The Best Transcription Services That Are Free to Try

AI whitethorn person caused a situation in the originative arts, immense problems with misinformation, and further demands connected our creaking vigor systems, but there’s undoubtedly 1 country wherever it’s made beingness overmuch easier: Being capable to parse what’s being said successful audio clips.

Recordings of interviews, meetings, lectures, and dependable notes tin present beryllium converted to integer substance successful seconds alternatively than hours. AI besides powers accessibility features like Live Captions, which amusement real-time subtitles connected the surface adjacent if they weren’t included successful the archetypal video clip.

All this processing takes clip and resources, truthful escaped options are scarce. However, we’ve identified 5 services present that are escaped but person limitations truthful you tin spot however good they acceptable your needs.

Google Recorder

The Google Recorder app for Android is wholly escaped to use. In this case, the catches are that it lone works with unrecorded audio, not recorded clips and that you request to ain a Google Pixel handset to usage it (there is simply a web interface you tin access, but lone for playing backmost files, not creating them).

If you bash person a Pixel phone, and you lone request to enactment with unrecorded audio, it’s perfect. You tin adjacent hook up an outer mic to your handset if required, and the substance transcription appears connected surface astir successful clip with the audio being recorded.

Searching done transcripts is simple—you tin adjacent hunt for sounds similar “laughter” oregon “music”—and the audio tin beryllium edited by simply tweaking the text. You adjacent get an AI-generated summary of the transcript. If you person a Samsung phone, the Voice Recorder and Galaxy AI enactment similarly, and Apple is adding features that are comparable to iOS 18.

Whisper

©Whisper uses OpenAI to transcribe audio.

OpenAI lets anyone usage its Whisper AI audio-to-text motor for free. Still, you either request to usage the web app connected Hugging Face (convenient, but often engaged and slow) oregon instal a section mentation connected your machine (quick and private, but your instrumentality volition request to beryllium capable to scope a decent level of performance).

The web interface couldn’t beryllium overmuch easier to use: You tin either upload a record from a disk oregon talk straight into your computer’s microphone. After a fewer minutes of processing, the substance appears connected the different broadside of the window. You tin adjacent person AI construe the audio into antithetic languages.

If you don’t privation to queue, you tin instal Whisper locally if your machine is up to it. It’s not the astir straightforward process, but if you’re up for the challenge, determination are comprehensive instructions here. You’ve past got a section AI transcription work you tin usage arsenic often arsenic you like, escaped of charge.

Otter

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Otter is simply a professional-level transcription work for businesses and individuals. It offers a polished acquisition and a full raft of features—it tin transcribe audio to substance and make summaries, actionable items, and plentifulness more.

Across the web and mobile apps, everything is intuitively laid retired and casual to navigate, and utile touches are sprinkled throughout, from the integration with galore third-party apps to the mode antithetic speakers tin beryllium identified successful the audio.

As you mightiness expect, this functionality comes with a just terms attached, and paid plans commencement astatine $16.99 per month. If you instrumentality with the escaped tier, you’re constricted to 300 transcription minutes per month, 30 minutes for each conversation, and 3 audio oregon record uploads until you upgrade.

Happy Scribe

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Happy Scribe is akin to Otter successful that it tin cater to ample companies arsenic good arsenic individuals. It, too, has a basal escaped plan: You’re constricted to 10 minutes of audio successful your files, and determination are assorted different restrictions (like not being capable to export files). If you find the work useful, pricing starts astatine $17 a month.

One of the champion parts of Happy Scribe is the elegant and streamlined interface—much of it looks similar a somewhat tweaked Google Docs page—which means everything is casual to navigate. Your transcriptions travel with talker labels and clip stamps, and the reviewing tools are elemental to usage arsenic well.

The files you make tin beryllium tagged and sorted into folders arsenic needed, and determination are utile features sprinkled throughout: A built-in translation tool, for example, and a customized dictionary wherever you tin adhd words the AI mightiness not beryllium expecting. Another bully diagnostic is you tin wage for human-powered transcription, too, if you wish.

MeetGeek

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Head to the MeetGeek site, which promises to grip everything from interviews and meetings to lawsuit calls and online classes. This transcription work tin grip astir everything you privation to propulsion successful its direction. Many of its features are geared towards meetings (hence the name), but you tin usage it with immoderate audio you like.

The modern-looking interface gives you speedy entree to the antithetic areas of MeetGeek, including your calendar and past recordings. It works good if aggregate radical are successful your recordings—for example, they tin each beryllium emailed a transcript of the transcript with a mates of clicks.

It’s not hard to get started with MeetGeek escaped of charge. Paid plans commencement astatine $19 per month, but adjacent without paying, you tin process 5 hours of transcription per month, and you get 3 months of transcript retention and 1 period of audio retention included, too. The escaped program includes features specified arsenic uploads and AI gathering summaries.