The Best Apps to Transcribe Audio to Text

Why Use an App to Transcribe Audio?

Transcribing audio by oneself is probably the safest and the most effective way to extract the information from a recording. At the same time, it requires much effort and, if a track is long, a lot of repeating and double-checking of the result. Thus, it is much more beneficial to use a special app that will transcribe the recording and you will only need to review and edit it once.

The Best Web and Desktop Apps to Transcribe Audio Files to Text

There is a great variety of products in this category. Here you can find the most user-friendly and accurate web and desktop apps for audio transcription grouped by price. Paid:

Amazon Transcribe

As Amazon claims, their transcribing app is able to recognize different channels, accurately identifies speech in noisy environments, and provides convenient vocabulary filtering. This can be especially useful for recordings in customer support centers. Businesses are offered different flexible plans that can also include other services, which makes Amazon Transcribe one of the best solutions for retrieving and storage of data from audio recordings.

Verbit

This product has different plans depending on the industry and primarily targets education. Verbit is AI-driven, which may not work for those who aim at a high level of accuracy and speaker recognition, but it utilizes algorithms that reduce background noise. Although its effectiveness in live transcription may not be high, some plans offer human post-editing of the transcribed text.

Dragon Professional

starting at $300

This software positions itself as an instrument for professional use. If you heavily rely on voice recording in your work, probably this is one of the best choices for you. Nuance, the company that develops it, claims it is capable of 99% from the very beginning and will later be able to recognize a user’s voice better. The desktop app has an intuitive interface but in case one needs some help, it is possible to order some free user guide tutorials.

Speechmatics

This product is a solution for businesses and so its price depends on different parameters. Like Dragon Professional, this program is powered by machine learning, which means that it constantly improves in recognizing one’s speech and increases accuracy. One of the most useful features is that it allows creating live keyword triggers and live subtitling which can be of great use on some meetings in multilingual teams.

Useful information: When you need a professional transcription, localization, translation to any language it is better to use the help of Russian, French, or Swedish translator service.

Otter

starting at $8.33 per month, $99.96 annually

Otter is a cloud-based program specifically designed for some meetings, lectures, and collaboration between different teams. This solution might be ideal for those who often hold some online conferences with multiple participants since it provides a wide range of instruments to manage their interactions like distinguishing between speakers, real-time transcription, and indicating them in the text.

Microsoft Azure Speech to Text

At Microsoft, they claim that their transcribing app utilizes cutting-edge deep neural network technologies, which ensures almost 100% accuracy. It offers real-time transcribing, recognition of different speakers, and domain-specific terminology as well as flexible deployment. What may be especially attractive is the billing system, in which one pays only for the duration of the recording to be transcribed, which means it can be utilized by both companies and individual users, who might need it only once or twice.

Watson Speech To Text

This is a cloud-based program developed by IBM that uses technologies of AI and machine learning. Although Watson Speech To Text cannot transcribe speech in real-time, it offers a wide range of instruments for formatting, editing, tagging the speakers, and indicating timestamps. Like Microsoft Azure Speech to Text, its pricing is convenient for individual users since it charges only for the duration of the recording.

Free:

Windows 10 Speech recognition

There is good news for those, whose OS is Windows 10. It has an integrated speech recognition system powered by deep neural networks. Its accuracy is not very high but it is possible to train the system by recording one’s voice and providing access to one’s personal documents to analyze the vocabulary. Although Windows 10 Speech recognition is far from being perfect now, we can expect some major advances in the following years.

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Speechnotes.co

This is a web service that allows transcribing one’s speech with the possibility to edit and download the text. The interface is very easy to use: there are a start/stop button and a side menu with a few functions. Its accuracy is high enough, although not perfect. However, it might be useful when one quickly needs to convert handwriting into digital format by simply reading it aloud.

Mobile Speech to Text Apps

The main advantage of the use of mobile transcribing apps is portability. With the help of mobile apps, one can transcribe speech in almost any setting, which can be especially convenient for journalists or students. Below is the list of some of the most accurate and easy-to-use apps for transcribing audio recordings.

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Dragon Anywhere

This app is available on both the Play Market and App Store. Being a professional tool by Nuance company, it provides almost 99% accuracy of transcribing audio, and with the help of machine learning, it improves its preciseness over time. Dragon Anywhere also has tools for editing and exporting the text to Notes, social media, and messengers.

Gboard

Gboard or Google Keyboard is a tool suitable for some basic transcription. It is primarily designed for simple typing so it does not provide functions such as text editing but may be a good choice for making some quick notes. Moreover, it is available for free for all Android users.

Temi Record and Transcribe App

It is another AI-powered application for audio transcription with a convenient interface. Its creators claim it utilizes one of the world's most accurate speech recognition technologies, which makes it suitable for professional use. It supports real-time transcribing but may not be the best choice for recognizing some professional jargon and field-specific terms.

Braina

It is an advanced AI-driven personal assistant that allows operating one’s PC with the help of a mobile device that supports a wide variety of languages. It accurately transcribes voice to text and is able to recognize terms in specific fields such as healthcare or engineering. Braina’s plans offer yearly and lifetime subscriptions, which can be convenient for those who consider using it frequently for their work.

Read also: Main reasons to choose translations service from native linguists.

There are many options when it comes to the choice of an audio-transcribing app. Many products of good quality are free or their price is relatively low. The best choice for each individual would depend on their own needs, perhaps it will be better to use online transcription services for them. Try out a few and decide which one feels the most comfortable to use.