Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment gives a vendor more visibility, higher up on the review pages; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in transcription software
cannot hold places 1 to 3. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category,
wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
The 11 tools, reviewed
#1 Amberscript
Machine and human transcription hosted in Europe · Netherlands · amberscript.com
EU-only storage Human option No training
Amberscript answers the question that decides most transcription purchases for a European organization: where does the audio go. The privacy policy says data is never stored outside Europe and that audio and transcripts are never used to train the language models it relies on.
- Pricing: Per hour / month. Machine plans at €19, €29 and €49 per month for 5, 10 and 25 hours; pay-as-you-go from €10 down to €6 per hour; human transcription from €1.85 per minute. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Buyers who need EU-only storage
- Strengths: Machine transcription in 90+ languages; Human-made transcription and subtitles; Pay-as-you-go hour credits.
Where it falls short
Hours do not roll over to the next month, and bought credits must be activated within 60 days, so an uneven workload wastes money. The pricing page we read showed no free tier or trial.
Wrong for
A podcaster or journalist who wants a free plan to try before paying, or a developer who needs a speech API with streaming.
Visit Amberscript →
#2 Trint
Transcription and story-building platform for media teams · United Kingdom · trint.com
EU or US storage Newsroom tools ISO 27001
Trint was built for people who turn recordings into published stories, and it still reads that way. The homepage describes live transcription in over 50 languages, translation into more than 70, speaker recognition and a Story Builder that cuts captions and rough edits from the transcript. Customers choose between EU and US tenancy, and the platform privacy policy lists AWS regions in Ireland and Frankfurt for the EU option.
- Pricing: Per seat / month. Plans and prices are not listed on the public site; the homepage sends visitors to the app's plans page to see them. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Newsrooms and production teams
- Strengths: Transcription in 50+ languages; Live transcription; Translation into 70+ languages.
Where it falls short
We could not read the plans and prices on the public site, so a buyer must log in or ask before comparing cost. The platform privacy policy is silent on model training, so the homepage promise is the only statement.
Wrong for
A solo researcher or small business looking for a price they can see before signing up.
Visit Trint →
#3 Notta
AI transcription and meeting notes for individuals and small teams · Singapore · notta.ai
Free plan 58 languages Bot-free option
Notta is the cheapest route to a working transcript on this list for one person. The free plan allows 120 minutes a month and 50 uploads, Pro raises that to 1,800 minutes with five-hour recordings, and Business drops the minute cap altogether. The homepage names 58 languages, a desktop mode that records without a bot, and SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR and HIPAA compliance.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Free plan with 120 minutes a month. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Individuals who record their own calls
- Strengths: Real-time transcription in 58 languages; Imported audio and video files; Bot-free desktop recording.
Where it falls short
The free plan caps each conversation at three minutes, which makes it a demo rather than a working tool.
Wrong for
A buyer who has to document where audio is stored or whether it feeds model training.
Visit Notta →
#4 Happy Scribe
AI transcription with optional human proofreading · Ireland · happyscribe.com
150+ languages Opt-in training Human proofreading
Happy Scribe is the broadest of the plain transcription services here. The free plan gives a ten-minute trial of the AI plus recording of meetings up to 45 minutes, and paid tiers climb from 120 to 6,000 minutes a month with the overage rate printed next to them.
- Pricing: Per month, minutes included. Free plan. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Multilingual teams and subtitle workflows
- Strengths: AI transcription in 150+ languages; Human proofreading from €1.75 per minute; Meeting notetaker for Meet, Teams and Zoom.
Where it falls short
Minutes are the meter, so a long interview archive burns through the Basic plan in an hour or two. The cheap annual prices need a yearly commitment.
Wrong for
A company that wants a pure developer API with per-second billing, or a legal team that needs certified court transcripts.
Visit Happy Scribe →
#5 Sonix
Browser-based automated transcription with an editor · United States · sonix.ai
Pay as you go No training 54+ languages
Sonix is what to pick when transcription is a task rather than a daily habit. You can pay $10 for an hour of audio and walk away, with no subscription, or take a monthly plan when the volume appears. A 30-minute trial needs no card.
- Pricing: Per hour / month. Pay-as-you-go at $10 per hour; subscriptions of $25, $50 and $80 per month for 5, 20 and 40 hours, with extra seats at $25 per month. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Occasional users and small research teams
- Strengths: Automated transcription in 54+ languages; In-browser transcript editor; Speaker labels and timestamps.
Where it falls short
Storage is outside the EEA and the UK, which the privacy policy says plainly, so a European regulated buyer has a transfer question to answer. Extra seats cost $25 a month each, which makes a five-person team expensive.
Wrong for
A European organization that needs data kept inside the EU, or a team that transcribes hundreds of hours a month.
Visit Sonix →
#6 Otter
Live transcription and meeting notes for US-centered teams · United States · otter.ai
Large user base Free plan Meeting focus
Otter is the default that most people have already tried. Its free plan gives 300 minutes a month with three lifetime file imports, Pro raises that to 1,200 minutes and ten imports a month, and Business removes the minute cap with four-hour meetings. It is aimed squarely at meetings, with live captions and CRM sync rather than archive work.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Free plan with 300 monthly minutes; Pro $16.99 per user per month or $8.33 billed annually; Business $30 or $19.99 billed annually; Enterprise by quote. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Teams already inside Zoom, Meet or Teams
- Strengths: Live transcription in meetings; Zoom, Meet and Teams connections; AI chat over transcripts.
Where it falls short
Only three file imports for life on the free plan, and thirty-minute meetings, make it poor for interview archives. Training on de-identified recordings is described in the policy without an opt-out we could find. Storage is American.
Wrong for
A European public body, a law firm or any group that cannot allow customer audio to feed a vendor's models.
Visit Otter →
#7 Descript
Audio and video editor driven by the transcript · United States · descript.com
Editor Creators Free plan
Descript turns a recording into a document you edit by deleting words, and the audio or video follows. That is a different job from the others on this page, and it earns the place for creators who need a transcript only to cut a podcast or interview. The free plan gives 60 media minutes a month with watermarked 720p export; paid tiers raise the media hours and AI credits.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Free plan with 60 media minutes a month; paid tiers (Hobbyist, Creator, Business) with 10, 30 and 40 media hours a month, starting at $16 per month; Enterprise by quote. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Podcasters and video creators
- Strengths: Transcript-based audio and video editing; Filler-word removal; Studio Sound audio cleanup.
Where it falls short
As a plain transcript source it is overbuilt and credit-based, with AI credits counted separately from media hours. The policy allows analysis of projects to improve the service, with an opt-out, and voice data from AI Speakers can enter research datasets.
Wrong for
A researcher, paralegal or analyst who needs transcripts in bulk and has no video to cut.
Visit Descript →
#8 Speechmatics
Speech-to-text API with cloud and on-premises deployment · United Kingdom · speechmatics.com
API On-premises Regional cloud
Speechmatics sells an engine rather than an app, and it is the one here that can run inside your own network. The pricing page lists cloud regions in the EU, US and Australia, with containers and on-device processing for Enterprise customers. Rates are quoted per hour, from $0.24 for pre-recorded audio on its multilingual model, and new accounts get $100 in credit without a card.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Usage-based per hour: Melia 1 at $0.24 pre-recorded and $0.40 real-time, Enhanced at $0.75 and $0.80, Standard at $0.45; $100 free credit at signup. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Developers needing on-premises or regional hosting
- Strengths: 55+ languages; Pre-recorded and real-time transcription; Speaker diarization.
Where it falls short
No finished editor or meeting bot, so a non-technical team has nothing to open. The Enterprise-only deployments need a sales conversation. The policy separates customer data from partner data used for research and development, so the contract needs reading to know which applies.
Wrong for
A team with no developer, or anyone who wants to upload a file and get a clean transcript the same afternoon.
Visit Speechmatics →
#9 Gladia
Speech-to-text API from a French company · France · gladia.io
API French vendor Training opt-out
Gladia is a developer product from Roubaix, in the north of France, and it states its data terms by plan. Starter costs $0.61 per hour for pre-recorded audio and $0.75 for real-time, with a €50 credit that does not reset. Growth, committed in advance, lowers async to as little as $0.20. Automatic model-training opt-out arrives with Growth, and Enterprise adds default opt-out and zero data retention.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Starter pay-as-you-go at $0.61 per hour async and $0.75 real-time with €50 free credit; Growth from $0.20 async; Enterprise by quote. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Developers who want a European vendor
- Strengths: Async and real-time transcription; Speaker diarization; Training opt-out on Growth plans.
Where it falls short
The pricing page we read did not say where data is hosted or which regions are offered. Training opt-out is automatic only from the Growth plan upward, so Starter customers must act themselves. It offers no interface for end users.
Wrong for
An office manager who wants to drag in a recording and read the result.
Visit Gladia →
#10 AssemblyAI
Speech-to-text API for building voice products · United States · assemblyai.com
API Lowest rates EU endpoint
AssemblyAI prices speech at a level no app on this page matches: $0.15 per hour for Universal-2 pre-recorded audio, add-ons priced separately per hour. New accounts receive $50 in credit without a card. The pricing page states that the EU region costs the same as the US one, with separate API hostnames, which makes data residency a configuration setting and not a sales call.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Usage-based: Universal-2 at $0.15 per hour and Universal-3.5 Pro at $0.21 pre-recorded; streaming from $0.15 to $0.45 per hour; $50 free credit. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Developers who want low per-hour rates
- Strengths: Pre-recorded and streaming transcription; Speaker diarization as an add-on; Medical mode add-on.
Where it falls short
The terms of service say AssemblyAI may use customer data to train its models, with an opt-out found in its documentation. That default reverses the position of Amberscript and Sonix. The privacy policy says services are mainly hosted in the United States.
Wrong for
A buyer who cannot accept training on audio by default, or who has no engineer.
Visit AssemblyAI →
#11 Deepgram
Speech-to-text API with per-minute pricing · United States · deepgram.com
API Per minute Real-time
Deepgram prices by the minute, which is rare in a market quoting hours: Nova-3 pre-recorded runs $0.0043 a minute, and the $200 signup credit covers a large test. It also hosts a Whisper Large option, so one account can compare the open model with its own. The privacy policy names Deepgram, Inc. at a San Francisco address and describes processing customer data only on the customer's instructions.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Usage-based per minute: Nova-3 monolingual pre-recorded at $0.0043 and streaming at $0.0048 promotional; Growth plan from $4,000 a year; $200 free credit. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Developers building real-time voice features
- Strengths: Pre-recorded and streaming transcription; Nova-3 monolingual and multilingual models; Whisper Large hosted option.
Where it falls short
The privacy policy states that data is stored on servers in the U.S. and does not address model training, leaving the answer to the DPA. The pricing page did not say whether on-premises deployment is available. Growth starts at $4,000 a year.
Wrong for
A company that needs EU-only storage or a ready-made transcript tool.
Visit Deepgram →
Questions and answers
What is the best transcription software in 2026?
Amberscript ranks first of 11, best for buyers who need EU-only storage. Trint is second (newsrooms and production teams) and Notta third (individuals who record their own calls). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands, wherever the category has them.
Is automatic transcription accurate enough to use without checking?
For clean audio with one or two speakers, usually close. Happy Scribe says its AI reaches roughly 90 percent on multi-speaker meetings, and Amberscript labels its machine output as 90 percent or better.
How much does human transcription cost compared with AI?
Where vendors publish a figure, human-checked transcription starts at €1.75 per minute at Happy Scribe and €1.85 at Amberscript, against machine rates measured in cents per minute. The gap is roughly a factor of ten to fifty.
Which transcription tools store data in the EU?
Amberscript says data is never stored outside Europe. Happy Scribe lists EU data residency on its homepage, and Trint offers EU or US tenants, with EU data in Ireland and Frankfurt.
Do these services use my recordings to train their AI?
It varies by vendor. Amberscript and Sonix say they do not. Happy Scribe uses content for training only if you opt in at signup.
Can I transcribe a recorded interview without paying?
Yes, within limits. Happy Scribe's free plan includes a ten-minute trial of its AI, Otter gives 300 monthly minutes, and Descript gives 60 media minutes with watermarked export. Notta offers 120 minutes a month but only three minutes per conversation.
When should I use an API instead of an app?
When the transcript becomes input to something else: live captions inside your product, call analysis, search over a recording library, or a voice feature.
How is transcription software different from an AI meeting assistant?
A meeting assistant joins calls, records them and writes a summary with action items, and its price assumes a seat per person. Transcription software starts from a file or a stream and returns text, charged by the hour or minute.
What file formats and languages can I expect?
Most apps take common audio and video files and export text, subtitles and captions; the specific format list is on each vendor's help pages, which we did not audit.
Is Otter the best choice because everyone uses it?
It is the best known, which is why it is marked as a dominant vendor and kept out of the top three.
What should I check before uploading client or patient audio?
Four things: whether the vendor will sign a data processing agreement, which region stores the audio, whether the default is training on your content, and how deletion works.
