AI Transcription Software Compared: Free Minutes, File Limits, Languages and Privacy
Pick a transcription tool by the limits that actually decide it: how many free minutes you get, how long a single file can be, whether speakers are labelled, which formats you can export, and what the company does with your recordings. Every value links to the vendor’s own pricing, help or privacy page, with the date we checked it.
Data checked: · 58 tools
Directory
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58 tools shown
| Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Languages | Max length per file | Speaker labels | Export | Offline | Trains on your data? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aiko File transcription, Offline / on-device | No free plan 14-day free trial via TestFlight | $24 one-time | ENJAZH 100 languages | Paid: Not verified | No | SRT, CSV, JSON | Yes | No |
| Amazon Transcribe API, File transcription, Live transcription | Pricing page: 60 minutes/month for 12 months from the first transcription request, subject to offer restrictions. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Amberscript File transcription, API | No free plan A free trial is offered; its duration and allowance were not verified. | Not verified | ENJAZH 90+ languages | Paid: Not verified | Yes | TXT | No | No |
| AssemblyAI API, File transcription, Live transcription | No free plan The pricing page offers a free start; a recurring monthly minute allowance was not verified. | Not verified | ENJAZH 99 languages | Paid: Not verified | Paid plans | Not verified | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| aTrain File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free open-source software, processed on your own hardware; not a monthly minute allowance. | Not verified | ENJAZH 99 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Unclear |
| AudioPen File transcription, Live transcription, Offline / on-device | Voice notes up to 3 minutes; limited voice-typing sessions. File uploads require Prime. | $8.25/mo billed yearly (Prime) | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | No | Not verified | Yes | No |
| AutoMemo Recorder device, File transcription | 1 hour of transcription per month; transcripts viewable for 7 days | ¥1,480/mo ¥1,233/mo billed yearly (プレミアム) | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| Avoma Meeting notes, Live transcription | No free plan 14-day trial of Organization with add-ons enabled. Free viewers and collaborators are not a free recorder plan. | $29/mo $19/mo billed yearly (Startup) | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| Bluedot Meeting notes | 5 meetings total for the lifetime of the free account, not 5 per month. | $18/mo $14/mo billed yearly (Basic) | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | No |
| Buzz File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free and open source (MIT); no usage limits | Free | ENJAZH 100 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | TXT, SRT, VTT | Yes | No |
| Deepgram API, File transcription, Live transcription | No free plan $200 in introductory credits; no recurring free minute allowance verified. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Descript File transcription | 60 media minutes/month, uploads up to 1 GB | $24/mo $16/mo billed yearly (Hobbyist) | ENJAZH 25 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | DOCX, TXT, MD, HTML, SRT, VTT | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| ElevenLabs Speech to Text (Scribe) API, File transcription, Live transcription | The Free column lists 12 minutes/month for Scribe v2 in the UI; API usage is listed separately. | $6/mo (Starter) | ENJAZH 99 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Fathom Meeting notes | Unlimited recordings and transcripts; some AI features are limited | $20/mo $16/mo billed yearly (Premium) | ENJAZH 38 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Feishu Minutes（飞书妙记） File transcription, Meeting notes, Live transcription | No free plan Free trial is advertised; duration and recurring allowance were not verified. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Yes | TXT, SRT | No | Unclear |
| Fellow Meeting notes, File transcription | 5 AI notes and 5 recordings per user for the lifetime of the account; 5 audio/video uploads per user lifetime. | $11/mo $7/mo billed yearly (Team) | ENJAZH 100 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| Fireflies.ai Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | Transcription marked unlimited, but only 400 min of storage per team and limited AI summaries; downloads need Pro | $18/mo $10/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Free: 150 min Paid: 150 min | Yes | PDF, DOCX, SRT, CSV, JSON, MD | No | No |
| Good Tape File transcription | 3 files per month, up to 30 minutes each; waiting times apply. | €15/mo €13.75/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 100 languages | Free: 30 min Paid: Not verified | Paid plans | Not verified | No | No |
| Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API, File transcription, Live transcription | V1 standard recognition: first 60 minutes/month free; this is not a V2 allowance. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Only if you opt in |
| Granola Meeting notes | Basic includes AI meeting notes and chat, with 30 days of meeting history. No monthly minute allowance was verified. | $14/mo (Business) | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Happy Scribe File transcription, Meeting notes | No free plan One-time 10-minute trial for uploaded-file AI transcription, subtitling and translation. The Free plan separately allows unlimited meeting recordings, up to 45 minutes each, with limited history. | £17/mo £8.50/mo billed yearly (Basic) | ENJAZH 150+ languages | Paid: Not verified | Yes | TXT, SRT, PDF, DOCX, VTT, HTML | No | Only if you opt in |
| iFLYREC（讯飞听见） File transcription, Live transcription | No free plan The official order page advertises 1 hour of free transcription for new users; the eligible mode was not specified. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Paid: 5 h | Yes | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| jamie Meeting notes | 10 AI notes per month, with a 30-minute meeting limit. | $29/mo $24/mo billed yearly (Plus) | ENJAZH 99+ languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | No |
| Krisp (AI Meeting Notes) Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | No free plan 7-day free trial with premium features; no credit card required. | $16/mo $8/mo billed yearly (Core) | ENJAZH 16 languages | Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| MacWhisper File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free version with local Whisper transcription; Pro unlocks more features | €64 one-time (Pro) | ENJAZH 100 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX, PDF, MD, HTML, CSV | Yes | No |
| Maestra File transcription, Live transcription, API | No free plan The audio-to-text page shows a 1-minute preview; export and account requirements differ between its UI and FAQ. | Not verified | ENJAZH 125+ languages | Paid: Not verified | Yes | TXT, DOCX, PDF, JSON, SRT, VTT | No | Unclear |
| MeetGeek Meeting notes, File transcription | 3 hours of transcription per month, with 3 months of transcript storage and 1 month of audio storage. | $15.99/mo $9.99/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Free: 2 h Paid: 2 h | Not verified | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| noScribe File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free open-source software, processed on your own hardware; not a monthly minute allowance. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | HTML, TXT, VTT | Yes | Unclear |
| Notta Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | 120 min/month but only the first 3 min of each recording, 50 file uploads/month; exporting transcripts needs Pro | $13.49/mo $8.17/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 58 languages | Free: 3 min Paid: 5 h | Yes | TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT, XLSX | No | Unclear |
| OpenAI Speech to Text API API, File transcription, Live transcription | No free plan The GPT-4o Mini Transcribe model page lists the free usage tier as unsupported. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Yes | JSON, SRT, VTT | No | Only if you opt in |
| Otolio（旧：スマート書記） Meeting notes, Live transcription | No free plan 14-day trial for organizations considering a commercial contract. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Yes | No | Only if you opt in | |
| Otter.ai Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | 300 min/month, up to 30 min per conversation, 3 file imports in total | $16.99/mo $8.33/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 6 languages | Free: 30 min Paid: 4 h | Yes | TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT | No | Yes |
| PLAUD Recorder device, File transcription | 300 min/month on the Starter plan included with every PLAUD device | $17.99/mo $8.33/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 112+ languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Only if you opt in |
| Read AI Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | 5 meeting transcripts per month. | $19.75/mo $15/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Only if you opt in |
| Rev File transcription, Meeting notes | 45 AI transcription minutes/month, English only | $29.99/mo $25.49/mo billed yearly (Essentials) | ENJAZH 37+ languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Yes |
| Rimo Voice Meeting notes, File transcription | No free plan Free trial offered (terms not stated on the pricing page) | ¥4,950/mo (プロ) | ENJAZH 60 languages | Paid: 5 h | Yes | DOCX, XLSX | No | No |
| Riverside File transcription | Standalone transcriber is advertised as free to use; a monthly minute cap was not verified. | $29/mo $24/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Not verified | TXT, SRT | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Scribie File transcription, API | No free plan | Not verified | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Yes | SRT, VTT | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Sembly AI Meeting notes, File transcription | No free plan The pricing page labels the free tier a trial with 1 meeting hour. Its duration was not verified. | $10/mo billed yearly (Basic) | ENJAZH 45+ languages | Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Sonix File transcription | No free plan 30-minute free trial, no card needed | $25/mo $22.92/mo billed yearly (Core) | ENJAZH 54+ languages | Paid: Not verified | Yes | DOCX, PDF, TXT, SRT, VTT | No | No |
| Speechify Transcription File transcription | No free plan Product page offers a free first audio/video transcription; recurring free quota was not verified. | Not verified | ENJAZH 20+ languages | Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| Speechmatics API, File transcription, Live transcription | No free plan $100 in introductory credits, with no card required. | Not verified | ENJAZH 56 languages | Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Only if you opt in |
| Supernormal Meeting notes | 15 credits per month, with a maximum of 5 credits used per day. Credits measure tasks, not transcription minutes. | $20/mo (Team) | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| superwhisper Live transcription, File transcription, Meeting notes, Offline / on-device | Unlimited dictation with local Whisper models; file transcription requires Pro. | $8.49/mo $7.08/mo billed yearly $249.99 one-time (Pro) | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Paid plans | Not verified | Yes | No |
| Tactiq Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits per month; uploads count as meeting credits. | $12/mo $8/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | PDF, TXT | No | Unclear |
| Temi File transcription | No free plan Help center describes a first-file trial up to 45 minutes; availability after the Rev redirect is unverified. | Not verified | ENJAZH 1 languages | Paid: Not verified | Yes | DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT | No | Unclear |
| Tencent Meeting Transcription（腾讯会议转写） File transcription, Meeting notes, Live transcription | Free tier lists 10 minutes per meeting for live transcription and limited trial access to recording transcription. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: 8 h | Yes | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| Texter File transcription, Live transcription, Offline / on-device | Basic features are free with time and usage limits; the transcription allowance was not quantified. | ¥1,800/mo ¥733/mo billed yearly (Premium) | ENJAZH 99 languages | Free: Not verified Paid: 4 h | Paid plans | TXT, PDF, SRT, MD, HTML | Yes | Unclear |
| tl;dv Meeting notes | Unlimited recordings and transcripts, AI notes for 10 meetings, up to 5 uploads; recordings kept up to 3 months | €29/mo €18/mo billed yearly (Pro) | ENJAZH 30+ languages | Free: 3 h Paid: 3 h | Yes | Not verified | No | No |
| Tongyi Tingwu（通义听悟） File transcription, Live transcription, API | No free plan The web app advertises a free experience; its quota was not verified. API trial allowances are separate. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | Unclear |
| toruno File transcription, Meeting notes, Live transcription | Personal free plan includes 3 hours in total, not a monthly allowance. | ¥1,650/mo (パーソナル 有料プラン) | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | No |
| Transkriptor File transcription, Meeting notes, API | Pricing FAQ names a Free – 90 Minutes tier; reset period and ongoing entitlement were not verified. | $9.99/mo (Lite) | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | TXT, SRT, DOCX | No | No |
| Trint File transcription, Live transcription | No free plan 7-day Advanced trial: 3 files, first 5 minutes of each. | Not verified | ENJAZH 50+ languages | Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | No |
| TurboScribe File transcription | 3 files per day, up to 30 min each | $20/mo $10/mo billed yearly (Unlimited) | ENJAZH 98+ languages | Free: 30 min Paid: 10 h | Yes | DOCX, PDF, TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV | No | No |
| VEED File transcription | Short clips can be tried free; video exports are watermarked. Separate TXT, VTT and SRT downloads require payment. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Not verified | TXT, VTT, SRT | No | Unclear |
| Vibe File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free and open source (MIT); no usage limits | Free | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Yes | SRT, VTT, TXT, HTML, PDF, JSON, DOCX | Yes | No |
| whisper.cpp File transcription, Offline / on-device, API | Free open-source software, processed on your own hardware; not a monthly minute allowance. | Not verified | ENJAZH | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Yes | Unclear |
| YOMEL File transcription, Meeting notes, Live transcription | No free plan 10-hour free trial; no recurring free plan was verified. | ¥28,000/mo (STARTER) | ENJAZH | Paid: Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | No |
Guides
- Best Transcription Software: Pick by What You Record, Not by Rank
No tool wins every job. Compare the strongest transcription apps for meetings, long files, many languages, privacy and APIs, with prices from vendor pages. - Otter.ai Alternatives: 9 Transcription Tools Compared by Free Minutes, Languages and Privacy
Otter's free plan stops each conversation at 30 minutes and its policy allows training on de-identified recordings. Compare nine alternatives by free allowance, price, file limits, speaker labels and AI-training terms. - TurboScribe Alternatives: Longer Files, Bigger Free Allowances, Pay As You Go
TurboScribe gives 3 free files a day and 10-hour files for $10 a month. Compare alternatives for long audio, pay-as-you-go pricing, exports and privacy. - Fireflies.ai Alternatives: AI Meeting Note Takers Compared
Fireflies transcribes unlimited meetings free but stores 400 minutes a team and locks downloads. Compare Fathom, tl;dv, MeetGeek, Otter and bot-free notetakers. - Free Transcription Software: What Each Free Plan Actually Includes
Free minutes, per-file limits, export restrictions and AI-training terms for every free transcription plan we track, plus open-source apps that transcribe offline with no limits. - Offline Transcription Software: Apps That Keep Audio on Your Computer
Mac, Windows and Linux apps that transcribe on your own device with Whisper and similar models: prices, speaker labels, export formats and platforms compared. - Transcription Apps That Don't Train on Your Data
Transcription tools whose own policies say they never train AI on your recordings, tools that train only with your consent, and offline apps that never upload. - Transcription Software for Long Audio Files: Per-File Limits Compared
Every per-file length limit we verified, from TurboScribe's 10 hours down to 90-minute caps, plus what a missing limit means in vendor documentation. - Transcription Software for Interviews and Qualitative Research
Choosing a transcription tool for research interviews: where participants' audio goes, speaker labels, long recordings, and export formats you can code in NVivo, MAXQDA or ATLAS.ti. - Transcription Software with Speaker Identification (Speaker Labels)
Which transcription tools label speakers on every plan, which put labels behind paid tiers, and which don't offer it, for meetings, files and offline use. - Transcription for Lectures and Podcasts: Long Files, Subtitles, Free Minutes
Pick a transcription tool for 60-minute lectures and podcast episodes: per-file length limits, SRT and VTT subtitle exports, free minutes and language support. - Japanese Transcription Apps: International Services, Yen-Priced Tools, Offline
Every tool we track that lists Japanese: Notta, Sonix and Happy Scribe, yen-priced services like Rimo Voice and Toruno, and offline Whisper apps for desktop. - Mandarin Chinese Transcription Apps: China Services and International Tools
Mandarin and Cantonese transcription compared: Feishu Minutes, iFLYREC, Tencent Meeting and Tongyi Tingwu, plus Notta, Happy Scribe and offline Whisper apps. - Otter vs Fireflies: Free Plans, Prices, Limits and Privacy Compared
Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai side by side: free plan limits, Pro prices, languages, recording length, export formats and whether each trains AI on your meetings. - Notta vs Otter.ai: Free Minutes, Languages, File Limits and Privacy
Notta and Otter side by side: 120 free minutes that stop at 3 minutes per recording vs 300 minutes capped at 30, 58 vs 6 languages, 5-hour vs 90-minute limits. - Rev vs Otter.ai: AI Minutes, Human Transcription and Meeting Recording
Rev sells AI minutes plus human transcription at $1.99 a minute; Otter is a meeting assistant. Compare free plans, prices, languages, file limits and privacy. - Speech-to-Text API Comparison: Price per Hour, Diarization and Data Use
AssemblyAI, Deepgram, Speechmatics, OpenAI, Google, Amazon and ElevenLabs speech-to-text APIs compared by price, diarization cost, languages and training terms.