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Design, Video & Audio

Best Audio Transcription Software in 2026

When recorded speech needs to become searchable or reusable text, transcription software can help with the conversion. Compare supported languages, maximum file length, and monthly transcription limits with real-time transcription and speaker identification to see what fits your recordings.

  1. 01 Avoma

    Avoma suits teams that need meeting capture, transcription, summaries, and action items across the listed meeting platforms.

    From $19/mo Free plan Web · macOS · iOS · Android
    9.4 Visit Specs
  2. 02 Fathom

    Fathom suits people who want meeting recordings, transcripts, summaries, and action items for supported video meeting platforms.

    From $15/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · iOS
    9.2 Visit Specs
  3. 03 ElevenLabs
    From $6/mo Free plan Web · API
    9.0 Visit Specs
  4. 04 Notta
    From $8.17/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · iOS
    9.0 Visit Specs
  5. 05 Amazon Transcribe
    From $0.01/mo Free plan Web · API
    8.9 Visit Specs
  6. 06 ESPnet

    ESPnet suits developers and researchers building speech-processing workflows who can work with its installation and task dependencies.

    Free plan Open source Windows · macOS · Linux · API
    8.9 Visit Specs
  7. 07 Gladia

    Gladia suits developers building audio recording, transcription, or analysis into products through an API.

    From $0.20/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · API
    8.9 Visit Specs
  8. 08 Happy Scribe

    It suits people who need multilingual transcription, subtitling, or translation, and teams that collaborate on recorded material.

    From $8.50/mo Free plan macOS · iOS · Android · API
    8.9 Visit Specs
  9. 09 Rev AI
    From $0.01/mo Free plan Web · iOS · Android · API
    8.9 Visit Specs
  10. 10 AssemblyAI

    It suits developers building transcription, speech-understanding, or voice applications who need API access, language coverage, or self-hosting.

    From $0.15/mo Free plan Web · API · Self-hosted
    8.8 Visit Specs
  11. 11 Fireflies.ai
    From $10/mo Free plan Browser extension
    8.8 Visit Specs
  12. 12 Grain

    Grain suits small to mid-market and enterprise sales, customer success, and product teams that want searchable meeting records and follow-up.

    From $15/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · API
    8.8 Visit Specs
  13. 13 Otter.ai

    Otter.ai suits people and teams who want searchable meeting transcripts, summaries and action items.

    Free plan Windows · macOS · iOS · Android
    8.8 Visit Specs
  14. 14 Rev

    Rev is positioned for legal and investigative teams, including attorneys, law enforcement, investigators, journalists, and researchers.

    From $25.49/mo Free plan Web · iOS · Android · API
    8.8 Visit Specs
  15. 15 Speechmatics

    Speechmatics suits teams building transcription, voice-agent, or speech-synthesis workflows, including listed healthcare, legal, contact center, and meeting use cases.

    From $0.01/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux
    8.8 Visit Specs
  16. 16 tl;dv

    tl;dv suits people who want recordings and transcripts of meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, along with summaries and action items.

    From $18/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · iOS
    8.7 Visit Specs
  17. 17 IBM Watson Speech to Text
    From $0.02/mo Free plan API · Self-hosted
    8.6 Visit Specs
  18. 18 Google Cloud Speech-to-Text

    Speech-to-Text suits developers integrating transcription into applications or workflows that need streaming, batch, or synchronous recognition.

    From $0.02/mo Free plan Web · API · Self-hosted
    8.5 Visit Specs
  19. 19 Azure AI Speech
    Free plan Web · API · Self-hosted
    8.4 Visit Specs
  20. 20 MacWhisper
    From €64/mo Free plan macOS · iOS
    8.4 Visit Specs
  21. 21 noScribe

    It suits researchers, journalists, and others working with interview or sensitive audio who want local transcription and transcript-editing tools.

    Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux
    8.4 Visit Specs
  22. 22 Avidemux
    Free plan Open source Web · Windows · macOS · Linux
    8.2 Visit Specs
  23. 23 oTranscribe
    Free plan Open source Web · Self-hosted
    8.2 Visit Specs
  24. 24 OpenASR
    Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · API
    8.1 Visit Specs
  25. 25 Transkriptor

    Transkriptor suits people who need audio transcription or translation across supported languages, with speaker labels and timestamps.

    From $8.33/mo Web · iOS · Android · API
    8.1 Visit Specs
How this list is ordered. Specifiction scores each tool on how fully its maker documents it, whether its prices are published, where the research puts it, the platforms it runs on and whether it can be tried for free (how we rank). Makers can also buy a numbered place (how Specifiction is paid for).

API access can be relevant when transcription is part of a broader workflow; free-plan availability and paid-from pricing add cost context. Happy Scribe, Grain, and Notta are among the entries to weigh. Consider whether you need live results or speaker labels, then check the listed language coverage and limits against the audio you expect to process.

Compare Avoma and Fathom Get a place on this list

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