8 Best Interview Transcription Software for Journalists & Researchers

Conducting a great interview requires attention to detail, strong listening skills, and proper preparation. However, it can be challenging to stay on top of note-taking during the interview, especially when you plan on quoting your interviewee and need accurate, exact quotes. 

Fortunately, a great interview transcription software can solve many of these challenges by providing an accurate transcript of everything said during the interview, allowing you to quote your source accurately and reference everything discussed.  

What makes a great interview transcription software？

While writing this guide, we compared and contrasted many features and functions of interview transcription software to narrow down what makes an excellent interview transcription software. 

Here are the top five features we considered when choosing transcription software for this guide: 

• Accuracy: An interview transcription won’t be terribly helpful if it’s inaccurate, especially if you’re planning on quoting your interviewee for an article or research paper. As a result, we prioritized transcription software with high accuracy rates, almost always 90% or better. High accuracy is also crucial because it saves you time later when you’re editing your transcription. 

• Flexibility: As a busy researcher or journalist, you’re often on the go, so flexibility is a significant component in finding the ideal software for your project. We studied different transcription software and if they included flexible features such as mobile apps, Chrome extensions, or the ability to record and transcribe in your browser. 

• Pricing: Investing in yourself is always worthwhile. However, there is no need to overspend for either overpriced or pricier software for features it offers that you don’t need. When choosing transcription software for this list, we checked if the pricing was competitive with other transcription software providers and what pricing models were available. For example, if you only occasionally transcribe interviews, you may prefer a service that charges by the minute rather than a subscription model. 

• Editing features: No matter what transcription software you choose, you’re likely to need to make occasional edits to the punctuation, spelling, and formatting of the interview transcription. An excellent transcription software should include the ability to edit all of these things. We also prioritized software with additional features like creating reports, memos, and highlights from the transcription. 

• Recording options: Lastly, we looked at how the software functions. Do you need to upload a recorded file to the website, or does the software offer options to record the transcription too? 

Top 8 Interview Transcription Software for Journalists & Researchers

1. Notta

Best for Transcribing Interviews & Editing Transcripts.

Notta is a user-friendly speech-to-text app offering a Chrome extension, browser, and mobile app. Notta’s software boasts over 98.6% accuracy, giving it one of the best accuracy rates available with transcription software. You can use Notta both live during interviews or post-interviews by uploading a recording of the interview. If you are a fan of Notion, you’ll love that Notta integrates directly with Notion, allowing you to save interview transcripts quickly to the platform. 

If you conduct interviews over video calls, Notta has a real-time transcription option for this setup. Notta’s innovative Notta Bot can be synced with your Google Calendar, automatically allowing it to join Zoom and video calls. 

In terms of editing tools, Notta has some of the best editing capabilities, including adding images and notes, editing the text of the transcription, changing the playback speed, and transcribing up to 104 languages. Notta reduces manual work by syncing your transcriptions across devices, allowing you to edit on the go with its mobile app, and providing you with a host of export options, including pdf, xlsx, docx, and txt.

Key Features:

• Syncs interview transcripts across multiple devices

• Convenient mobile app and Chrome extension

• Add images and comments to the interview transcript

• Highlights text as it plays for seamless playback

Pricing: Basic plan: $0, Pro: $8.25 per month billed annually, Team: $18 per month billed annually

Supported languages: English, a total of 104 supported languages

2. Airgram

Best for interview organization.

Airgram has one of the highest accuracy rates at 98.3%, making it a strong contender for accurate interview transcription. If you use video calls to host interviews, Airgram’s AI Assistant feature will be a massive benefit for you as it joins Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet calls and transcribes information from the call live. 

In addition, it offers a huge variety of meeting and interview organization features, which can help you structure your meetings and record and transcribe them. Some of the most notable organizational features include their built-in meeting agenda templates to foster productive discussions. During the session, Airgram will record and transcribe everything and help you stay on track with your meeting agenda. Afterward, Airgram allows you to organize your meeting notes, interview transcripts, and recordings in one user-friendly dashboard. 

Airgram offers a comprehensive editing suite, including options for adding text, agendas, bullet lists, and images. You can also follow up on action items and share your notes and transcript with a few simple clicks. Additionally, Airgram automatically adds time stamps to your transcript so that you can find pertinent information faster. 

Overall, Airgram is the best choice for someone looking for interview and meeting management help. The software will help you stay on track with interview and research questions and manage your meeting from start to finish. 

Key Features: 

• Offers Chrome extension

• Transcription editing suite

• 100% data security and privacy protected

• Technical support offered

Pricing: Free plan, $8.99 Pro plan, $17.99 Team plan - Special discounts available for students or non-profit organizations

Supported transcription languages: English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese

3. Google Docs Voice Typing

Best for individuals already using Google Docs as their primary word processor.

Google Docs Voice Typing is a built-in service that comes pre-installed within Google Docs. The purpose of Google Docs Voice Typing is dictation for notes. However, journalists and reporters can easily use this tool to transcribe live interviews as well. 

In regards to editing tools, Google Docs Voice Typing allows you to edit your transcript within Google Docs using its standard tools. However, it won’t highlight the text or offer audio playback, which is a common feature with many other interview transcription software for journalists and researchers. We like the voice commands option, which allows you to dictate editing and formatting, such as ‘Select paragraph’ or ‘Go to the end of the line.’

The biggest downside to using Google Docs Voice Typing is that you cannot use it after an interview is done. You must activate the software during your interview to create the dictation live. This Google Docs feature is also only available in Chrome browsers, limiting who and how you can use it. 

Key Features: 

• A large number of supported languages available

• Interview transcription software free 

• User-friendly interface

Pricing: Free

Supported transcription languages: Many languages, including Portuguese, English, Polish, Spanish, Thai, Chinese, Arabic, and Italian

4. Otter.ai

Best for team collaboration.

Otter is a reputable transcription service used by huge companies like Zoom, Rakuten, Dropbox, and UCLA. Their AI technology continually works to improve interview transcriptions by learning your conversational style and vocabulary, making the transcription more accurate the more you use this software. 

If you conduct interviews over video calls, you’ll like their feature Otter Assistant which allows you to record in-person, hybrid, mobile, and virtual meets. The Otter Assistant can also be synced to a Microsoft or Google Calendar to join your interview, saving you time automatically. It even has a feature that will automatically create a summary of the interview transcript so that you can share highlights of the interview with others. 

Otter is an excellent choice for team-based businesses because it helps you capture insights from meetings and interviews. You can use Otter’s editing tools to quickly annotate, edit, and share your notes and transcripts with your colleagues too. 

Key Features:

• Interview transcription software free (basic plan)

• Team collaboration features

• Multiple export options

• Speaker identification

Pricing: Basic plan: Free, Pro plan: $8.33 per month, Business plan: $20/per user per month, enterprise plans available

Supported transcription languages: English and regional accents

5. Happy Scribe

Ideal for creating highly accurate interview transcripts.

Happy Scribe is a transcription and subtitle service with many collaborative features that make sharing interview transcripts with your colleagues easier. You can choose to share your transcripts in a view-only or edit mode to protect the integrity of your interview or allow it to be edited by the interviewee. To use Happy Scribe, record your interview independently, then upload the file to Happy Scribe for transcription. 

Happy Scribe offers automatic and human-made transcription, which fluctuates between a guaranteed 85% and 99%, respectively. For the integrity of your interview, you may choose to opt for the human-made transcription to ensure your interviewee is fairly represented. However, please note that this is the more expensive price point. 

Overall, Happy Scribe is a reputable company trusted by over 100,000 users worldwide. Its team-friendly functions, such as the ability to make spaces for file sharing with your team and many available integrations are some of its key highlights. 

Key Features: 

• 4.8 stars out of 5-star rating

• Protects and privates transcripts

• Integrates with Zapier, YouTube, and more

Pricing: $0.20 for automatic transcription, $2.00 per minute for human-made transcriptions, custom pricing available, students receive 25% off automatic options 

Supported transcription languages: Over 60 languages, including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, German, and Dutch

6. 3PlayMedia

Best for medical or law researchers or journalists.

3PlayMedia is known as a captioning solution. However, their transcriptions are highly-secure, HIPAA-compliant, and accessibility-compliant, making them an excellent choice for researchers in medical, law, or other sensitive industries. They are trusted by over 10,000 customers, including Peloton, The Home Depot, and Oracle. 

You can also preload special instructions for each file sharing technician jargon you may use throughout the interview to ensure your transcription has an even higher accuracy rate. One thing to remember is that 3PlayMedia is not an automatic transcription service. Depending on the turnaround option you pay for, you will need to wait anywhere between two hours, eight hours, one business day, two business days, or four business days for your transcription to complete. If you create video content, you may also like 3PlayMedia’s close captioning service, which can make your videos more accessible and improve SEO. 

Key Features: 

• 99% accuracy for all transcripts

• Accessibility and HIPAA-compliant

• Integrates with many applications, including Zoom, YouTube, Vimeo, and more

Pricing: Express plan is $2.95 per minute for English transcription, Pro and Enterprise plans are customized to your needs

Supported transcription languages: English, Spanish, 20+ languages in total

7. Temi

Best for fast turnaround.

Temi is a speech-to-text transcription service that works in five minutes to create an interview transcript. This quick turnaround time makes it an excellent choice for researchers and journalists with tight deadlines. 

Temi’s software is trusted by over 100,000 customers, including The San Diego Union Tribune, The University of Texas, PBS, and ESPN, demonstrating its positive reputation. 

After you upload your interview audio or video file, you can edit your transcript with built-in timestamps and speaker identification. Then, you can download, save, and export the transcript in various formats. 

Temi does offer a free trial for a transcript under 45 minutes, with access to all features. 

Key Features: 

• 90% to 95% accuracy rate

• Transcript marked with custom timestamps

• Data encrypted secure platform

• Multiple export options, including MS Word, PDF, SRT, VTT, and more

Pricing: Free trial, pre-purchase basis payments of $0.25 per minute

Supported transcription languages: English

8. Trint

Excellent for turning research into video content.

If you use video content to present your research findings, Trint is an ideal choice. Trint uses AI transcription to turn audio and video files into text. Many of its features are geared towards content creators, but they would also be helpful for any professional interested in creating content from their research or collaborating with others. This software is also trusted by prestigious brands like The Washington Post and Nike. 

All the transcripts stored in Trint are searchable, editable, and kept in a collaborative doc form that makes it easy to share with a team. Trint’s edit tools allow you to highlight key quotes from the transcript and craft a solid narrative to share with others. 

We like that Trint offers an iOS app because it makes capturing live interviews or phone calls more manageable, saving you time when setting up your interview. You can also pause the subscription plan any time if you don’t need to transcribe interviews that month. However, you will be charged a $5 fee for each paused month in return for Trint storing your files securely. 

Key Features: 

• ISO-certified security

• Editor integrates with content creation tools like Adobe Premiere

• Edit and generate closed captions

• Built-in search functions

Pricing: Free trial available, Starter plan $60/month for 1 - 3 users, Advanced plan $75/month for 1 - 15 users, Enterprise plan is custom pricing, Annual plans available for reduced rates

Supported transcription languages: Trint supports over 30 languages, including English, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Danish, Chinese Mandarin, Spanish, and more.

FAQs

What are the best methods to transcribe an interview?

The best method to transcribe an interview is using an interview transcription service. An interview transcription service will either automatically transcribe the interview using AI technology or manually translate it through human-made transcription services. Both options can provide you with an accurate, nearly error-free transcription to reference for your notes, research, and quoting your source precisely. 

What transcription methods can be used to transcribe an interview?

You can use a few transcription methods to transcribe an interview, including manual transcription and using transcription software or service. Manual transcription is time-consuming and will be challenging as you’ll need to write or type everything said during the interview verbatim, or you’ll need to take additional time after the interview to transcribe the interview while you listen to a recording. 

However, a transcription software or service that transcribes the interview recording can save you a lot of time and frustration. Transcription software takes a live conversation or audio file and converts it into a transcript for you. Many of these transcription software programs are highly accurate and will only need minimal editing afterward to review the transcription. 

What are the different types of transcription?

The different types of transcription include edited transcription, verbatim transcription, phonetic transcription, and intelligent verbatim transcription.

An edited transcription is the most accurate and complete transcription because it has been edited and formatted, so it’s free of grammatical mistakes, incomplete sentences, and slang.

A verbatim transcription is the least polished because it’s an exact copy of the spoken language from the audio or video files. This type of transcription will include throat clearing and verbal pauses, such as “uh.” It will also indicate laughter or sarcasm.

An intelligent verbatim transcription is the same as a verbatim transcription, but it excludes repetitions and filler words.

Lastly, a phonetic transcription demonstrates how words are actually said in the English language. Instead of using the 26 letters in the English alphabet, it will also include the 44 unique sounds known as phonemes. This type of transcription can help indicate how words are pronounced, especially if you’re studying or dealing with multiple dialects. 

How long does it take to transcribe a one-hour interview?

On average, it takes four hours to transcribe a one-hour interview if you’re making the transcription manually and not a skilled professional. However, using an interview transcription software like Notta can save you hours of time transcribing the interview by generating a transcription for you. 

What is the most common method for transcribing an interview?

The most common method for transcribing an interview is intelligent verbatim transcription because it is more readable than verbatim transcription, which includes filler words and pauses. 

However, some data, like the emotion behind what was being said, is lost during intelligent verbatim transcription, so keep this in mind when deciding what transcription method to use for your interviews. 

Conclusion

Interview transcription software saves you a lot of time. It creates a more accurate interview record than many of us would be able to produce manually transcribing the interview. After all, you don’t want to risk misquoting someone or inaccurately representing information in your research paper or article. 

Before choosing an interview transcription software, take time to assess what features are most important to you. If you’re on the go a lot, a mobile app may be a must-have for you. Consider if you need transcription software that offers live transcription too. Do you often work on tight deadlines and need interview material now, or can you wait a few hours before you receive your interview transcription? 

Notta is an excellent choice for creating interview transcriptions because it offers a mobile app, Chrome extension, and browser functionality. You also have a comprehensive suite of editing, export, and collaboration tools at your disposal, allowing you to have the best of both worlds.