Ok so I went through this last year and literally obsessed over finding cheap stuff!! Honestly, after years on this forum, I finally found that CapCut Desktop is basically a lifesaver for fast captions and it's free. I started using the Descript Free Plan for silence removal even tho it has limits. Plus, for audio, Adobe Podcast Enhance is actually AMAZING for quick cleanups. It's basically what I still go with...

Building on the earlier suggestion, I totally agree that you gotta be smart with your cash early on! I spent a fortune on monthly subscriptions when I first started out and it was such a waste of money tbh. I was so frustrated until I overhauled my entire workflow to focus on zero-cost alternatives and I absolutely love it now!

• I shifted to a local setup that runs AI scripts on my own computer instead of payin for cloud processing, which is amazing for privacy too.
• My current process is way faster because I stopped lookin for one big tool and just used separate free utilities for each task... it works fantastic tho.
• I found that most of the pro features are actually available for free if you look for the open-source community versions. Seriously, my current setup handles silences and audio cleanup just as well as the paid ones I used to use. Its all about findin those hidden gems that dont ask for a credit card every month! Totally worth the initial setup time.

sooo i totally get where youre coming from, manual editing is actually such a grind... I mean, I've been doing this for a while and I still hate cutting silences manually lol. For your situation, I've been really satisfied with some of the free directions you can take without needing a massive subscription. Honestly, here is what I recommend:

• Go with CapCut for the captions, it is highkey the easiest for beginners and the AI is REALLY accurate.
• Check out the free web tools from Adobe for audio enhancement, they basically save my life when I record in a noisy room.
• Look into DaVinci Resolve if you want a professional feel, even the free version is incredible. Just a heads up tho, definitely be cautious with those random free AI sites you find on Google... sometimes the privacy settings are kinda sketchy, right? But yeah, those brands worked well for me! What are you filming on?

Jumping in because I have been tracking the exact same issue for about five months now and the results have been consistently disappointing. I have been attempting to source a tool that maintains a word error rate below 5% while providing high-bitrate audio processing, but unfortunately, the budget-tier options I have analyzed fail to meet these technical benchmarks. It is extremely frustrating because I have dedicated significant time to evaluating various repositories and scripts, yet I still cant find a reliable answer that doesnt require a costly subscription. There seems to be a significant gap in the market between low-end hobbyist tools and professional enterprise software.