Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Whether 60 minutes of free transcription a month is enough depends on how many minutes of recordings you send the bot. For free, the Potok bot @potok_now_bot transcribes 60 minutes of recordings per calendar month, Moscow time, and the limit resets on the 1st. A subscription removes the limit both in the bot and in the Potok app (potok.now).
Sixty minutes is a limit for the month, not for one recording: it covers all the recordings you send to the bot @potok_now_bot.
| Task | Characters | Typing (200 chars/min) | Voice (900 chars/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| chat reply | 300 | 2 min | 0.5 min |
| 1500 | 8 min | 1.7 min | |
| post or meeting minutes | 4000 | 20 min | 4.4 min |
| article | 10000 | 50 min | 11.1 min |
Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough: how it is counted
For free, the bot transcribes 60 minutes of recordings per calendar month, Moscow time. The limit resets on the 1st, and from that day the count starts again. In private messages the bot accepts voice messages, video notes, audio and video, as well as links to YouTube, VK Video and RuTube; the 60-minute limit is shared by everything you send it. Subscription prices on this page are only in the table below. You cannot convert these 60 minutes into a number of lectures or calls: only you know how long your recordings are.
What decides whether 60 minutes is enough
- The length of your recordings: add up the minutes of everything you plan to send the bot in a month and compare with 60.
- The date: the limit resets on the 1st, so free minutes appear again at the start of the month.
- The subscription: it removes the limit both in the bot and in the dictation app, so one subscription covers both recordings and dictation.
All transcripts stay in the “My recordings” section, and you can open them again. Other free ways to transcribe audio are compared in the article about free audio transcription, and questions about voice input are collected in this answers section.
When the limit does not concern you
If you need dictation, not transcription of finished recordings, the bot limit does not concern you: dictation is done by the Potok app. The bot recognizes only Russian speech, and there is no translation. The Potok app is a cloud service: it needs the internet for recognition. The bot transcribes recordings on Potok's servers in Russia.
Frequently asked questions
The limit resets on the 1st of every month. 60 minutes of recording are free per calendar month, Moscow time; a subscription removes the limit.
No: 60 minutes a month are free. A Potok subscription removes the limit, and it works both in the bot and in the dictation app. See the prices in the blocks on the page.
Voice input is real-time dictation: you speak and immediately get text in the active field. Transcription is turning an already finished audio or video recording (for example, a meeting recording) into text after the fact. The Potok app does the first job, live dictation; finished recordings in Russian are transcribed by its Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Yes, a number of platforms have built-in meeting transcription: in Zoom for cloud recordings, in Microsoft Teams during the meeting, in Google Meet on Google Workspace plans. The alternative is to record the sound and process it with a separate transcription service after the call. The Potok app does not do this kind of transcription, it is for live dictation; you can send a call recording as a file to the Potok Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
With Potok you can dictate the minutes live, saying them during or right after the meeting. Transcribing an already recorded meeting audio file (a finished Zoom or Telemost recording) is a separate transcription task: you can send such a file to the Potok Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Voice input is real-time dictation into the active text field. Transcription is turning an already finished audio or video recording (a lecture, a call, a podcast) into text after the fact, often with diarization (splitting by speaker).
Recording to text
Send a recording to Potok's Telegram bot or upload a file of up to 2 GB in the bot's mini app. The first 60 minutes of every month are free.
Open @potok_now_bot in TelegramPrimary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com
Transcribe a recording in Telegram
Voice messages, video notes, audio and video are transcribed by Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message from any chat, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video or RuTube link. A short recording comes back as text in the chat, a long one as a file; timestamps and speaker labels can be turned on. The buttons give a short summary, tasks and deadlines, an answer to a question about the recording and export to TXT, DOCX, PDF or SRT. Large files, up to 2 GB, are easier to upload in the bot's mini app, via the Upload button next to the input field. The bot recognizes Russian speech; 60 minutes per month are free.