Free tool

Free transcription tools, compared

What seven of them actually give you for nothing — read from their own pricing pages on 21 September 2026, including where we lose.

Looked after by Clack, a typewriter with a sheet of paper in it.

ToolFree tierLongest single fileSpeaker labelsAccountWhat it costs after
Slice2 files a day, every day90 minutesYesNoNothing to pay — there is no paid tier of this tool
TurboScribeunverified3 transcriptions a day30 minutesYesYesUnlimited plan, price on their site
Otter.ai300 minutes a month30 minutes per conversationYesYes$8.33/user/month billed annually, $16.99 monthly
Descript60 minutes a monthWithin the monthly hourNoYes$16/month Hobbyist, $24/month Creator
Rev45 minutes a monthWithin the monthly 45Not statedYes$1.99/min for human transcription; subscriptions from 5,000 AI minutes
Sonix30 minutes, onceWithin the 30-minute trialYesYes$10/hour pay-as-you-go, or $25/month for 5 hours
Happy Scribe10-minute trial of AI transcription10 minutesYesYes£17/month for 120 minutes, extra at £0.20/min

Slice Capped by a monthly budget rather than a per-user quota. If the month runs out the tool says so.

TurboScribe Their pricing page refuses automated readers, so these are from their own marketing pages rather than the pricing table. Check before relying on it.

Otter.ai The catch is not the minutes: the free plan allows 3 file imports for the LIFETIME of the account. It is built for recording meetings, not uploading files.

Descript Speaker detection is listed on the paid tiers. It is an editor first — if you want to cut the video by editing the text, that is what it is for.

Rev The reason to use Rev is the human option. Nothing on this page competes with a person typing it out.

Sonix A trial rather than a free tier. Pay-as-you-go with no subscription is the useful part.

Happy Scribe Unlimited free meeting recording at 45 minutes a recording is separate from the AI transcription trial.

How to read this

Every number above came from that company’s own pricing page on 21 September 2026 — not from a roundup, not from a review site, not from memory. One row is marked unverified because the vendor’s pricing page refuses automated readers, so those figures came from their marketing pages instead. It seemed better to say so than to quietly treat the two as the same thing.

There is no winner and there are no stars. Every tool here is the right answer for somebody: if you want a person to type it out, that is Rev. If you want to edit video by editing its transcript, that is Descript. If you live in meetings, that is Otter. If you want ninety minutes of audio turned into text and subtitles right now without making an account, that is us.

Prices move several times a year. If you find one of these out of date, tell us and we will fix it and re-date the page.

Where Slice loses

Volume. 2 files a day is generous per file and thin per month. If you transcribe something every single day, Otter’s 300 monthly minutes will take you further.

Scope. No editor, no meeting bot, no human option. It turns audio into text and subtitles and then it stops.

Language. Tuned for English. It will transcribe other languages and tell you which one it detected, but we are not going to promise the accuracy, and a tool that promises everything in every language is either better than us or lying.

Questions

Which free transcription tool gives you the longest single file?
Slice, at 90 minutes per file, as of 21 September 2026. TurboScribe and Otter both stop at 30 minutes per file, Happy Scribe's AI trial at 10. Descript and Rev cap by the month rather than the file — 60 and 45 minutes respectively — so a single long recording uses the whole allowance.
Which free tiers label who is speaking?
Slice, TurboScribe, Otter, Sonix and Happy Scribe do. Descript lists speaker detection on its paid tiers. Rev's pricing page does not mention it either way, which is why this page says "not stated" rather than guessing.
Which ones work without an account?
Of these, only Slice. Everything else needs a signup before it will transcribe anything. Slice asks for an email address because the transcript is emailed to you, but there is no password and no account.
What is the catch with Otter’s free plan?
Not the 300 monthly minutes, which sound generous. It is that the free plan allows three audio or video file imports for the lifetime of the account, not three a month. Otter is built around recording meetings live; uploading files is deliberately not what its free tier is for.
Where does Slice lose?
Volume and scope. 2 files a day is less monthly audio than Otter's 300 minutes if you are transcribing every day, there is no editor, no meeting bot and no human transcription option, and it is tuned for English — it will transcribe other languages and tell you which it detected, but we will not promise the accuracy. If any of those matter, one of the others is your answer.
How current are these numbers?
Read from each vendor's own pricing page on 21 September 2026. Transcription pricing moves several times a year, so check before you commit money to any of them — including ours, which costs nothing and is therefore the easiest promise to keep.
Try the one this page is on

The transcription tool is free, takes files up to 90 minutes, labels who is speaking, and emails you the text, SRT and VTT. No account. There is also an HTTP API if you would rather call it than click it.

This tool is looked after by Clack.Listens hard, types fast, never asks you to repeat yourself.

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