Otter.ai excels at real-time meeting transcription with integrations for Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. The AI identifies speakers and generates summaries. Best for teams who want automatic meeting notes.
Starting priceFree/$16.99
Strengths
Real-time transcription
Meeting integrations
Speaker identification
Searchable archive
Limitations
English-focused
Accuracy varies with audio quality
Who it's for: Ideal for teams wanting automatic meeting transcription with video conferencing integration.
Descript is revolutionary - edit your audio/video by editing the transcript. Delete a word from the text, and it's removed from the recording. Overdub uses AI to clone your voice for corrections.
Starting priceFree/$15
Strengths
Edit audio via transcript
AI voice cloning
Podcast production
Video editing
Limitations
Learning curve
Processing time for long files
Who it's for: Perfect for podcasters and video creators who want to edit audio by editing text.
Rev offers both AI and human transcription. When accuracy is critical, human transcribers deliver 99%+ accuracy. The AI option is fast and affordable for less critical content.
Starting price$1.50+/min
Strengths
Human transcription available
Highest accuracy option
Fast turnaround
Caption services
Limitations
Per-minute pricing
Human transcription adds up
Who it's for: Best for professionals who need guaranteed accuracy for important recordings.
Trint is built for media and journalism workflows with collaborative editing, story-building, and export to video editing tools. The transcript becomes a working document for content creation.
Starting price$52/mo
Strengths
Media workflow focus
Collaborative editing
Story building
Video tool export
Limitations
Higher price point
Overkill for simple needs
Who it's for: Ideal for journalists and media teams building stories from transcripts.
Sonix offers excellent multi-language transcription with support for 40+ languages and built-in translation. The pay-per-hour model is economical for occasional use.
Starting price$10/hr
Strengths
40+ languages
Built-in translation
Affordable pay-per-hour
Good accuracy
Limitations
No real-time option
Interface less polished
Who it's for: Great for international teams needing multi-language transcription and translation.
Fireflies.ai sends a bot to join your meetings and automatically transcribe. Transcripts sync to CRM and project management tools. Great for sales teams who need meeting records.
Starting priceFree/$18
Strengths
Automatic meeting bot
CRM integration
Searchable meetings
Action item extraction
Limitations
Bot joining can feel odd
English-focused
Who it's for: Perfect for sales and success teams who need automatic meeting transcription with CRM sync.
Whisper is OpenAI's free, open-source transcription model. Run it locally for privacy or use via API. Supports 90+ languages with surprisingly good accuracy.
Strengths
Completely free
Open source
Run locally
90+ languages
Limitations
Technical setup required
No built-in UI
Who it's for: Best for technical users who want free, private, self-hosted transcription.
