Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Potok and Lynote are not direct competitors: Lynote transcribes audio and video that is already recorded and processes text with the Humanizer and AI Detector tools, while Potok (potok.now) inserts dictated text in real time with a hotkey. Potok's free plan is 2500 words per week with no time limit; Lynote's free limits apply to other features, for example up to 300 words per Humanizer run.
Potok is about what you say right now: hotkey, voice, finished text in the field. Lynote is about what is already recorded or already written: transcription of video and audio, plus checking and "humanizing" text with neural network tools. If your query was "potok or lynote", it is probably worth first working out which of the two tasks you actually need, rather than choosing between programs that look similar at first glance.
Where Lynote is strong
Lynote's main strength is transcribing finished recordings: you can upload audio, video or a link to a YouTube video and get a text transcript without dictating live. Potok does not do this task at all. It turns into text what you say into the microphone right now, not files from the past. For a student who recorded a lecture on a voice recorder, or a manager with a recording of a call, this is a fundamental difference: live dictation simply does not solve the task.
The second group of features is working with text that already exists. Humanizer rewrites text so that it reads more like a person wrote it. AI Detector checks whether a text looks like it was generated by a neural network. These are tools for editing and checking text, and they have nothing to do with the process of dictation itself.
Lynote works right in the browser on any operating system, so there is nothing to install. For a one-off task such as transcribing a single lecture, this is more convenient than installing a separate app for one file. The price of this accessibility is dependence on a browser tab and on how stably the service's page itself works during long processing.
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| Lynote | Web (browser, all operating systems) | a free plan exists: Humanizer up to 300 words, AI Detector up to 500 words per check; transcription limits are not disclosed on the pricing page | — | not disclosed | cloud processing (stated: content is processed on the service's servers and is not used to train models) |
Payment and where data is stored
The price of a Lynote subscription is not shown on the site without choosing a region or signing in to an account, so you cannot learn the exact amount in advance. All that is known is that annual payment is cheaper than monthly, the usual prepayment discount scheme for such services. There is no data on whether cards from Russian banks are accepted: neither confirmation nor a direct refusal.
Potok is simpler for a user in Russia: it is registered as a sole proprietor (IP) in Russia, and payment is by a Russian bank card directly, with no workarounds and no need to look up a regional price separately from the rest of the world.
According to Lynote, uploaded content is processed on the service's servers and is not used to train models. This is the service's own stated policy, not the result of an independent check. Potok recognizes speech on servers in Russia and works under the 152-FZ law, with a ready-made mode for businesses that need a company perimeter available on separate request.
How each handles Russian
Potok is built on its own model trained for Russian speech, including names, terms and mixed speech. On the GolosTest test the model shows a WER of 2.1%. This is our own benchmark, and independent accuracy comparisons between Potok, Lynote and other services do not exist, so it does not follow from this that Potok is "more accurate".
Lynote states support for more than a hundred languages for its tools, but Russian is not mentioned separately and is not confirmed. It is unclear whether it is on that list and how evenly transcription works specifically for Russian speech. For English audio or a mixed English and Russian lecture, the result may differ from the transcript of purely Russian speech. You can only check this on your own file: the general figure "100+ languages" on the site says nothing about Russian in particular.
| Lynote | Potok | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Lynote: Web (browser, all operating systems) | Potok: Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Free | Lynote: a free plan exists: Humanizer up to 300 words, AI Detector up to 500 words per check; transcription limits are not disclosed on the pricing page | Potok: Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed |
| Price | Lynote: — | Potok: Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly |
| Payment from Russia | Lynote: not disclosed | Potok: Russian bank cards, rubles |
| Where speech is recognized | Lynote: cloud processing (stated: content is processed on the service's servers and is not used to train models) | Potok: cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| Russian language | Lynote: "100+ languages" is stated, Russian is not explicitly mentioned and not separately confirmed | Potok: primary language |
| Company | Lynote: not disclosed | Potok: Sole proprietor, Russia |
Sources: lynote.ai
| Service | Free | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Potok | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly |
| Lynote | a free plan exists: Humanizer up to 300 words, AI Detector up to 500 words per check; transcription limits are not disclosed on the pricing page | — |
When it is better to stay with Lynote
If the task is to transcribe a lecture, an interview or a YouTube video that is already recorded, Potok will not fit at all. It is not a transcriber but a tool for dictating what you say right now. For transcribing finished files you need a service like Lynote.
The same goes for checking and rewriting text with a neural network: Potok has no Humanizer or AI Detector and none are planned, since these are different categories of product.
Potok is a cloud service: recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. Potok also has no voice editing commands. An overview of other options is in the section comparison of voice input programs, and an honest account of switching to dictation is in the article six months of voice input instead of the keyboard: an honest account.
Frequently asked questions
No. Potok turns into text what you are saying right now, through a hotkey. Lynote transcribes audio and video that is already recorded and processes finished text with the Humanizer and AI Detector tools. These are different tasks, and the two services have almost no direct overlap in features.
No. Lynote is a web service: it works in a browser on any operating system, and there is no separate app to install. Potok is the opposite: it is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux.
You can register with an e-mail and password or through Google. When you register by e-mail, a message with a confirmation link arrives in your inbox, and after following it you can sign in. Your subscription and payment are visible in your account at potok.now/account.
No, there is no Android version of Potok. The product works only on a computer: Windows, macOS and Linux. For Android there is Google's built-in voice input (Gboard) or the Samsung keyboard.
Potok has no separate browser extension. It is a desktop app that works on top of any window and input field, including the browser, rather than a separate plugin.
Only from the official site: potok.now/download. Installation is free, and after that a 14-day trial with full access applies, with no card required.
If you want to compare for yourself
Take one of your own tasks and dictate it in Potok. The first 14 days have no limits and need no card. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokA voice message from a messenger or a call recording can be forwarded to the bot @potok_now_bot, and it sends back the text. The bot is part of the same subscription as the Potok app.
Primary sources: lynote.ai · support.microsoft.com