10 Best Free Transcription Software for Fast Transcription

Are you looking for a way to transcribe your audio and video content without spending a fortune? You’re in luck!

We regularly test and review top transcription software to see which ones are worth your time. To help you transcribe more efficiently, we created a list of the best free transcription software available today. 

Some of them focus on manual transcription, some on automatic, and some are useful for both. Whether you need a speech to text solution for quick conversions or a more comprehensive tool, by the end of this article, you'll have a ton of great options you can use to start transcribing.

Our top choices for free transcription software

1. Notta: Best for highly accurate transcription

2. Happy Scribe: Best for manual transcription

3. oTranscribe: Best for transcribing recorded interviews

4. Trint: Best for creating soundbites and quotes from transcripts

5. Sonix: Best for embedding formatted transcripts onto web pages

6. InqScribe: Best for foot pedal support

7. Express Scribe: Best for supporting multiple audio and video formats

8. Rev Max: Best for automatic transcription

9. Otter: Best for team collaboration

10. MacWhisper: Best for transcribing on Mac

What to consider when choosing transcription software

When choosing the best transcription app, first consider whether you’ll be doing manual transcription or automatic transcription.

For example, if you’re doing manual transcription, the ability to integrate a foot pedal into the software is essential. If you’re doing automatic transcription, the speed and accuracy of the AI are much more important.

Here are a few other factors to consider:

• Accuracy: For automatic transcription, it’s important to use tools that are as accurate as possible to save time on editing and proofreading. Many tools struggle in noisy backgrounds or with multiple speakers, so we’ve made it a point to include options that can handle less-than-perfect recording conditions.

• User Experience: The best transcription software is very user-friendly, even for beginners. Recording or uploading audio files should be straightforward, and editing features should be easily visible and accessible.

• Compatibility: It’s essential to use apps that work on the devices you already use, whether you’re uploading from your work computer or recording a lecture on your phone. All apps on our list sync across devices, so you always have access to your transcripts.

• Collaboration: If you need transcription for work, it’s important to choose a platform that allows multiple users to collaborate and add notes to a transcript at the same time.

10 best free transcription software

#1 Notta: Best for highly accurate transcription

Accuracy: 98.86%

Notta is free transcription software that will automatically transcribe audio and video to text in real-time. It has an accuracy rating of 98.86% and gives 120 monthly transcription minutes for free users.

It allows you to record audio using the microphone on your phone or computer and transcribes anything you say in real-time.

You can also upload virtually any file type to the platform. It supports WAV, MP3, MP4, AVI, and more. Notta will transcribe a two-hour audio or video file in under 10 minutes, potentially saving hours of your time per transcription project.

You can sync a Notta bot to your Google Calendar, and it will join a virtual meeting automatically. When you start your Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet, it will attend, record, and transcribe the meeting for you. After it's over, you’ll find the transcript sitting conveniently on your Notta dashboard, ready for review.

Key Features:

• Records and transcribes audio and video in real-time

• Supports 58 transcription languages

• Notta bot that will join and transcribe meetings from Google Calendar

• 98.86% accuracy rate

Pros:

• Better accuracy than other AI transcription tools

• Extremely fast

• Generates AI summaries and action items from the transcript

• Real-time transcription and translation

Cons:

• Less intuitive navigation

#2 Happy Scribe: Best for manual transcription

Accuracy: 85%

Happy Scribe is a free transcription tool you can use if you prefer to transcribe manually. It has various tools that help you do manual transcription faster, such as automatic timecode insertion, playback speed control, and keyboard shortcuts.

Starting with manual transcription allows you to get familiar with the platform until you’re ready to upgrade to automated transcription. Happy Scribe’s automatic transcription is much faster, but it’s costly and less accurate.

Happy Scribe gives you 60 automatic transcription minutes with a free account. This way, you can try it out before you purchase a monthly or annual plan.

Key Features:

• Speaker Labels

• Import videos from YouTube and Vimeo

• Playback control

• Advanced shortcuts

Pros:

• Works directly from the browser, so you don’t have to install any apps.

Cons:

• Much slower method of transcription compared to automated transcription

#3 oTranscribe: Best for transcribing recorded interviews

Accuracy: Not available

oTranscribe is another free transcription tool that combines audio playback and text editing in one interface.

It doesn't require any sign-up or personal information to use. You can upload an audio or video file to the app, and it will load at the top of the screen. There will be a text field below where you can type out what people are saying from the audio.

You can play, pause, rewind, and fast forward the original file. You can also adjust the speed using various keyboard shortcuts.

Key Features:

• Interactive timestamps

• Import video and audio files, or paste a YouTube link

• Export to TXT, Google Docs, and Markdown

• Keyboard shortcuts

Pros:

• You don’t have to sign up to start transcribing

Cons:

• Lacks automatic transcription features

#4 Trint: Best for creating soundbites and quotes from transcripts

Accuracy: 87.4%

Trint has a free trial for 7 days that gives you full access to the app. You can transcribe and translate both video and audio files in 50+ languages.

Trint uses AI to transcribe. Its transcription algorithm is reasonably accurate when speaking clearly. You can also add up to 100 custom terms that the AI can recognize.

Their website claims up to 99% accuracy. However, our research identified closer to 87.4%. It’s still a very powerful tool that you can try out yourself for a week to see how you like it.

When you’re ready, you can upgrade to a paid plan, which now includes Trint’s new AI Assistant.

Key Features:

• AI-powered transcription

• Team Collaboration (with subscription)

• ISO 27001-certified security

• Live transcription

Pros:

• Built-in translation

Cons:

• Only a 7-day free trial

• Accuracy drops significantly with multiple speakers

#5 Sonix: Best for embedding formatted transcripts onto web pages

Accuracy: 95%

Sonix's free trial includes 30 minutes of transcription. It uses AI to convert audio and video to text. It also supports over 37 languages.

It works in your browser. There’s no need to download any apps or other software. After you transcribe your content, you can use the editor to correct errors in your transcript.

Sonix has a translation engine powered by AI. You can change your transcript to any of its available languages within your workflow.

The editor also lets you add subtitles to a video. You can format subtitles and sync them to your content.

Key Features:

• Transcribe audio and video

• Translation

• Subtitles

• Supports 37+ languages

Pros:

• Provides a link to embed transcripts in web pages

Cons:

• Lower accuracy than other tools

• Expensive transcription prices

#6 InqScribe: Best for foot pedal support

Accuracy: Not available

InqScribe provides an old-school look with modern features. It’s available as a download for both Mac and Windows.

It’s a manual transcription platform that allows you to type transcripts quickly. Its custom snippets feature allows you to assign different key strokes for commonly used phrases. This can save a lot of time when names, places, and figures of speech are frequently used by a speaker in audio.

You can also take timecode notes. The editor allows you to insert time codes at any part of the transcript. When you click on a timecode, it will automatically jump to that part of the audio or video.

Key Features:

• Insert timecodes

• Custom snippets

• Pitch Lock preserves voice tone

• Foot Pedal support

Pros:

• Simple user interface that’s easy to learn

• Flexible playback control options

Cons:

• Requires you to insert timecodes manually

• Pitch lock only works for certain formats

• UI looks dated

#7 Express Scribe: Best for supporting multiple audio and video formats

Accuracy: Not available

Express Scribe is another manual transcription app that supports foot pedals. It can load over 45 different types of audio and video file formats. This means that there is less chance you’ll need to convert your file before loading it into the program.

If you don’t have a foot pedal, you can still assign hotkeys on your keyboard to its controls. This way, you don’t have to reach for your mouse when you need to pause, play, fast forward, or rewind.

Key Features:

• Foot Pedal support

• 45+ audio and video formats supported

• Automatic file management

• Video player

Pros:

• Supports a wide variety of file types

• Handles multiple file types without conversion

Cons:

• Limited collaboration features

• UI looks dated

#8 Rev Max: Best for automatic transcription

Accuracy: 90%

Rev Max is a subscription-based AI transcription platform from Rev. It comes with a 14-day free trial. Unlike Rev’s standard per-minute pricing, Rev Max offers unlimited automatic transcription for a flat monthly rate.

It is 90% accurate, which is on par with average automatic transcription platforms. It does include a text editor as well, which you can use to correct any errors that come from their AI. You can upload audio, video, or even text documents directly to the platform for transcription and analysis.

Rev gives you the option to add custom terms to the AI. This helps the AI learn words and phrases that you commonly use in your audio, making it a little more accurate.

Key Features:

• Custom glossary

• AI transcription services

• Speaker identification

• Text editor

Pros:

• Easy to use

Cons:

• Has trouble identifying speakers with thick accents

• Customer service can be slow to respond

#9 Otter: Best for team collaboration

Accuracy: Not available

Otter is another AI transcription tool that records and transcribes your meetings. Then you can generate an AI summary that will highlight key points of the meeting. If there are any action items, it will list those for you, too.

It has great team collaboration features. You can invite team members to edit and highlight your transcripts. You can also assign different permissions for different levels of your organization.

Otter can connect to both Google and Microsoft Calendar. Once it’s assigned a meeting, its agent will join automatically and send you the transcript after it ends.

Key Features:

• Sync with Google and Microsoft Calendar

• Record and transcribe audio and meetings

• Team Collaboration

• AI summaries and action items

• HIPAA compliance

• Upload audio and video files

Pros:

• Automatically joins meetings from your calendar

Cons:

• Live customer service agents are hard to reach

• Downgrading pricing levels can be a headache with multiple users on your plan

#10 MacWhisper: Best for transcribing on Mac

Accuracy: Not available

MacWhisper is a free tool powered by Whisper from OpenAI. The technology behind this comes from the same collective that develops ChatGPT.

It allows you to record or upload audio files, or you can use your computer microphone to record audio and transcribe in real-time.

MacWhisper stores all transcripts locally on your machine. This way, you don’t have to worry about storing your information on a third-party server.

It runs on macOS 13.0+ and supports over 80 languages. Upgrading to the PRO version unlocks additional features such as transcribing and recording system audio.

Key Features:

• Record and transcribe audio

• Store transcripts locally

• Supports over 80 languages

• Export transcripts in TXT, SRT, or VTT

Pros:

• Removes filler words like “um and “ahh”

Cons:

• Does not transcribe video files

• Low accuracy in audio with background noise

Choose the best free transcription software

Whether you want to transcribe manually or automatically, the best transcription tools balance high accuracy, ease of use, and collaboration options that fit your specific needs.

Though many of these programs have a wide variety of features, none of them will save you as much time and money as Notta. Notta quickly transcribes any type of audio or video file in minutes with 98.86% accuracy. Sign up for your free account today!

FAQs

Is there a free AI to transcribe audio to text?

Yes, there’s a free AI to transcribe audio to text. Many companies charge a monthly or yearly fee to use their AI transcription. However, some AI transcription tools like Notta have a free tier with limited features. Your free account will have enough functionality to transcribe audio to text for personal use.

What are the 4 types of transcription?

The 4 different types of transcription are:

• Verbatim transcription - A word-for-word transcript that captures everything spoken in a recording, including filler words and pauses.

• Edited transcription - A transcript that includes the main content of a recording without unnecessary utterances and verbal cues.

• Intelligent transcription - Combines automatic speech recognition with human editing to ensure accuracy.

• Phonetic transcription - A transcript that captures the sound of words and phrases using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Does Google have free transcription software?

Yes, Google has free transcription software called ‘Voice Typing’ built into Google Docs. This feature automatically types the words into the document when you speak into your computer microphone. You can record in real time, but you can’t upload audio files for transcription.

How do beginners do transcription?

There are two ways for beginners to do transcription: manual and automatic.

Manual transcription involves listening to the audio and typing it out yourself, which is great for learning accuracy, formatting, and speaker identification.

Automatic transcription uses AI tools like Notta to convert audio into text in minutes, saving hours of work. It’s the fastest way to get started and see a finished transcript, which you can edit later for accuracy if needed.

What is the best free audio transcription software?

Notta is the best free audio transcription software. It offers up to 98.86% accuracy, supports speaker identification, and works in 58 languages. Notta also includes real-time transcription, text editing tools, and the ability to import audio or video files from multiple formats.

The free plan includes 120 transcription minutes per month, up to 3 minutes per conversation, 50 file uploads, and 10 AI summaries. It’s great for personal use, and you can upgrade to a paid plan anytime to access advanced features.