Signe Brewster is an editor focused on technology. She also writes about virtual reality and has tested everything from robots to 3D printers.
Whether you need to share the content of a meeting or quickly parse an interview recording, using a transcription service is a good way to outsource the otherwise labor-intensive task of turning audio recordings into readable text. After spending 30 hours researching nine transcription services and testing seven on their ability to transcribe recorded phone calls, we found that Temi is the best option for people who need to know the gist of an audio file and want it transcribed quickly and inexpensively. If you’re willing to pay more (and wait longer), though, GoTranscript will deliver a nearly flawless transcript.
Within minutes, Temi returned transcripts that were easier to read than what other AI services produced, even when the audio file wasn’t perfect or when the words were hard to follow.
The human transcribers at GoTranscript returned nearly 100% accurate transcriptions in a couple of days and didn’t balk at recordings featuring heavy accents.
Within minutes, Temi returned transcripts that were easier to read than what other AI services produced, even when the audio file wasn’t perfect or when the words were hard to follow.
AI-based transcription services are useful for finding a specific place in or quickly skimming the contents of an audio recording. They do not return results that are perfect enough that you can expect to copy a quote without going back and checking the actual content of the audio. In our tests, Temi transcripts were the easiest to read among the AI-based options, with acceptable grammar and word accuracy even when our audio contained jargon or background noise. (We recommend using a company that employs human transcriptionists if your recordings have noise, feature a non-American accent, include speech impediments, or otherwise pose a challenge.) Transcripts arrive in minutes, and the built-in text editor lets you easily clean up the completed transcript—a necessity since even the top AI-based services, like Temi, get only about 75% of words right at best. Because Temi is quick and relatively inexpensive (at 25¢ per minute of audio), it’s a great choice for anyone who is paying for their own transcriptions, doesn’t expect them to be error-free, and doesn’t mind doing some cleanup work themselves.
The human transcribers at GoTranscript returned nearly 100% accurate transcriptions in a couple of days and didn’t balk at recordings featuring heavy accents.
If you want the most accurate transcriptions possible and you (or your company) are willing to pay a premium for it, GoTranscript is the best service to use. It’s also a great option if you have audio that includes difficult accents, or if you need a transcription of something in a language other than English. For about four times the cost of Temi, a real person will transcribe your audio and return a nearly perfect transcription within a few days. Other companies we tested that use human transcriptionists were nearly as accurate, but GoTranscript returned jobs faster and was willing to tackle even the most challenging audio files, with support for many accents and 48 languages.
I’m a professional journalist who has conducted more than a thousand interviews over the years. Although I usually transcribe my own interview audio files the free and old-fashioned way (typing quickly as I play and rewind each sentence 100 times while cringing at the sound of my voice), I have tried numerous other options. Transcription services have always stood out as the most effective. For this guide, in addition to in-depth testing, I read existing reviews of transcription services and consulted forums to find commonly recommended options.
Professionals and hobbyists who need a text version of audio files—journalists, students, broadcasters, and beyond—can benefit from using a transcription service. Such services can cut out hours of time spent manually typing up a transcript, and they make it easy to search through the contents of an interview, to find an audio sample in a large library of recordings, or to take care of most of the work of transcribing quotes. Keep in mind that we tested the picks in this guide almost entirely with phone calls recorded with the TapeACall app. It’s possible that they perform differently with other types of audio, such as in-person recordings.
AI-based transcription services are a more informal, much faster, and significantly cheaper option than services that use actual humans for transcribing. Even the best AI services aren’t perfect, but they are accurate enough to remind you of the gist of a recording and help you find a specific part. That makes them useful for people who need a visual way to parse interviews, such as journalists who record a lot of interviews, students who make casual recordings of their classes, or professionals who need to remember the contents of a meeting. Journalists also need to double-check quotes no matter what, so it can make sense to pay less and go with an AI-based service. But if you take the AI route, you’ll need to spend time cleaning up the text. Skip the AI-based services in favor of a service employing real people if you plan to publish an entire transcript or need a completely accurate text file for use in a professional setting.
The best human-powered transcription services are nearly 100% accurate and struggle only with highly specialized language such as street names, which makes them more appropriate for someone who wants an exact record of what is said in an audio file. Podcasters who want a full transcription of an episode, professionals who need a thorough record of a meeting to distribute across a company, or journalists preparing a long Q&A article might find that they can save a tremendous amount of time using a human transcriptionist. Just be prepared to pay a lot more for the extra accuracy compared with AI services, and expect a few days of turnaround time unless you’re willing to pay even more to get results quicker.
