The short answer. You may need none: the Standard mode is free and unlimited in the iPhone and Android apps, free in the Mac app, and free in the Chrome and Edge extension (30 minutes a day without an account, unlimited with a free one). Minutes are for the Pro voices. Most members use well under their 300 minutes of Pro Live a month. If you want Pro Live for more than about two hours a month, Pro is cheaper than packs. For one film or one lecture, buy a pack. Here is the arithmetic, so you can decide for your own week.
The unit: minutes of energy
Everything in DubMog is counted in minutes of energy. On iPhone the same unit is called a Token: 1 Token = 1 minute of energy. What each voice costs per minute of audio:
| Voice | Energy per minute | What 600 minutes of energy buys | What a 180-minute pack buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (the device’s own voice) | 0 | unlimited | — |
| Pro Cinematic (natural voice for Dub a Video and Dub a File, phones) | 1 | 600 minutes | 180 minutes |
| Pro Live (real-time, 80+ languages) from a pack | 3 | 200 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Pro Live from Pro’s monthly allowance (the member rate) | 2 | 300 minutes | — |
Pro Live costs more because it runs the fastest engine: a cloud model listens and speaks back while the video plays. Live counts the clock while audio is playing: it renews in 60-second steps while the tab has sound, and a tab that goes quiet stops the buying after about 30 seconds, so a paused video doesn’t drain you. On iPhone, Dub Any App ends the session after about 10 seconds of silence for the same reason.
Two exceptions to know: the Windows app has no Standard mode, so it always uses minutes (or the free trial); and the Web Studio in your browser charges Pro Live at 3 even for Pro members, so Pro’s 600 is 200 minutes of Live there.
What each purchase buys
| Purchase | Price | Energy | Pro Live minutes | Pro Cinematic minutes | Cost per Pro Live minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro Monthly | $9.99 a month | 600 a month | 300 (member rate) | 600 | 3.3¢ |
| Pro Yearly | $79.99 a year | 600 a month | 300 a month | 600 | 2.2¢ |
| 60-minute pack | $1.99 | 60, never expires | 20 | 60 | 10¢ |
| 180-minute pack | $4.99 | 180, never expires | 60 | 180 | 8.3¢ |
| 300 Tokens (iPhone) | $6.99 | 300, never expires | 100 | 300 | 7¢ |
| DubMog Business | $19.99 per seat a month | 800 a month per seat | 400 | 800 | 5¢, with team billing |
The rules behind the table:
- Pro’s allowance resets at the start of each billing month and does not carry over. Use it or lose it.
- Packs never expire and stack on top of your balance. They are spent only after the monthly allowance is gone, so a Pro member’s packs are a reserve, not a leak.
- One balance, everywhere. Minutes bought on the web, in the app or in the extension work in all of them, as long as you sign in the same way (Apple, Google and email are separate accounts even with the same address).
- Prices are in US dollars; at checkout you pay in your local currency where available.
Or get Pro in the app: App Store · Google Play.
Three people, three answers
One film a month, in Pro Live. A 90-minute film is 270 energy at the pack rate. On iPhone, the 300-Token pack ($6.99) covers it with 30 to spare. Elsewhere, the packs it takes (180 + 60 + 60, $8.97) cost about the same as one month of Pro ($9.99), which gives you 300 minutes of Live instead of 100. So: under an hour a month, a pack; around 90 minutes, the 300-Token pack on iPhone or one month of Pro; more than that, Pro.
A weekly class, in Pro Live. One hour a week is four hours a month, 240 minutes of Live. On Pro that is 480 of your 600, with 120 energy left for Dub a File. With packs it would be 720 energy, four 180-minute packs, $19.96. Pro Monthly, no contest; Pro Yearly if the class runs all year.
A course sprint: two 45-minute lectures a day for two weeks. That is 21 hours, 1,260 minutes of Live, four times what Pro covers. Pro Live for everything, every day, is where DubMog gets expensive, and it isn’t how most people use it. The way that works: Standard, which is free, for the bulk of the lectures, and Live for the ones where the natural voice matters. If you do want Live for all of it, Pro plus packs: 300 from Pro, then 960 more minutes of Live is sixteen 180-minute packs, about $80.
And two more, quickly. Dub a File once a week (a 30-minute video): 120 energy a month at the Cinematic rate, a fifth of Pro’s allowance, or one 180-minute pack ($4.99) for six weeks of it. A team of five who each dub about two hours of Live a month: a Business seat each ($19.99) covers 400 minutes of Live per person, on one invoice. DubMog Business →
The member rate, in one paragraph
Since October 9, a Pro member’s monthly minutes stream Pro Live at 2 energy per minute instead of 3. That is why Pro’s 600 minutes are 300 minutes of Live rather than 200: 50% more. The member rate applies in the iPhone and Android apps, the Chrome and Edge extension, DubMog for Windows and DubMog for Mac; the Web Studio stays at 3. Packs stay at 3 everywhere, which is one more reason to let Pro’s allowance go first.
How to find out for free, before you buy
- Try Standard. If the device voice is fine for what you watch, you are done, at $0. What the free mode includes →
- Hear Pro Live for free. In the extension and on the Mac, a free taste a few times a day. On iPhone and Android, a new account gets 10 minutes of Pro to try. On Windows, a free trial of Pro Live with no sign-in.
- Read the meter. The extension’s panel shows “≈ N min live” next to your balance, and the account card shows your energy and the Live minutes it buys. The phone apps show the same on the account page, and so does the web dashboard. When you are getting low, the panel says so and offers the pack or Pro; nothing is charged until you choose.
- Then buy for your real week, not your worst week. Pro for a habit, a pack for an occasion. Packs never expire, so a pack bought “just in case” is never wasted.
Quick answers
Do minutes expire?
Pack minutes never expire. Pro’s monthly allowance resets at the start of each billing month and does not carry over.
What happens when my Pro allowance runs out mid-video?
If you have a pack, it takes over without a gap. If not, the dub stops and the panel offers a top-up; the video itself keeps playing.
If I cancel Pro, do I lose my packs?
No. Packs belong to your account and stay until you use them.
What are Tokens?
The iPhone’s name for minutes of energy. 1 Token = 1 minute of energy, so “60 Pro Tokens” is the same 60-minute pack.
Why does Pro Live cost 3 energy a minute?
It runs the fastest engine: a cloud model that listens, translates and speaks while the video plays, in 80+ languages. Pro Cinematic voices a file at 1 because it has the whole file to work with. Standard uses your device’s own voice and costs nothing.
Is there a student plan?
No. Standard is free and unlimited with a free account, and packs start at $1.99.
Can I buy on the web and use it in the app?
Yes. Same account, one balance; a web purchase shows up in the app within seconds.
Does a silent or protected tab use my minutes?
The free taste doesn’t start until the tab makes sound, and a paid Live session stops buying time after about 30 seconds of silence.
Get DubMog
Start free. Go Pro when the meter says so. Taking a course? How to dub Udemy and Coursera courses →