Audio to Text Transcription – 15 Speech-to-Text Tools (Free & Pro)

Transcribing an audio file or recording into text can be tedious. If you want to take notes without writing, keep track of a meeting, or convert a video into text, you know this. Fortunately, many free and professional tools allow you to convert voice to text.

Discover the 15 best Speech-to-Text tools according to your needs.

How to Transcribe a Speech to Text? (15 tools)

Vook AI

Vook.ai uses AI to produce accurate, fast, and high-quality transcriptions. With this professional tool, you can transcribe audio to text in record time: a several-hour audio recording is transcribed in just a few minutes.

Transcription accuracy averages 90% for standard-quality audio and can reach 100% for high-quality recordings. Vook.ai is compatible with many audio and video formats (mp3, wav, m4a, ogg, flac, aac, webm, wma, avi, mov, mkv, wmv, and flv).

This tool can transcribe audio content in six different languages. And in collaboration with the artificial intelligence translation tool Deepl, Vook.ai also provides a translation function. On the other hand, if your recording contains multiple voices, the platform can automatically distinguish them, if that interests you as part of your transcription project.

If you wish, you can distribute your text transcription via WhatsApp, Twitter, or email, or export it in PDF, .docx, or HTML format.

Vook.ai’s pricing is based on an hourly rate schedule, offering flexibility to use the service as needed. Access starts at €3 per hour, and a one-hour trial is offered for free. This free offer allows you to test the full power of the solution before committing.

Google Docs

The second technique, which is completely free, is to use Google Docs and its built-in voice recorder to convert speech to text. If you simply want to speak rather than write a text, this method will be simple and won’t cost you a euro.

There is no need to introduce Docs, the famous online word-processing tool developed by Google. It turns out that this tool has a feature that interests us: voice input. Thanks to this, you will simply be able to enter text by speaking: that’s more or less what we’re looking for, right?

Compared to other software we will see, it is less optimized because it is not the core of Docs. Nevertheless, it can help in certain situations. The advantage is that your text will be directly integrated into a word-processing tool if that is what you want to do with it.

Dictation.io

With Dictation, it is very easy to transcribe. When you arrive on the site, you can go to “Speech Recognition commands” and choose the language you will speak in.

Then you must go to the tool and click “Start”. The interface is quite simple; it looks like many online spelling or note-taking tools.

For this site to work, you will need to allow the site and your browser to use your microphone. Then, all you have to do is speak, and Dictation will type for you.

Dictation is free and offers speech-to-text in around 30 languages, including French, English, Spanish, and German.

When you have finished recording your text, you have other options available to you. You can, of course, copy the message, download it as a .txt file, listen to it (text-to-speech), send it by email, and print it. In concrete terms, you do what you want with your text. It should also be noted that there are special voice commands, such as one to make a line break.

Descript

Descript is a transcription platform that stands out for its accuracy, speed, and precision. The tool offers more advanced features and is not limited to audio transcription.

Here’s an overview of the key features and benefits of Descript’s transcription solution:

• Accuracy and Value for Money: Descript offers automatic transcription with decent accuracy. Transcription is almost instantaneous and comes at a very affordable cost of pennies per minute.
• White Glove Service: For jobs that require absolute perfection, Descript offers a “White Glove” service with professional transcribers. This service guarantees accuracy of up to 99% and is delivered on average within 24 hours for $2 per minute.
• Multilingual Support: Descript can transcribe audio in 22 languages, including Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and many more, as well as English.
• Security and Privacy: The platform ensures the privacy of user data. Descript uses world-class technologies and services to ensure the security and privacy of information.
• Cloud Sync: With Descript, you and your collaborators can instantly access your transcriptions from anywhere while enjoying a full version history.
• Free Plan: Descript offers a free plan to explore its features without requiring a credit card. This plan allows for 1 hour of transcription per month. For those who need more capabilities, paid plans start at $12 per month.

Happy Scribe

So far, we have seen 2 interesting tools, one of which is completely free and the other professional. If you want to transcribe a video, an audio file, or something else, a professional solution like Happy Scribe is also a great option.

First, it is important to note that this tool supports more than 120 languages. Happy Scribe offers several transcription services, but we will focus on their automatic transcription tool. You should know that it is not free, but it is not expensive either: it will cost 20 cents per minute transcribed.

The process is very simple on Happy Scribe:

• You send your file or the URL of the video to be translated
• The software takes care of transcribing it.
• Once he has finished his work, he sends you the result
• Finally, you can, of course, choose the format in which you wish to export your text: PDF, TXT, DOCX, etc.

Since you’re billed per minute translated, there’s no upload limit, regardless of the file’s length or size. On average, translation accuracy is 85%, and you can even create collaborative storage spaces or connect the software to YouTube or Zapier.

However, if you are doing it for professional purposes, there is a formula at 3€/minute with 95 % accuracy!

If you want to test Happy Scribe for free, you can.

Dicter

Dictate – Speech to Text is a free app available for download on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.

At first glance, this application seems quite ordinary and simple, but it offers far more functionality than you might think. First of all, you will be able to record yourself and then transcribe it into text. You can do the same process from files stored on your device, which is convenient.

For some languages, it is possible to do speech-to-text offline. Unfortunately, this is not possible in French at the moment. French is, however, present if you are connected to the internet.

One advantage over the iPhone voice recording tool is that there is no time limit here. You can record yourself for as long as you want. It is even possible to translate using this tool.

Speechnotes

The app we saw earlier is only available on iOS. To keep everyone happy, here is an audio-to-text transcription app for Android devices: Speechnotes. You can, of course, download it from the Play Store or use its online version for free if you prefer to use a computer.

This tool is free, but it offers a paid version to remove ads. The tool is compatible with Bluetooth, so you can record audio with your wireless headphones without any problem.

It is very easy to use and quite accurate since it uses Google Voice recognition software. Plus, you don’t need to be logged in to start recording.

Otter.ai

Otter.ai is a speech-to-text tool designed for professionals who need to transcribe quickly and hassle-free. Otter is available not only on the web but also on Android and iOS, making it easy to use on the go, such as during meetings.

With the free version of the solution, you can transcribe 300 minutes of audio each month, with a maximum of 30 minutes per transcription.

You will, therefore, be able to record conversations, translate them live, share notes with your colleagues, and even create collaborative groups.

The tool has other interesting features in addition to all this. You will be able to import audio or video files for transcription and connect to Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet. There are a whole bunch of other features that can improve your user experience, especially in a professional setting.

SpeechTexter

If you want to use a free online site to dictate text for transcription, SpeechTexter will probably suit you (though there are many advertisements on the site).

Completely free, the tool allows you to transcribe your voice into text instantly. The tool supports many languages; it is not limited to French.

Also Read: Top AI Sound Generators

Trint

Trint is an AI–powered professional transcription platform for audio and video files. It automatically converts audio and video files into text, making it easier to search, analyze, and share this content.

Trint uses an advanced speech recognition algorithm to automatically transcribe audio and video recordings into text. The tool also has a correction interface that allows users to edit transcriptions and improve text accuracy.

Once the files are transcribed, Trint allows you to search and analyze the content using specific keywords or phrases. The tool also makes it easy to share and collaborate on transcripts by allowing them to be exported in different formats and offering real- time collaboration features.

The downside of this tool is its price. Indeed, the first subscription starts at 48€/user/month, and you have 7 days to test the software for free.

Microsoft Azure AI Speech

Microsoft Azure AI Speech offers a transcription service through its Speech-to-Text API. In its free version, Azure lets you test its capabilities with up to 5 hours of transcription per month.

Benefits:

• Accuracy: Very good, thanks to Microsoft’s algorithms.
• Developer-friendly: Ability to integrate into projects via API.

Boundaries:

• Requires technical knowledge to use effectively.
• The free version is limited in duration.

Google Cloud Speech to Text

Google Cloud’s Speech-to-Text service lets you transcribe audio into text using artificial intelligence. It supports over 125 languages ​​and offers transcriptions in real time or from audio files.

Thanks to its Chirp model, which is trained on millions of hours of data, it offers very good precision and can adapt to specific accents and expressions.

Users get 60 free minutes per month for audio transcription via the API. If you want to test the solution online, you can download an audio file in less than a minute.

Sonix

Although Sonix is ​​a paid tool, it offers a 30-minute free trial for new users. It is an online transcription platform that allows you to upload audio and video files to convert them into text.

Benefits:

• High Accuracy: Uses sophisticated algorithms for accurate transcriptions.
• Multilingual Support: Compatible with multiple languages.
• Editing Features: Review and edit transcripts directly on the platform.

Boundaries:

• The trial period is limited to 30 minutes, which may not be enough for large projects.
• High cost after the free trial period.

Also Read: Best AI Dubbing Tools

Murf AI

Murf.ai offers a professional audio-to-text converter that can transcribe audio files to text in over 20 languages.

Using the “Voice Changer” feature, you can upload an audio file (.mp3 or .mp4 formats), select the language, and automatically generate an accurate transcription.

You can also edit and export the transcript in various formats (TXT, DOCX).

Veed.io