Descript vs Runway 2026: Text Editor vs AI Video Generator

Descript vs Runway compared for video editing, AI features, pricing, and use cases. Find the right AI video tool.

Descript

★ 4.5

Edit video and audio by editing text.

Price: Free tier available $24/month
Model: freemium

Key Features

  • ✓ Text-based video and audio editing
  • ✓ Automatic transcription (95%+ accuracy)
  • ✓ Filler word and silence removal
  • ✓ AI voice cloning (Overdub)
  • ✓ Screen recording and webcam capture
Full review → Visit site →

Runway

★ 4.4

AI video generation and creative suite.

Price: Free tier available $12/month
Model: freemium

Key Features

  • ✓ Text-to-video generation (Gen-3 Alpha)
  • ✓ Image-to-video animation
  • ✓ Video-to-video style transfer
  • ✓ AI-powered video editing
  • ✓ Motion brush for selective animation
Full review → Visit site →

Use Case Breakdown

Podcast and Interview Editing

Winner: Descript

Descript's text-based editing is purpose-built for spoken content. Runway doesn't offer this at all.

AI Video Generation

Winner: Runway

Runway's Gen-3 Alpha creates video from text/image prompts. Descript doesn't generate video from scratch.

Visual Effects

Winner: Runway

Runway offers AI-powered green screen, motion tracking, inpainting, and style transfer.

Transcription and Captions

Winner: Descript

Descript's transcription is core to its product and significantly more accurate and functional.

Ease of Use

Winner: Descript

Editing by editing text is far more intuitive than traditional timeline editing or prompt engineering.

Price

Winner: Descript

Descript starts at $24/mo with a free tier. Runway starts at $12/mo but credits get consumed quickly.

Descript vs Runway: The Complete Comparison

These tools solve completely different problems. Descript is for editing existing video/audio content (especially spoken word). Runway is for generating and transforming video with AI. There’s minimal overlap.

The quick take

Choose Descript if you edit podcasts, interviews, or talking-head videos and want the fastest editing workflow. Choose Runway if you need AI video generation, visual effects, or creative video transformation.