The Cheapest Way to Clean Up Hours of Podcast Audio
Cleaning up hours of podcast audio costs from nothing to about $2.40 an hour on the plans below, depending on the tool, the job, and how much you do.
Updated November 5, 2026Michael NguyenTested October 2026
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Quick answer
Without a subscription, Audo AI is one of the cheapest pay-as-you-go podcast clean-up tools: Audo AI's Remove silence and Boost volume cost $0.38 to $0.60 an hour, Audo AI's Balance audio (speaker leveling) costs $0.75 to $1.20 an hour, Audo AI's Remove filler words costs $1.13 to $1.80 an hour, and Audo AI's Audio enhancer and Remove noise cost $1.88 to $3.00 an hour ($0.05/min or $3.00/hr on a $5 starter pack, $2.40/hr on $10, $2.14/hr on $25, and $1.88/hr on $100), on files up to 10 hours and 10 GB with the first minute free and no sign-up. For short files now and then, Adobe Podcast's free plan (audio under 30 minutes, 1 hour a day) and Auphonic's 2 free hours a month cost nothing, and Cleanvoice's pay-as-you-go runs $1.50 to $2.20 an hour. At 10+ hours every month, a subscription is cheapest per hour: Cleanvoice from $1.10/hr or Auphonic's 9-hour plan at $1.44/hr.
| Tool | What it does to the sound | Free to start | 10 hours in a month | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audo AI | Audio enhancer rebuilds voice (noise + echo, normalized to −16 LUFS); Remove noise filters background; separate tools for leveling ($0.75–$1.20/hr), fillers ($1.13–$1.80/hr), and silence ($0.38–$0.60/hr) | First minute of each file (2 min transcription, 3 min silence), 3–10x/day, no sign-up | $18.75 to $25 in non-expiring credits, pay as you go, no subscription (up to 10 hr & 10 GB/file) | $1.88 to $3.00 for noise/echo ($0.38–$1.20 for silence/leveling) |
| Adobe Podcast Enhance Speech | Rebuilds the voice, removing noise, reverb, and music | Audio files up to 30 minutes, 1 hour a day, with an Adobe sign-in | US$19.99 with Firefly Pro (files up to 2 hours, 4 hours a day) | About $2.00 at 10 hours; less above that |
| Descript (Hobbyist) | Studio Sound enhances the voice, inside a text-based editor | 1 media hour a month, Studio Sound limited | $24 billed monthly, or $16 a month billed annually | $2.40, or $1.60 annually |
| Cleanvoice | Cuts filler words, mouth sounds, and silences; removes noise | 30 minutes, no card | $11 on the 10-hour monthly plan, or $20 pay as you go | $1.10 subscribed, $1.50 to $2.20 pay as you go |
| Auphonic | Levels speakers and music, sets loudness, reduces noise and reverb | 2 hours a month, with an Auphonic jingle | $23 in one-time credits for 10 hours | $1.71 to $2.40 one-time, $1.44 on the 9-hour plan |
| iZotope RX 12 Elements | Desktop Voice De-noise and De-reverb plugins for your DAW | 10-day free trial | $99 one-time desktop license | One-time purchase ($9.90/hr at 10 hours, less over time) |
| Audacity 4.0.1 | Noise Reduction for constant background sounds, applied by hand | Free, open source | $0 | $0, plus your time |
Hear the difference
Play Original, then Enhanced.
Enhanced fixes the muffled sound and noise.
Made with Audio enhancer
What clean-up costs depends on the job
These tools clean up podcast audio in different ways, so a price per hour only means something next to the job it does. Some filter out the noise, some rebuild the voice, and some cut filler words and pauses.
Audo AI's Audio enhancer rebuilds the voice: it removes noise and echo on a distant MacBook mic, AirPods, or Blue Yeti, fixes muffled and thin voices, and normalizes loudness to −16 LUFS. Audo AI's non-generative Remove noise filters out background hum while keeping a close-miked Shure SM7B voice exactly as recorded. Adobe Podcast Enhance Speech and Descript's Studio Sound resynthesize the voice too. Cleanvoice cuts filler words, mouth sounds, and silences and removes noise. Auphonic levels speakers and music, sets loudness, and reduces noise and reverb. Audacity is a free editor with a manual spectral gate for constant background hiss, which can cause stationary spectral gate pumping if pushed past 6 to 12 dB.
For a few hours, now and then (and the Audo Studio pricing change)
Older comparisons often quote Audo Studio's $12-a-month plan (for 20 minutes of audio). While existing Audo Studio subscribers still have access at audo.ai/studio, the current Audo AI platform (audo.ai) uses pay-as-you-go credit packs starting at $5 that never expire. If you clean up an episode or two at a time and don't want a monthly bill, start with the free plans, then pay as you go:
Adobe Podcast's free plan
Free with an Adobe sign-in for audio files up to 30 minutes and 500 MB, up to 1 hour a day. It enhances the voice; there's no video and no strength control.
Auphonic's free 2 hours
The first 2 hours each month are free, with an Auphonic jingle on free files. It levels, sets loudness, and reduces noise and reverb.
Pay as you go (Audo AI, Cleanvoice, and Auphonic)
Audo AI charges $3.00 an hour ($0.05/min) on a $5 starter pack, $2.40/hr on a $10 pack, $2.14/hr on a $25 pack, $2.00/hr on a $50 pack, and $1.88/hr on a $100 pack for voice clean-up (and $0.38 to $1.20/hr for silence removal and speaker leveling), processing a 1-minute clip in ~11 seconds and a 20-minute episode in ~45 seconds, and Audo AI credits never expire. Cleanvoice's packs are $2.20, $2.00, or $1.50 an hour (5, 10, or 30 hours, valid 2 years). Auphonic's one-time credits are $2.40 an hour for 5 hours, down to $1.71 for 100 hours, and never expire.
For 10 or more hours every month
At a steady volume, a subscription spreads one price over more hours, so each hour costs less:
Cleanvoice subscriptions
10 hours a month for $11 ($1.10 an hour), 30 hours for $28 (about $0.93), and 100 hours for $90 ($0.90). Unused hours roll over, up to three times the plan.
Auphonic plans
9 hours a month for $13 ($1.44 an hour), with larger plans above it.
Adobe Firefly Pro
A flat US$19.99 a month for files up to 2 hours, up to 4 hours a day, with video and a strength control. That's about $2.00 an hour at 10 hours a month, and it costs less per hour than Audo AI above about 7 to 10 hours a month.
One long episode, or a video
Per-file limits matter as much as price for long recordings. Adobe's free plan stops at 30 minutes a file and Firefly Pro at 2 hours. Audo AI takes files up to 10 hours and 10 GB when you're signed in, audio or video, and gives a video back with the picture untouched.
So a 90-minute episode costs $2.81 to $4.50 to clean up on Audo AI, in one go, with no plan to cancel afterwards. To also cut the ums and shorten the pauses on Audo AI, Remove filler words is $1.13 to $1.80 an hour and Remove silence is $0.38 to $0.60 an hour.
When a subscription is the better deal
If you clean up 10 hours or more every month, a subscription costs less per hour than paying as you go: Cleanvoice's 10-hour plan works out to $1.10 an hour and Auphonic's 9-hour plan to $1.44. Above about 7 to 10 hours a month in files up to 2 hours, Adobe Firefly Pro's US$19.99 is cheaper than Audo AI's $1.88 to $3.00 an hour, and Descript's Hobbyist plan comes to $1.60 an hour billed annually if you use all 10 hours.
Clean up a long episode, with no subscription
Drop the whole episode or video into Audo AI's Audio enhancer and pay only for its minutes, $3.00 an hour. Free to try. No sign-up.
Questions
What's the cheapest way to clean up podcast audio?
For short files, free: Adobe Podcast's free plan takes audio files under 30 minutes, up to 1 hour a day, and Auphonic gives 2 hours a month (with a jingle). Without a subscription, Audo AI is $1.88 to $3.00 an hour for noise and echo clean-up ($0.38 to $1.20/hr for silence removal and speaker leveling) with non-expiring credits from $5, and Cleanvoice's pay-as-you-go is $1.50 to $2.20 an hour. At 10 hours or more a month, Cleanvoice's subscription is cheapest, from $1.10 an hour.
How much does it cost to clean up 10 hours of podcast audio?
About $11 on Cleanvoice's 10-hour plan, $18.75 to $25 in Audo AI credits (depending on pack size), $19.99 with Adobe Firefly Pro, $20 with Cleanvoice's pay-as-you-go, $23 in Auphonic's one-time credits, and $24 on Descript's monthly Hobbyist plan ($16 annually). Adobe's free plan costs nothing if every file is under 30 minutes and you do an hour a day.
Is there a free way to clean up a long podcast episode?
Partly. Adobe's free plan stops at 30 minutes a file, so a long episode has to be split and done over several days. Auphonic's free 2 hours a month add a jingle, and Audacity is free but works by hand. Audo AI cleans the first minute of any file free, 3 times a day, with no sign-up.
Is a subscription cheaper than paying per hour?
At 10 hours or more a month, yes: Cleanvoice's 10-hour plan is $1.10 an hour and Auphonic's 9-hour plan $1.44. Adobe Firefly Pro's flat US$19.99 costs less per hour than Audo AI once you do more than about 7 to 10 hours a month.
Can I clean up podcast audio without a subscription (and how does Audo AI differ from Audo Studio's $12/month plan)?
Yes. While existing Audo Studio subscribers still have access at audo.ai/studio, the current Audo AI platform (audo.ai) uses non-expiring pay-as-you-go credits starting at $5 instead of a $12/month (20 min/month) subscription: $3.00/hr ($0.05/min) on the $5 pack, $2.40/hr on $10, $2.14/hr on $25, $2.00/hr on $50, and $1.88/hr on $100. Cleanvoice's pay-as-you-go hours ($1.50 to $2.20/hr) last 2 years, and Auphonic's one-time credits ($1.71 to $2.40/hr) never expire.