Best Free Transcription Software (2026): 10 Tools Compared
The best free transcription software depends on how much you record. For hour-long lectures, interviews or meetings every week, our pick is HypeScribe: it takes files of any length in the browser with nothing to set up, and you can try it for a week before you pick a plan. For a few files a day, TurboScribe's free plan transcribes 3 files of up to 30 minutes each. For unlimited free transcription, Whisper-based apps such as MacWhisper on a Mac and Buzz on Windows, Mac or Linux run on your own computer, offline. For one file without signing up, Riverside's free tool gives you a TXT or SRT.
- Long recordings every week: HypeScribe, with a 7-day trial.
- A few short files: TurboScribe, 3 files a day up to 30 minutes.
- No limits, offline: MacWhisper Free or Buzz, both built on OpenAI's Whisper.
- One file, no account: Riverside's free transcription tool.
- Typing it yourself: oTranscribe in the browser or Express Scribe.
Free transcription software compared
We looked at what each tool gives without paying, on its own pricing page, README or help center, in October 2026, and left out plans that are only a short trial. "Free limit" is how much you can transcribe without paying; the other columns show what the free version does. "Not listed" means the tool's own pages don't say.
HypeScribe: our pick for long recordings
HypeScribe is a paid service with a 7-day trial, made for people who record every week: lectures, research interviews, client calls. It works in the browser on any computer or phone with nothing to set up, takes recordings of any length and links, and adds an overview, action items and an AI assistant to every transcript. If you only need a few short files or want to stay offline, the free tools below will do.
- Ways in: upload a file of any length (on an iPhone, straight from Photos or Files), paste a link from YouTube, Zoom, Google Drive, Loom, TikTok or Instagram, or forward the file to your private HypeScribe email address. The notetaker joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls by link or from your Google Calendar, and you can record live in the browser on a computer or a phone.
- What you get: the transcript with speaker labels and timestamps in 99+ languages, an overview and outline, action items as a checklist, and the audio player with how long each person spoke. An AI assistant answers questions about the recording on the model you choose: GPT, Claude, Grok or DeepSeek. If the summary comes out in another language, one click translates it.
- Working with the text: search any word, select a sentence and press Play from here to hear it, fix a word, rename a speaker everywhere at once, and download as TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT or Markdown, or share it by link.
- Where it goes next: 18 apps, such as Slack for the summary, Linear, Jira or Notion for the tasks and HubSpot or Google Docs for the call record. Your transcripts also open from ChatGPT or Claude through the MCP server, and from your own scripts through the API.
Files are encrypted in transit and never stored for AI training. It needs an internet connection; for offline transcription, see MacWhisper and Buzz below. For a full comparison with paid tools, see our guide to AI transcription software.
What's the best free transcription software for a few files?
TurboScribe
TurboScribe's free plan is a real plan, not a trial: 3 files every day, each up to 30 minutes, one at a time and in a slower queue. It covers 98+ languages, and the paid version exports PDF, DOCX, SRT, VTT, CSV and TXT; the pricing page doesn't say which of those the free plan gets. It works well for short interviews and voice memos you transcribe now and then.
Recordings longer than half an hour need its paid plan, which takes files up to 10 hours.
Riverside free transcription tool
Riverside's free tool needs no account: upload an audio or video file, wait, and download the transcript as TXT or SRT, in 100+ languages. Riverside says you can transcribe unlimited files this way.
The catch is speakers: if two people talk, the free tool puts all the text under one speaker. It's fine for a solo voice memo or a lecture, less so for an interview.
Rev Free
Rev now has a free plan with 45 minutes of AI transcription and captions a month, for one user. It's English only, and Rev doesn't state the longest file the free plan takes, so it suits a short English recording once in a while, not a weekly series.
Which free transcription software has no limits?
These three run on your own computer, so the file never leaves it, and none of them states a monthly cap. The first run downloads a speech model, and speed depends on your computer: a long file on an older laptop can take a while.
MacWhisper Free
MacWhisper transcribes on your Mac with OpenAI's Whisper models, and nothing leaves the computer. The free version handles MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, MOV and other common files in 100 languages and exports TXT, SRT and VTT. It needs macOS 14 or newer and is now on iPhone and iPad too.
Speaker labels, batch transcription, YouTube links and DOCX or PDF export are in Pro, a one-time paid license.
Buzz
Buzz is the free, open-source option for Windows and Linux as well as Mac. It runs Whisper and other models offline once you've downloaded them, takes audio and video files or YouTube links, labels speakers and exports TXT, SRT and VTT.
Two caveats from its own README: the Windows installer isn't signed, so Windows shows a warning, and current versions need an Apple silicon Mac (1.4.5 was the last for Intel).
OpenAI Whisper
Whisper itself is free under the MIT license and runs from the command line. You install it with Python and FFmpeg, then run something like whisper interview.mp3 --model turbo to get TXT, SRT, VTT and other files.
The larger models need about 6 to 10 GB of video memory, by the README's table. If you'd rather not touch a terminal, MacWhisper and Buzz give you the same models with buttons.
Free transcription apps for meetings and editing
Otter.ai Basic
Otter's free plan is built for live meetings: 300 minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, with speaker identification, on the web, in its phone apps and on Mac and Windows. Recorded files are another story: Basic allows 3 file imports for the lifetime of the account, and exports only TXT and MP3, so it won't work for uploading recordings regularly.
Descript Free
Descript is an editor first: you edit the audio or video by editing its transcript. The free plan gives 1 hour of media a month, files up to 1 GB, speaker detection and 25 languages. Video exports on the free plan are 720p with a watermark. An hour a month runs out with a single long interview.
Free software for transcribing by hand
If you'd rather type the transcript yourself, for a court record, research coding or a language AI handles badly, these tools play the audio while you type.
oTranscribe
oTranscribe is a free web app with the player and the text editor on one screen: keyboard shortcuts pause, rewind and fast-forward, and clicking a timestamp jumps to that moment. The audio and the transcript stay in your browser, and you export to Markdown, plain text or Google Docs. It works on desktop computers only.
Express Scribe Free
Express Scribe is a desktop player for Windows and Mac made for transcriptionists, with variable-speed playback, hotkeys and foot pedal control. It doesn't recognize speech itself: you type, it plays. The free version plays WAV, MP3, WMA and DCT and supports AltoEdge pedals; other pedals and video playback need Pro.
Free plans that don't work for uploaded files
- Notta Free: 120 minutes a month, but each recording is cut at 3 minutes.
- Happy Scribe Free: unlimited meeting recordings up to 45 minutes, but uploaded files get a one-time 10-minute trial.
- Sonix and Trint: trials only, 30 free minutes once at Sonix and 7 days for up to three files at Trint.
- Microsoft Word Transcribe: 300 minutes of uploads a month, but only with a Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Google Recorder and Live Transcribe: free on Android, but they transcribe what you record or hear live, not files you already have.
Lectures, interviews, meetings
Transcribe the whole recording, however long it runs
Upload an interview or paste a link, find the quote you need in the transcript, and share the notes with a link or send them to Notion or Slack. Try HypeScribe for a week before you pick a plan.
FAQ
Is there completely free transcription software?
Yes: OpenAI Whisper, Buzz and MacWhisper Free run on your own computer with no monthly limit, and oTranscribe and Express Scribe Free are free for typing transcripts by hand. Online services give a free allowance instead, such as TurboScribe's 3 files a day.
What's the best free transcription app for long recordings?
Offline: MacWhisper or Buzz, which state no length limit. Online, TurboScribe's and Otter's free plans stop at 30 minutes per file. For hour-long files without setup, HypeScribe has a 7-day trial.
Can I transcribe audio to text for free without uploading it?
Yes. MacWhisper, Buzz and Whisper process the file on your computer, and oTranscribe keeps the audio in your browser while you type.
Which free transcription software labels speakers?
Buzz, Otter Basic and Descript Free label speakers on their free versions; in MacWhisper it's a Pro feature, and Riverside's free tool puts everyone under one speaker.
