Free Transcription Software: What Each Free Plan Actually Includes
Data checked:
“Free” means very different things in transcription. Some free plans are generous but lock exports; some give plenty of minutes but cut every recording short; a few are trials in disguise. This page lists only tools with an ongoing free plan, then the trials separately.
Every free plan we track
| Tool | Free plan | Max length per file | Languages | Export | Trains on your data? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Transcribe API, File transcription, Live transcription | Pricing page: 60 minutes/month for 12 months from the first transcription request, subject to offer restrictions. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | 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. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 99 languages | Not verified | Unclear |
| AudioPen File transcription, Live transcription, Offline / on-device | Voice notes up to 3 minutes; limited voice-typing sessions. File uploads require Prime. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | No |
| AutoMemo Recorder device, File transcription | 1 hour of transcription per month; transcripts viewable for 7 days | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | Unclear |
| Bluedot Meeting notes | 5 meetings total for the lifetime of the free account, not 5 per month. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Not verified | No |
| Buzz File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free and open source (MIT); no usage limits | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100 languages | TXT, SRT, VTT | No |
| Descript File transcription | 60 media minutes/month, uploads up to 1 GB | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 25 languages | DOCX, TXT, MD, HTML, SRT, VTT | 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. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 99 languages | Not verified | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Fathom Meeting notes | Unlimited recordings and transcripts; some AI features are limited | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 38 languages | Not verified | Yes, unless you opt out |
| 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. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100 languages | Not verified | 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 | Free: 150 min Paid: 150 min | ENJAZH 100+ languages | PDF, DOCX, SRT, CSV, JSON, MD | No |
| Good Tape File transcription | 3 files per month, up to 30 minutes each; waiting times apply. | Free: 30 min Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100 languages | Not verified | 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. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | 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. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | Yes, unless you opt out |
| jamie Meeting notes | 10 AI notes per month, with a 30-minute meeting limit. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 99+ languages | Not verified | No |
| MacWhisper File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free version with local Whisper transcription; Pro unlocks more features | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100 languages | TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX, PDF, MD, HTML, CSV | No |
| MeetGeek Meeting notes, File transcription | 3 hours of transcription per month, with 3 months of transcript storage and 1 month of audio storage. | Free: 2 h Paid: 2 h | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Not verified | Unclear |
| noScribe File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free open-source software, processed on your own hardware; not a monthly minute allowance. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | HTML, TXT, VTT | 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 | Free: 3 min Paid: 5 h | ENJAZH 58 languages | TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT, XLSX | Unclear |
| Otter.ai Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | 300 min/month, up to 30 min per conversation, 3 file imports in total | Free: 30 min Paid: 4 h | ENJAZH 6 languages | TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT | Yes |
| PLAUD Recorder device, File transcription | 300 min/month on the Starter plan included with every PLAUD device | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 112+ languages | Not verified | Only if you opt in |
| Read AI Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | 5 meeting transcripts per month. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | Only if you opt in |
| Rev File transcription, Meeting notes | 45 AI transcription minutes/month, English only | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 37+ languages | Not verified | Yes |
| Riverside File transcription | Standalone transcriber is advertised as free to use; a monthly minute cap was not verified. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100+ languages | TXT, SRT | Yes, unless you opt out |
| Supernormal Meeting notes | 15 credits per month, with a maximum of 5 credits used per day. Credits measure tasks, not transcription minutes. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | Unclear |
| superwhisper Live transcription, File transcription, Meeting notes, Offline / on-device | Unlimited dictation with local Whisper models; file transcription requires Pro. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100+ languages | Not verified | No |
| Tactiq Meeting notes, File transcription, Live transcription | 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits per month; uploads count as meeting credits. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | PDF, TXT | 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. | Free: Not verified Paid: 8 h | ENJAZH | Not verified | Unclear |
| Texter File transcription, Live transcription, Offline / on-device | Basic features are free with time and usage limits; the transcription allowance was not quantified. | Free: Not verified Paid: 4 h | ENJAZH 99 languages | TXT, PDF, SRT, MD, HTML | Unclear |
| tl;dv Meeting notes | Unlimited recordings and transcripts, AI notes for 10 meetings, up to 5 uploads; recordings kept up to 3 months | Free: 3 h Paid: 3 h | ENJAZH 30+ languages | Not verified | No |
| toruno File transcription, Meeting notes, Live transcription | Personal free plan includes 3 hours in total, not a monthly allowance. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | No |
| Transkriptor File transcription, Meeting notes, API | Pricing FAQ names a Free – 90 Minutes tier; reset period and ongoing entitlement were not verified. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH 100+ languages | TXT, SRT, DOCX | No |
| TurboScribe File transcription | 3 files per day, up to 30 min each | Free: 30 min Paid: 10 h | ENJAZH 98+ languages | DOCX, PDF, TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV | No |
| VEED File transcription | Short clips can be tried free; video exports are watermarked. Separate TXT, VTT and SRT downloads require payment. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | TXT, VTT, SRT | Unclear |
| Vibe File transcription, Offline / on-device | Free and open source (MIT); no usage limits | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | SRT, VTT, TXT, HTML, PDF, JSON, DOCX | No |
| whisper.cpp File transcription, Offline / on-device, API | Free open-source software, processed on your own hardware; not a monthly minute allowance. | Free: Not verified Paid: Not verified | ENJAZH | Not verified | Unclear |
What the numbers hide
- Short per-recording caps. Notta gives 120 minutes a month, but only the first 3 minutes of each recording are transcribed on the free plan. Otter.ai gives 300 minutes but stops each conversation at 30 minutes and allows three file imports in total.
- Locked exports. Otter’s free plan exports TXT only. Fireflies.ai and Notta need a paid plan before you can download transcripts.
- Storage and retention. Fireflies stores 400 minutes per team on the free plan. tl;dv keeps free recordings for up to three months, and AutoMemo shows free transcripts for 7 days.
- Language limits. Rev’s 45 free minutes a month are English only.
Free for meetings
Fathom and tl;dv record and transcribe an unlimited number of Zoom, Google Meet and Teams meetings on their free plans; their limits are on AI notes and other extras. Fathom trains its own models on de-identified data unless you opt out in settings, while tl;dv says it does not use recordings or transcripts for training.
Free for uploaded files
TurboScribe’s free plan transcribes three files a day, each up to 30 minutes. Descript includes 60 media minutes a month, but it doesn’t transcribe Japanese or Chinese.
Free with no limits: open-source and on-device apps
Buzz and Vibe are free, open-source apps for Mac, Windows and Linux that transcribe on your own computer with Whisper models, so there is no minute allowance at all. MacWhisper has a free version for Mac. Speed depends on your hardware. See offline transcription software for the differences.
Trials, not free plans
These tools let you try the service once but have no ongoing free tier:
| Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Trains on your data? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonix File transcription | No free plan 30-minute free trial, no card needed | $25/mo $22.92/mo billed yearly (Core) | No |
| 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) | Only if you opt in |
| Aiko File transcription, Offline / on-device | No free plan 14-day free trial via TestFlight | $24 one-time | No |
| Rimo Voice Meeting notes, File transcription | No free plan Free trial offered (terms not stated on the pricing page) | ¥4,950/mo (プロ) | No |