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Best Free Transcription Tools in 2026

Discover the best free transcription software. No credit card required. 1 completely free tools and 14 with generous free tiers.

Free= 100% free, no payment ever
Freemium= Free tier + paid upgrades
How we picked·15 verified free options·Ranked by real G2/Capterra signals, not vendor pitch·Quotas re-checked monthly
As featured inBloombergTechCrunchForbesThe VergeCNBC
Key Takeaways
  • Fathom is our #1 pick for free transcription in 2026.
  • We analyzed 15 free transcription tools to create this ranking.
  • 15 tools offer free plans, perfect for getting started.

Top 5 free transcription tools at a glance

ToolTypeRatingBest for
Fathom100% Free5.0(7,006)
AI notetaker that summarizes your meetings so you can focus on the conversation.
Ask FellowFree Tier4.8(2,396)
Secure AI meeting assistant to record, transcribe, and summarize every meeting with privacy in mind.
Otter.aiFree Tier4.5(1,655)
AI meeting notes and transcription
AvomaFree Tier4.6(1,358)
AI meeting assistant for revenue teams
ScratchpadFree Tier4.4(1,652)
The AI workspace for sales that removes admin work and boosts productivity.

Free tier limits compared

The quotas, length caps and watermark policies vendor pricing pages often hide. 12 of 15 transcription tools verified.

ToolFree quotaLanguagesSpeaker IDExport formatsMode
FathomUnlimited recordings + transcriptionsNot specifiedNoNot specifiedNot specified
Ask Fellow5 AI notes (lifetime) / user, 5 AI recordings (lifetime) / user, 5 audio/video uploads per user lifetime99NonotesUpload only
Otter.ai300 min/month6 (English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese)YesMP3, TXTBoth (live + 3 lifetime file imports)
Avoma14-day free trial of Organization plan70+Yes
Scratchpad10 hours/month call recording, 100 AI credits/user/monthNot specifiedNoNot specifiedNot specified
Descript60 min (1 hour) per editor per monthn/an/an/aUpload + screen recording (web app)
Riverside.fm2 hours of multi-track recordingsn/an/an/an/a
Fireflies.ai800 mins of storage/seat100+Notranscripts, summaries, recordingsBoth (live + upload)
Kapwing10 credits60+NoMP4, PNG, JPG, MP3, GIFUpload only
tl;dvUnlimited recordings & transcriptions30+n/a
Deepgram$200 credit then pay-as-you-go45+NoBoth (live + upload)
GrainFree viewer seats only; cannot record/upload/import meetingsNot specifiedNoNot specifiedView only (no recording)

Otter.ai: File imports capped at 3 LIFETIME on free. PDF/DOCX/SRT export is paid-only. No accuracy SLA disclosed.

Descript: Media minutes are 'imported or recorded' minutes — they count once even if edited multiple times. Compare to Hobbyist 600 min, Creator 1800 min, Business 2400 min.

When you'll outgrow the free tier

The exact ceiling each tool hides on its pricing page. If your usage crosses these lines, plan for an upgrade.

  • Otter.ai: File imports capped at 3 LIFETIME on free. PDF/DOCX/SRT export is paid-only. No accuracy SLA disclosed.
  • Descript: Media minutes are 'imported or recorded' minutes — they count once even if edited multiple times. Compare to Hobbyist 600 min, Creator 1800 min, Business 2400 min.
1
Fathom logo

Fathom

AI notetaker that summarizes your meetings so you can focus on the conversation.

5.0(7,006)
100% Free5.0/57,006 ratings

Fathom is an AI notetaker that automatically transcribes, summarizes, and extracts action items from your virtual meetings. It aims to eliminate the need for manual note-taking, allowing users to stay fully present during conversations. The tool provides shockingly accurate transcripts, instant summaries, and action items, which are delivered directly to your inbox. Fathom integrates seamlessly with popular communication and productivity tools like Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, and Asana, automatically syncing meeting notes, insights, and action items. It also features an "Ask Fathom" capability, allowing users to search meeting content and get customizable AI summaries tailored to their team's workflow. This helps teams move work forward faster by reducing time spent on searching and follow-up. Fathom is designed for various teams including sales, marketing, operations, HR, and product & engineering, helping them improve collaboration, track progress, and gain actionable insights from every meeting.

2
Ask Fellow logo

Ask Fellow

Secure AI meeting assistant to record, transcribe, and summarize every meeting with privacy in mind.

4.8(2,396)
Free Tier Available4.8/52,396 ratings

Fellow.ai is an AI meeting assistant designed to securely record, transcribe, and summarize meetings across various platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. It prioritizes privacy by ensuring AI models are never trained on user data and offers robust control settings for who can access recordings and notes. The platform centralizes all meeting assets, making them searchable and actionable. Beyond basic transcription and summarization, Fellow.ai includes an AI agent called AskFellow that can answer questions about meetings, generate documents, automate email follow-ups, create memos, and update CRM systems. It also provides collaborative agendas for pre-meeting preparation and offers integrations with over 50 tools, including project management platforms, Confluence, Notion, Salesforce, and HubSpot. Fellow.ai is built for entire organizations, offering enterprise-grade features like advanced recording permissions, domain control, user provisioning, and org-wide analytics, making it suitable for teams across customer success, marketing, engineering, sales, product, HR, and IT. This tool is ideal for individuals and organizations looking to enhance meeting productivity, ensure data privacy, and streamline post-meeting workflows. It helps teams stay organized, informed, and efficient by automating tedious tasks associated with meeting management and follow-up.

3
Otter.ai logo

Otter.ai

AI meeting notes and transcription

4.5(1,655)
Free Tier Available4.5/51,655 ratings

Otter.ai is an AI-powered meeting assistant that automatically transcribes, summarizes, and extracts action items from your meetings. With up to 95% accuracy, it works seamlessly with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, joining your meetings as a participant to capture everything. Beyond transcription, Otter uses AI to generate summaries, identify key topics, and assign action items to team members. The AI Chat feature lets you query past conversations-ask "What did we decide about the Q4 budget?" and get instant answers. With integrations to Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Notion, Otter fits into existing workflows. Used by major companies including Salesforce, Harvard, Amazon, and IBM, it is consistently rated as one of the most accurate transcription tools available.

4
Avoma logo

Avoma

AI meeting assistant for revenue teams

4.6(1,358)
Free Tier Available4.6/51,358 ratings

Avoma is an AI meeting intelligence platform for revenue teams. It provides meeting recording, transcription, notes, and conversation intelligence to help sales and customer success teams improve performance.

5
Scratchpad logo

Scratchpad

The AI workspace for sales that removes admin work and boosts productivity.

4.4(1,652)
Free Tier Available4.4/51,652 ratings

Scratchpad is an AI-powered workspace designed for sales professionals to streamline their workflow, reduce administrative tasks, and improve CRM data quality. It acts as a modern interface between sales teams and Salesforce, offering a fast and flexible environment for managing deals, taking notes, and updating records. The platform integrates various tools like sales sheets, a notetaker with call recording and AI transcription, and AI agents that automatically update Salesforce fields. By automating mundane tasks and providing real-time data synchronization with Salesforce, Scratchpad helps sellers focus more on selling, leading to higher adoption of CRM, better data accuracy, and improved team alignment. It's ideal for sales teams and RevOps leaders looking to enhance sales execution and scale revenue.

6
Descript logo

Descript

Edit audio and video like a doc

4.6(1,037)
Free Tier Available4.6/51,037 ratings

Descript is an all-in-one video and podcast editor with text-based editing, AI voice cloning, transcription in 25+ languages, and Underlord AI tools for automated editing and content creation.

7
Speechify Voice Typing logo

Speechify Voice Typing

Free Voice Typing Dictation. Just Talk.

4.6(878)
Free Tier Available4.6/5878 ratings

Speechify Voice Typing is an AI-powered speech-to-text tool that converts spoken words into accurate, editable text in real time. It supports multiple languages and accents, offers voice commands for punctuation and formatting, and integrates with popular apps like Google Docs and email clients. The adaptive AI learns from usage patterns to improve accuracy over time.

8
Riverside.fm logo

Riverside.fm

Record podcasts and videos remotely

4.2(1,661)
Free Tier Available4.2/51,661 ratings

Riverside is an AI-powered platform for recording, editing, and distributing professional video and audio content remotely. It captures studio-quality recordings locally at up to 4K video and 48kHz audio, independent of internet quality. The platform includes a text-based video editor, AI-driven noise removal, filler word removal, eye contact correction, automatic transcription, and Magic Clips that generate short-form social content automatically. Riverside supports live streaming in full HD to multiple destinations simultaneously, podcast hosting with analytics, and direct publishing to YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Used by Spotify, Microsoft, The New York Times, and TED.

9
Fireflies.ai logo

Fireflies.ai

AI meeting transcription and search

4.7(735)
Free Tier Available4.7/5735 ratings

Fireflies.ai transcribes meetings and extracts insights. Automatic call recording, AI transcription, and smart summaries-meeting content captured and made searchable. Integration with major meeting platforms is automatic. The search finds topics across conversations. Action items surface automatically. Busy professionals use Fireflies to never lose meeting context and always find what was discussed.

10
Kapwing logo

Kapwing

Browser-based video editor with AI features

4.3(247)
Free Tier Available4.3/5247 ratings

Kapwing is an AI-powered video editor with auto-subtitles, dubbing, text-to-speech, and collaborative editing. Features include AI video generation and brand kit management for teams.

11
tl;dv logo

tl;dv

AI meeting recorder for sales and product

4.7(486)
Free Tier Available4.7/5486 ratings

tl;dv records and transcribes meetings so you never have to take notes again. AI generates summaries with key moments and action items. Timestamp and clip important parts for easy sharing. Search across all your meeting recordings. Integrates with Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Never say 'can you repeat that?' again.

12
MeetGeek logo

MeetGeek

AI meeting assistant for recording and summaries

4.6(489)
Free Tier Available4.6/5489 ratings

MeetGeek is an AI meeting assistant that automatically records, transcribes, and summarizes video meetings. It joins your calls as a participant and captures everything, then uses AI to generate meeting notes, action items, and key highlights. MeetGeek works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and other platforms. The tool helps teams who have too many meetings stay aligned without everyone attending. Popular among sales teams, managers, and remote teams who need to review or share meeting content.

13
CoRecruit logo

CoRecruit

AI assistant for recruitment agencies, automating notes, ATS updates, and candidate submittals.

4.7(404)
Free Tier Available4.7/5404 ratings

CoRecruit is an AI assistant specifically designed for recruitment agencies to streamline their workflow and enhance efficiency. It automates administrative tasks such as taking interview notes, updating Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and generating candidate submittals. The platform aims to save recruiters over 8 hours per week, allowing them to focus more on placements. CoRecruit integrates seamlessly into existing recruiting workflows, capturing conversation details from various communication channels like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, mobile calls, and in-person meetings using a "botless" technology. This ensures privacy and a professional candidate experience. It then processes this data to provide multi-language transcriptions, instant summaries, and automatically updates custom fields and attachments within the ATS. The tool also facilitates the creation of branded candidate summaries and submittals, including the option to embed video snippets, and automates client follow-ups. CoRecruit is built with enterprise-grade security, including SOC 2 Type II certification and GDPR compliance, ensuring data protection and ownership for recruiting firms.

14
Deepgram logo

Deepgram

Enterprise Voice AI: STT, TTS & Agent APIs for accurate, realistic, and cost-effective voice solutions.

4.6(437)
Free Tier Available4.6/5437 ratings

Deepgram is an AI speech platform with speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and voice agent APIs. Features fast, accurate transcription with custom model training.

15
Grain logo

Grain

AI meeting notes and highlights

4.6(300)
Free Tier Available4.6/5300 ratings

Grain is a video meeting recorder that captures, transcribes, and organizes your calls. AI identifies key moments and creates shareable clips. Automatically joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams meetings. Search across all your meeting content. Share insights with stakeholders without forwarding entire recordings. Turn hours of meetings into minutes of actionable highlights.

Related

Why choose free transcription software?

Free transcription tools are an excellent way to get started without financial commitment. Whether you're a startup, freelancer, or small business, these tools offer essential features at no cost.

What to look for in free transcription tools

  • Feature limitations: Understand what's included in the free tier vs paid plans
  • Usage limits: Check for restrictions on users, storage, or API calls
  • Data ownership: Ensure you own your data and can export it
  • Support: Free tiers often have community-only support
  • Upgrade path: Consider future needs if you outgrow the free tier

Free vs Freemium: what's the difference?

Free100% free, no payment ever

Completely free with no paid upgrades available. Best for simple, focused workflows that don't require advanced features.

FreemiumFree tier + paid upgrades

Generous free tier with optional paid plans that unlock advanced features, higher limits, or team collaboration.

Last updated: May 30, 2026