Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
You can transcribe audio to text for free, but with a limit: for the Potok bot (potok.now) @potok_now_bot it is 60 minutes per month, for Speech2Text.ru 3 hours on registration, for TurboScribe 3 files per day of up to half an hour each. The catch is usually not money but minutes, file size and recognition language: not all services work equally well with Russian speech.
There are at least seven free ways to transcribe audio to text, from 15 minutes per month at Audio2Text to 300 minutes per month at Otter.ai, only Otter.ai does not recognize Russian speech.
| 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 |
What manual transcription costs
Transcribing audio by hand means listening to the recording, stopping it, rewinding and typing what you heard yourself. This time is not billed in money, but quite a lot of it goes, especially if there are several speakers in the recording and you have to relisten to the same spot several times. Automatic services and bots appeared precisely to hand over a draft text at once, without manual listening: after that it only needs to be proofread, not typed from scratch. Almost every service on this list has a free limit; the question is how many minutes fit into it and in which language it works at all. For example, from the free 60 minutes per month of the Potok bot you can transcribe a couple of short meetings, while Audio2Text's free limit is enough for one short recording.
What to choose for free audio-to-text transcription
For one short recording a month, the free limit of most services is enough: 60 minutes at the Potok bot, 3 hours on registration at Speech2Text.ru or 3 files a day of up to half an hour at TurboScribe. For regular transcription in Russian, when counting on a free limit you should consider not only minutes but also the limit on the length of a single recording: at Notta it is only 3 minutes per file at 120 minutes per month, at Transkriptor on the Russian site 2 minutes a day. If you need Russian specifically, Otter.ai will not fit at all: with 300 free minutes per month it does not recognize it. Voice messages, audio and video notes in Telegram are also accepted for free by SaluteSpeech Bot from Sber, an option next to the Potok bot for the same short recordings. A detailed comparison of transcription services sets them all side by side by price and terms.
When the bot does not fit
The Potok bot will not fit if the recording is not in Russian: it recognizes only Russian speech, and there is no translation into another language. Transcription during a call is not available either: the bot works with an already finished recording and does not join the conversation itself. Why transcribing a meeting is harder than ordinary dictation of one voice is explained in a separate article. The bot will not accept a link to Instagram or TikTok, only voice messages, files and links to YouTube, VK Video, RuTube. And it does not work without the internet: recognition is in the cloud, on the Potok servers in Russia.
Frequently asked questions
Among the services reviewed, no: each has its own free limit, from 15 minutes per month at Audio2Text to 300 minutes per month at Otter.ai (but Otter.ai does not recognize Russian speech). Unlimited plans are paid everywhere.
Voice input is real-time dictation: you speak and immediately get text in the active field. Transcription turns an already finished audio or video recording (for example, a meeting recording) into text after the fact. The Potok app handles the first task, live dictation; finished recordings in Russian are transcribed by its Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
With Potok you can dictate the minutes live, speaking them during or right after the meeting. Transcribing an already recorded audio file of a meeting (a finished Zoom or Telemost recording) is a separate transcription task: such a file can be sent to Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Voice input is real-time dictation into the active text field. Transcription turns an already finished audio or video recording (a lecture, a call, a podcast) into text after the fact, often with diarization (splitting by speaker).
Yes, several platforms have built-in meeting transcription: Zoom for cloud recordings, Microsoft Teams during the meeting, 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; a call recording can be sent as a file to Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Try it on your own recording
Potok's Telegram bot transcribes a voice message, video note, audio or video, and its buttons make a summary and a task list. 60 minutes per month for free.
Open @potok_now_bot in TelegramPrimary sources: speech2text.ru · audio-2-text.ru · turboscribe.ai · turboscribe.ai
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.