you could only be earning $4 to $7.50 per hour.

This is low, but you can work from the comfort of your own home with flexible hours. Additionally, as you gain confidence and improve your speed, you will receive an increase in pay.

Rev claims that, on average, its transcriptionists earn $240 per month. The top earners on the platform are making as much as $1,500 per month. All payments are made via PayPal.

There are a number of similar platforms that offer flexible transcription work. However, your income will be limited with any of these platforms. If you want to increase your earning potential, working as a freelance transcriptionist could be a better option for you. The free mini course from Transcribe Anywhere will help you to get started.

Rev Reputation

Overall, Rev has a solid reputation within the online community. Of course, there are complaints about the low pay. But, Rev is quite upfront about its rates. Additionally, as you get quicker and more efficient with your transcription, there is the potential to earn $15 per hour, which is a decent rate for a work from home job requiring no formal qualifications.

Rev also has a great reputation with clients. The company has an Excellent rating on Trustpilot, with customers praising the turnaround time, accuracy, and service. This should provide potential freelancers with confidence about the legitimacy of the platform.

Getting Started

Before you can register as a freelance transcriptionist for Rev, you’ll need to complete the application process. This has two parts. The first is a quick grammar quiz. This is designed to confirm your confidence with the English language. There are 20 basic questions, which cover sentence structure, punctuation, and word choice. This quiz can take up to 15 minutes, and you can miss a couple of questions. But, to become a Rev transcriptionist, you need to answer the majority of the questions correctly.

The second part of the application is a three-minute transcription sample. Rev will provide you with a short audio file, and you’ll need to transcribe it into the online editor. The Rev team will check that your transcription sample will meet its customer standards.

The entire application process should take less than 30 minutes. Once you submit your application, it will be reviewed. If you pass this quality check, you will receive an email containing details of how to register your Rev account and start claiming transcription tasks.

The Potential Drawbacks

As with every company or platform, you can’t expect perfection. So, it is important to be aware of the potential drawbacks before you make a final decision about whether Rev is right for you. The possible drawbacks of Rev include:

• Complaints About Unfair Grading: There are some complaints that the graders checking work may be unfair or even unrealistic. It is important that your work meets the company standards to not only get paid, but also enjoy continued work. So, the complaints about unfair grading is a worry.
• Inconsistent Work: As with most transcription platforms, the work on Rev is not consistent. So, there may be occasions when you log in and find there is no available work. However, this is a common issue, and you may find that you get into a rhythm of checking the site at certain times of the day or week to get the best pick of the work.
• Pay is Determined By Your Accuracy and Speed: Freelance transcription rarely offers a set base rate of pay. Instead, the pay is based on audio minutes. So, ultimately your pay will be determined by your accuracy and speed. In the beginning, you may find the rates frustratingly low. But, as you get more efficient and increase your speed, you will earn more.

Conclusion

Rev is certainly a legit platform offering freelance work from home jobs. The great thing about the platform is that you don’t need to demonstrate previous transcription experience to sign up. However, the pay is low. While there is the potential to earn $15 per hour, to reach this rate, you will need to be able to accurately transcribe one audio minute in four minutes or less. The truth is, there are other platforms that pay better (see our recommendations here).

Rev does not require you to commit to a certain number of hours per day or week. This flexibility allows you to work as much or as little as you like. If you want a full-time income, you’re not likely to accomplish this with Rev alone. But, it is possible to use Rev to get transcription experience and then sign up for additional platforms to boost your earnings. So, if you’re thinking about trying transcription as your next side hustle, Rev is worth consideration, as long as you’re ok with the drawbacks.