Free AI Transcription: Is It Actually Worth It?
Free AI transcription services exist, and some are genuinely useful. Otter.ai offers 600 minutes per month, Rev AI gives 300 free minutes, AssemblyAI includes 300 minutes, and Deepgram provides a $200 credit. OpenAI's Whisper model is completely open-source. But every free option comes with limitations that matter for professional use—minute caps, feature restrictions, accuracy trade-offs, and usage limits designed to push you toward paid plans.
This guide breaks down exactly what each free tier actually provides, where the limitations hit, and when paying for transcription makes more sense than fighting free tier constraints.
Quick Navigation
- Every Free AI Transcription Option (2026)
- What Free Tiers Actually Give You
- The Hidden Costs of "Free"
- When Free Transcription Works Fine
- When You Should Pay
- Free vs Paid: Side-by-Side
- Related Resources
Every Free AI Transcription Option (2026)
Otter.ai Free Plan
What you get: 600 minutes/month with real-time meeting transcription The catch: 30-minute per-conversation limit, only 3 audio/video file imports (lifetime total)
Otter.ai's free tier is the most generous for casual meeting transcription. It integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams for live transcription. But the 30-minute conversation cap means any meeting over half an hour gets cut off. And the lifetime limit of 3 file imports means you can't use it for uploading pre-recorded audio.
Best for: Short meetings under 30 minutes, real-time note-taking
Source: Otter.ai pricing page
Rev AI Free Tier
What you get: 300 minutes free The catch: API-only (requires coding), no web upload interface
Rev AI provides 300 minutes of free transcription through their API. The quality is solid—their Reverb English model is competitive. But you need development skills to use it: create an account, get API keys, write code to submit audio and retrieve results.
Best for: Developers testing transcription APIs before committing
Source: Rev AI pricing page
AssemblyAI Free Tier
What you get: 300 minutes free (equivalent to ~$50 credit) The catch: API-only, speaker identification costs extra even on free credit
AssemblyAI's free credit lets you test their API with real audio. Base transcription works well, but add-on features (speaker ID at +$0.02/hour, sentiment analysis, entity detection) consume your credit faster. The 300 minutes disappears quickly if you enable features.
Best for: Developers evaluating AssemblyAI's feature set
Source: AssemblyAI pricing page
Deepgram Free Credit
What you get: $200 credit (enough for ~430 minutes of Nova-3 batch transcription) The catch: API-only, credit doesn't renew, requires coding
Deepgram's $200 credit is generous but one-time. Once it's gone, you're on pay-as-you-go. Like Rev AI and AssemblyAI, this is an API service—no web interface for uploading files.
Best for: Developers evaluating real-time streaming transcription
Source: Deepgram pricing page
OpenAI Whisper (Self-Hosted)
What you get: Unlimited free transcription (open-source model) The catch: Requires technical setup, GPU hardware, no speaker identification built in
OpenAI's Whisper model is fully open-source. You can run it locally on your own hardware with zero per-minute costs. The large-v3 model delivers strong accuracy across 99+ languages.
However, self-hosting means:
- You need a GPU (or accept very slow CPU processing)
- No speaker identification without adding Pyannote separately
- No web interface—command line or custom code required
- You handle file management, error handling, and output formatting
Best for: Technical users with GPU hardware who want unlimited volume at zero marginal cost
Source: OpenAI Whisper GitHub
YouTube Auto-Captions
What you get: Free transcription of any YouTube video The catch: Only works for YouTube content, limited accuracy, no export options
YouTube automatically generates captions for uploaded videos. You can view the transcript in YouTube Studio. Accuracy varies—it works well for clear English speech but struggles with accents, technical terms, and multiple speakers.
Best for: Content already on YouTube where rough captions are acceptable
Google Docs Voice Typing
What you get: Free real-time dictation The catch: Real-time only (can't process pre-recorded files), requires Chrome browser
Google Docs Voice Typing transcribes as you speak into your microphone. It's genuinely free with no limits, but it only works for live speech—you can't upload an audio file. No speaker identification, no timestamps, no export formats.
Best for: Personal dictation, quick notes, rough drafts
AWS Transcribe Free Tier
What you get: 60 minutes/month for first 12 months The catch: Requires AWS account, S3 setup, API integration, expires after one year
Amazon Transcribe offers 60 minutes monthly during your first year on AWS. Setting up requires an AWS account, S3 bucket configuration, IAM permissions, and API integration. After 12 months, you pay $0.024/min.
Best for: Teams already using AWS infrastructure
Source: AWS Transcribe pricing
What Free Tiers Actually Give You
| Service | Free Amount | Interface | Speaker ID | Formats | Expiration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | 600 min/mo | Web + App | ✅ Basic | TXT, PDF | Ongoing |
| Rev AI | 300 min | API only | ✅ Included | JSON | One-time |
| AssemblyAI | 300 min | API only | +$0.02/hr | JSON | One-time |
| Deepgram | $200 credit | API only | Extra | JSON | One-time |
| Whisper | Unlimited | CLI/Code | ❌ Add separately | TXT, SRT, VTT | N/A |
| YouTube | Unlimited | YouTube only | ❌ No | None (on-screen) | Ongoing |
| Google Docs | Unlimited | Chrome only | ❌ No | Google Doc | Ongoing |
| AWS Transcribe | 60 min/mo | API only | ✅ Included | JSON | 12 months |
The Hidden Costs of "Free"
1. Feature Restrictions
Free tiers commonly withhold features that matter for professional work:
- Speaker identification: Some free tiers don't include it, or charge it against your credit
- Export formats: Free plans may limit you to one format instead of TXT + SRT + VTT + JSON
- File uploads: Otter.ai's free plan allows only 3 lifetime audio imports
- Processing priority: Free users often wait longer in queue
2. Quality Differences
Service providers commonly reserve their best AI models for paid tiers. Free plans may use older models with lower accuracy, which means more time editing transcripts afterward.
For a 60-minute transcript with approximately 9,000 words, even small accuracy differences translate to significant additional editing time.
3. Cap Anxiety
Monthly caps create workflow problems:
- 600 minutes sounds generous until you transcribe five 2-hour meetings
- Running out mid-month means waiting or upgrading
- You can't build a reliable workflow around limits that reset monthly
- One-time credits (Rev AI, AssemblyAI, Deepgram) disappear permanently
4. The Conversion Funnel
Free tiers exist to convert you to paid plans. This means:
- Features get restricted to make you want more
- Usage limits are set just below what a regular user needs
- The upgrade prompts increase as you approach your cap
- Data and workflow lock-in makes switching costly later
When Free Transcription Works Fine
Free AI transcription is genuinely useful for:
Personal notes and voice memos: Quick dictation via Google Docs Voice Typing costs nothing and works well for single-speaker content.
Testing before buying: Use free credits from Rev AI, AssemblyAI, or Deepgram to test with your specific audio before committing to a paid service.
Casual meeting notes: Otter.ai's free tier handles short meetings (under 30 minutes) with real-time transcription and basic speaker labels.
YouTube content: If your audio is already on YouTube, auto-captions provide usable (if imperfect) transcripts at no cost.
Developer evaluation: API free tiers let you test integration complexity, response formats, and accuracy before building production workflows.
When You Should Pay
Free transcription falls short when you need:
Speaker identification: Knowing who said what in meetings, interviews, or podcasts. Most free tiers either exclude it or charge it separately.
Files longer than 30 minutes: Otter.ai's free plan caps at 30 minutes per conversation. A typical business meeting or interview exceeds this.
Multiple output formats: Professional workflows often need TXT (reading), SRT (subtitles), VTT (web captions), and JSON (data processing). Free tiers typically offer one format.
Reliable monthly volume: If you transcribe regularly—weekly meetings, ongoing interviews, content production—cap anxiety undermines productivity. Pay-per-use eliminates this entirely.
Client-facing work: When transcripts go to clients, stakeholders, or into published content, professional-grade accuracy and formatting matter.
Free vs Paid: Side-by-Side
| Factor | Free Tiers | Paid Services |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $0 | Varies ($2.50-$30+) |
| Minute limits | 60-600 min/mo or one-time credit | Unlimited or pay-per-use |
| Speaker ID | Sometimes included, often limited | Usually included |
| Output formats | 1-2 formats | 3-4+ formats |
| File length limit | 30 min (Otter free) | 1-2+ hours |
| Upload interface | Usually API-only or limited | Web upload available |
| AI model quality | Varies (sometimes older models) | Current models |
| Support | Community/self-serve | Email/priority support |
| Workflow reliability | Caps, limits, restrictions | Consistent |
The Bottom Line
Free AI transcription is real and can be useful—especially for testing, casual use, or developer evaluation. But for professional work with multi-speaker content, reliable volume, and quality requirements, the limitations of free tiers create hidden costs in editing time, workflow friction, and feature gaps.
BrassTranscripts offers a middle ground: no subscription, no free tier to outgrow. Upload a file, preview the first 30 words free, and pay per file only when the quality meets your needs. $2.50 for short files (1-15 min), $6.00 flat for longer files (16-120 min)—with speaker identification included, all 4 output formats, and no monthly caps.
For a detailed comparison of all paid services, see our AI transcription pricing comparison or 7 best AI transcription services compared.
Related Resources
- AI Transcription Pricing Comparison - Detailed cost breakdown across all services
- Which Services Include Speaker Identification? - Speaker ID pricing comparison
- Amazon Transcribe Pricing 2026 - AWS cost calculator
- Otter.ai Pricing 2026: Is the Pro Plan Worth It? - Subscription deep dive
- AI Transcription with Speaker Identification - Complete speaker ID guide
Pricing Disclaimer
Information valid as of February 2026. Free tier details verified from official pricing pages: Otter.ai, Rev AI, AssemblyAI, Deepgram, AWS Transcribe. Services may change free tier terms, limits, or availability at any time. Always verify current offerings directly.