How to cancel a Descript subscription and keep your work

31 October 20265 min read

To cancel Descript, open App Settings with Command-comma (Control-comma on Windows), choose the Drive, go to the Plan tab, click Change plan, choose Downgrade to Free, give a reason and click Cancel subscription. You keep your paid plan until the end of the billing cycle, then drop to the free plan with your projects still there. Download the originals you want first.

That is the short answer. The rest of this post covers the steps in full, what cancelling does and does not do to your work, refunds, and the difference between cancelling and deleting your account. Every step and rule is from Descript's own help centre, read on 31 October 2026; if Descript has changed a menu since, its cancellation article wins.

Before you cancel: take your work out

Cancelling does not delete anything, but it does move you to Descript's free plan, which exports at no more than 720p and allows 60 media minutes a month. So take what you want while the paid plan is still running:

The original recordings, at the quality they were recorded: in each project, open the Project panel, go to Files, and choose Download from the ... menu beside each file.
Finished videos, exported as files rather than Descript web links: Export, the Video tab, and Local export as the destination.
Transcripts and subtitles, if you want them, from the same Export window.

Our guide to switching from Descript walks through each of those in detail, including how to reuse a transcript you corrected in Descript.

How to cancel Descript, step by step

Log in at web.descript.com or open the Descript desktop app.
Open App Settings with Command-comma on a Mac or Control-comma on Windows.
If you own more than one Drive, pick the one whose plan you are cancelling from the Drive picker in the sidebar.
Go to the Plan tab and click Change plan.
Choose Downgrade to Free.
Select a reason for cancelling - Descript requires one - and click Cancel subscription.
Follow the prompts until you see the cancellation confirmation.

Descript's help says plainly that "Canceling your subscription is the same as downgrading to the Free plan". If what you want is a smaller bill rather than no bill, choose a cheaper paid plan at step 5 instead; that change also takes effect at the end of the billing cycle.

If you change your mind before the cycle ends, the same Plan tab lets you cancel the pending change.

What happens after you cancel

According to Descript's help centre:

You keep your plan until the end of the billing cycle. After that, the Drive switches to the free plan.
Your projects stay. Descript says your existing projects "will remain accessible" - on the free plan's terms, which means 720p exports and 60 media minutes a month.
Top-up balances are kept but frozen. Media minutes or AI credits you bought as top-ups are preserved, but you cannot use them on the free plan, and they still expire 12 months after purchase.

Refunds

Descript's refund policy is short:

Plans: a refund is available within 48 hours of the invoice date.
Editor seats: within 7 days of the invoice date.
Top-ups: not refundable.
No prorating: Descript does not refund unused time in a billing cycle.

So if an annual plan renewed yesterday, contact Descript now; if it renewed last week, cancelling stops the next renewal but does not return this one.

Cancelling is not deleting

Deleting your Descript account is a separate step, under Settings > Profile > Delete account, and its help article calls it irreversible. It cancels any active plan immediately, forfeits the unused time, does not trigger a refund, and removes your projects, media, transcripts and invoices - so download any receipts you need first. If you might want anything in the account later, cancel and download first, and delete only once you are sure.

If the meter is why you are leaving

Most people who search for this are not leaving video editing; they are leaving a bill. Descript's paid plans meter media minutes and AI credits, and the Descript pricing breakdown explains how those run out. If a cheaper Descript is all you need, our guide to Descript discounts lists every real one.

We make Rooster, a Mac video editor built around the same loop - record, get a transcript, cut by deleting words, caption and export - with all of it running on your Mac, so there are no media minutes or AI credits to meter. We are an interested party, and Rooster is not for everyone: it is Mac-only, and it does not record remote guests or share projects with a team. If you work alone on a Mac, there is a free trial of the whole application on the pricing page, and Rooster vs Descript sets the two side by side. For everything else, the best Descript alternatives ranks the field by the job you need done.

Frequently asked questions

Can I cancel Descript at any time?

Yes. You can cancel from the Plan tab of App Settings whenever you like, and you keep the paid plan until the end of the billing cycle you have already paid for.

Do I lose my projects if I cancel Descript?

No. Descript says existing projects remain accessible after you drop to the free plan. What changes is what you can do with them: the free plan exports at no more than 720p and allows 60 media minutes a month. Deleting your account, by contrast, removes everything.

Does Descript refund annual plans?

Only within 48 hours of the invoice date, the same window as monthly plans, and Descript does not prorate refunds for unused time.

Can I pause a Descript subscription?

Descript's help centre describes cancelling and downgrading, and no pause. The nearest thing is downgrading to the free plan and upgrading again later, since your projects stay in the account.

What happens to my unused AI credits?

Credits that come with a plan do not roll over. Top-up credits and minutes you bought separately are kept after you cancel but cannot be used on the free plan, and they expire 12 months after purchase.

The steps, the effects of cancelling, the refund policy and the account deletion rules were read from Descript's help centre on 31 October 2026. The export steps were checked against Descript's help pages on 30 October 2026 for our switching guide.