Interview Signal pay as you go: how the hour packs work
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Interview Signal's pay as you go plan sells live transcription in three hour packs, bought once and never expiring: 1 hour for $9, 5 hours for $29 and 15 hours for $69, as of October 2026. Each pack is added to whatever time the account has left, including the 20 free minutes, and time is counted by the minute only while an interview is being transcribed. The desktop app is the same as on any other plan for one person; at about eleven hours of interviews a month, Solo at $49 a month costs less. This describes version 0.9.10.
How much do the hour packs cost?
| Pack | Price, one time | Per hour | Minutes | The pricing page's guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | $9 | $9.00 | 60 | "Enough for two or three short screens" |
| 5 hours | $29 | $5.80 | 300 | "About ten 30-minute interviews" |
| 15 hours | $69 | $4.60 | 900 | "About thirty 30-minute interviews" |
Nothing renews. The pricing page puts a thirty-minute interview at $2.30 to $4.50 depending on the pack, and notes that a new account buying five hours has five hours and twenty minutes, because the free minutes are kept.
How do I buy hours?
- From the pricing page, without an account. Press "Buy 1 hour", "Buy 5 hours" or "Buy 15 hours" and pay on the checkout page. The email you give there becomes the account, or finds the one you already have. Afterward the sign-in page names it ("Payment received. Your account is on …") and you sign in with that address, in the app or on the website.
- From the web account. Open "Billing" in the web account, choose a pack under "Buy hours" and pay. Back on the page: "Payment received — your hours are added. Refresh in a moment if they are not showing yet."
- From the desktop app. "Buy hours" in the home screen header or in Settings opens that same Billing tab in your browser, never inside the app.
Payment is taken by Stripe, and the account page says "we never see or store a card." Buying a pack moves a Free account to Pay as you go; roles and interviews stay as they were. Only Free and Pay as you go accounts can buy hours: on Solo or Team the account page says "Your plan already includes transcription, so there are no hours to buy."
How are the hours counted?
- By the minute, while live transcription runs. A minute is counted when any audio was transcribed during that minute of clock time.
- Pause capture saves time. Paused stretches send no audio and use none. "Mute me" does not, because the candidate is still being transcribed; see live controls.
- Everything else is free of the count: building a kit, the audio check, reading the scorecard, writing and exporting the submittal.
Example: a 40-minute call with a 5-minute pause uses about 35 minutes.
Where can I see how much time is left?
- The desktop app's home screen: a bar and a line such as "Pay as you go · 4 h 10 min left" (example figures), with a "Buy hours" button.
- Settings: the "Plan" line under "Your account".
- The web account's Overview: "Time left", with the total ever added underneath, and the note "Bought hours never expire, and time is counted only while transcription is running."
- As an interview starts with five minutes or fewer left: "5 minutes left on your hours. Transcription stops when they run out; the transcript so far and the scorecard stay."
What happens when the hours run out?
With nothing left, "Start interview" checks the count with the server once more, in case you have just bought hours, and then says: "Your hours are used up, so this interview would not be transcribed. Buy more hours to keep going — every role and interview you have stays." If it happens mid-call, the banner reads "Your hours are used up. Buy more hours to keep transcribing." beside a "Buy hours" button. The transcript so far stays, the interview still gets its scorecard and submittal, and new hours apply from the next interview. The details, which are the same as for the free minutes, are in free minutes and plans.
Pay as you go or Solo?
Arithmetic at the 15-hour pack's $4.60 an hour, against Solo at $49 a month. Packs are bought whole, so real spending comes in $69 steps.
| Interview hours a month (example) | At $4.60 an hour | Solo, monthly |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $9.20 | $49 |
| 5 | $23.00 | $49 |
| 10 | $46.00 | $49 |
| 11 | $50.60 | $49 |
| 15 | $69.00 | $49 |
From about eleven hours a month, Solo costs less, which is the crossover the pricing page gives. Moving up is "Upgrade to Solo" under Billing. Hours you bought stay on the account, and if Solo ends later the account returns to pay as you go with what was left.
Can I get a refund on hours?
The 30-day guarantee is for Solo and Team, which renew; the pricing page says "Hour packs are bought once and are not part of it". For a question about a charge, write to [email protected] from the address on the account. If a pack is refunded, its minutes are removed from the account and the account itself stays open. Receipts are under "Receipts and cards" on the Billing tab, through "Open the billing portal".
What pay as you go does not include
- Team features: no shared question library, admins, invitations, panels or coaching report across recruiters. Pay as you go is one person, one seat.
- The same limits as every plan: a desktop app for Windows and macOS only, no ATS integration, and phone screens must run through the computer.
For how Interview Signal's prices compare with other tools, see AI interview note taker pricing and the best AI note taker for hiring managers.
Questions people ask
Do Interview Signal hours expire?
No. Hour packs are bought once and never expire, as of October 2026. They are added to whatever time the account has left, including the 20 free minutes every account starts with, and they stay on the account if you later subscribe to Solo.
How much does Interview Signal cost per interview on pay as you go?
According to the Interview Signal pricing page, a thirty-minute interview costs $2.30 to $4.50 on pay as you go, depending on the pack: hours cost $9 each in the 1-hour pack, $5.80 in the 5-hour pack and $4.60 in the 15-hour pack.
Does pausing an interview save my Interview Signal hours?
Yes. Time is counted by the minute only while live transcription is running, and Pause capture stops all audio, so paused minutes are not counted. Mute me does not save time, because the candidate is still being transcribed.
When is Solo cheaper than pay as you go in Interview Signal?
At about eleven hours of interviews a month or more, according to the pricing page. Solo is $49 a month with nothing counted, while the cheapest hours, in the 15-hour pack, are $4.60 each, so ten hours cost $46 and eleven cost $50.60.
What happens to my unused Interview Signal hours if I subscribe to Solo?
They stay on the account. Solo does not count minutes, and if the Solo subscription later ends, the account goes back to pay as you go with the hours that were left.