6 Best Transcription Software [Free and Paid]

Here are the 6 best transcription software people can use to convert spoken words into text. This tool can be extremely useful to create SRT file for video caption, turn original video content such as online courses, podcast and E learning videos into text content.

We gonna go over their accuracy, feature, quality and price.

Overall these tools can help you multiply different content platform to grow your business.

Our Top 3 Best Transcription Software Choices

  • Affordable speech to text software
  • Editor video based on script timeline
  • Transcribe speech as well as voice cloning

Basic Plan: $12/month

Free Trial: Yes

rev transcription service
  • Human transcription(5-12 hrs)
  • AI transcription (5 min turnaround)
  • Live captions for Zoom

Basic Plan:  $0.25/minute (AI)

Free Trial: Yes

trint audio transcription logo
  • Capture speech to text live
  • Supports up to 30 languages
  • Great for Mac users

Starter Plan: $60/month 

Free Trial: Yes

Rev - Offers Human Transcription

rev transcription service

Rev.com is the ultimate way to transcribe your (English Only) audio or video files into written text form, with an expert pool of real human professionals at each step in order to keep transcription accuracy perfect. Many content creators use Rev.com's manual transcription service to convert video content to blog format to gain additional traffic to their online business.

REV transcription service also offers an AI transcription service that is much faster, and it has an average of 5 mins turnaround time compared to the 5 - 12 hrs turnaround time using a real human transcriber.

Rev will use a talent pool over 60000+ people to transcribe your video for you especially when you need extra accuracy. The standard delivery time is 12 hours for most projects depending on the length of the content.

To make the transcriber's job easier, we highly recommend sending an audio file that isn't bad to listen to, or too hard to understand.

Other Services They Provide

  • Transcription – $1.25 per minute 
  • Machine-generated rought draft – 25 cents per minute 
  • English captions – $1.25 per minute 
  • Foreign subtitles – $3-7 per minute 

Rev also offers verbatim transcription for an additional $0.25 per audio minute. It even captures syllables like “Um” from the audio file and removes them. 

Transcribe - Fast and Easy

transcribe audio to text tool

The Transcribe App is a privacy-focused audio video transcription software that can save you time and money. Convert audio to text from podcasts, interviews, videos and many more applications - this app has what users need to get their work done without having someone else hear every detail!

This is suitable for professionals who want privacy, and the service allows the editor to generate subtitles captions for videos and export the transcripts in WebVTT or SRT files.

Transcript’s pricing plans are very simple:

  • Self-transcription ($20/year)
  • Automatic transcription ($20/year + 6 hrs of audio)

Descript - All In One Package

descript ai

Descript is an cloud based text to speech software that also offers transcription services for converting speech to text. Import any audio or video files to transcribe with fast turnaround time and delivers accurate transcription. 

One of the best transcription software feature Descript has is the ability to break up transcription scripts into scenes like a marker, the editor can use the marker to insert relevant b rolls without time consuming editing process associated with traditional video editors.

Do you want to create SRT file for video caption? this is the tool that can do it with perfect timeline synch for social media content.

The editor can just drag-and-drop any audio and video files into the editor, and the software transcribes the audio into text with accurate results. The text transcript is displayed in a simple document editor, where you can change it in any way you please.

(Optional) Descript's Overdub feature can also transcribe your speech and also allows the editor to correct speaking mistakes, remove filler words and even clone your voice.

Descript's user plans are:

  • Free version plan - $0/month
  • Creator plan - $12/month
  • Pro Plan - $24/month
  • Enterprise (custom pricing, contact sales)

Trint - Extremely Fast

trint audio transcription

Trint is a web-based service transcription software that lets you transcribe video and audio files from anywhere especially for Mac Users. It's perfect for those who want to work on the go, without installing separate software. It supports more than 30 languages and includes provisions for almost all dialects in the English language.

Users can use this platform to easily collaborate with team members and have a fast turnaround time. The service also has robust security terms, low error rates which means you won't make any mistakes when recording or transcribing!

Other services it provides:

Trint has everything you need for editing videos, adding captions and transcripts that are searchable on your website.

Trint's user plans are:

  • Starter Plan: $48/ month
  • Advanced Plan: $60/ month
  • Pro Plan: $68/ month

Express Scribe - Classic Standalone Software

express scribe

With Express Scribe transcription software, you can work on your audio and video files in a variety of formats on Windows or Mac. The service integrates with Microsoft word and reduce the turn around time.

The program works with keyboard hot keys or supported transcribing USB foot pedals. In addition, the transcriber can control playback speed, file management, video and more.

Express Scribe user plans are:

  • Express Scribe Professional at $70 (discount available)
  • Express Scribe Basic at $60

Otter - Transcribes Multiple Speakers

otter transcription tool

Otter is a mobile app that records and transcribes audio in real-time. This is extremely helpful to taking notes at a metting and transcribe it for later use. This is faster than writing things done with a pen for important information.

Otter also features speaker identification during transcription, so the text can be matched to who said it. The system uses ambient voice intelligence, which means the transcription quality will improve with repeated use (this is only available with the Premium version)

Other Features:

Zoom meeting transcription

Otter user plans are:

  • Free Plan - $0
  • Pro Plan - $8.33 / month
  • Business Plan - $20/ user / month

How To Pick The Right One

Accuracy Is First

What's the point of transcribing audio to text if the original content is hard to hear or filled with backgroud noise. Accurate result is the number 1 thing people want in a audio transcription software.

Before you start, please make sure the original audio content is high quality. Speech recognition technology is getting better, but it still can't transcribe poor quality audio.

The free trial is a great way to test the accuracy of this tool. Does it produce transcripts without any grammatical errors or lapses in punctuation? You'll want these things taken into consideration before purchasing your license!

Turnaround Time

Turnaround time is an important factor when considering which type of transcription service to use. No one wants to wait 

The faster and accurate the software can be, the better it is for content creators to quickly crank out videos and blogs to gain traffic.

Background Noise Removal

Before relying on the software to do the job, it's very important to create an video or audio files that don't have a noisy background. This makes transcription much easier.

Background noises can be eliminated, but it's always best to record high quality audio first to minimize post processing work.