Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
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, RuTube, Instagram and TikTok; 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.
| Service | Free | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Potok bot and web version | 60 minutes per month | 7 days: 249 ₽, 30 days: 449 ₽, one year: 2 890 ₽; included in the Potok app subscription |
| Fireflies.ai | limited storage and AI credits | — |
| Kontur.Tolk | not disclosed | — |
| Telegram voice message transcription | without Premium, a few transcriptions per week; with Premium, no limit on their number | — |
| Notta | 120 minutes per month, up to 3 minutes per recording | $13.99/mo (Pro, monthly, 1800 minutes); $27.99/mo (Business, monthly) |
| SaluteSpeech Bot (Sber) | free; voice messages, audio and video notes | — |
| Voicy (@voicybot) | free; on the Wit.ai engine, recordings of up to 50 seconds | — |
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 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically), 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.
Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough. Versions are available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and the default hotkey is Ctrl+Space; there are no mobile versions. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. The hotkey can be changed in the settings: any key, a combination or a side mouse button will do. Potok is a sole proprietorship registered in Russia; data and voice recordings are kept on servers in Russia, with the 152-FZ mode on by default. For Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough. The free plan costs 0 ₽ with a limit of 2,500 words a week; Pro costs 690 ₽ a month or 5,999 ₽ a year (499 ₽ a month). Here is how Potok works: hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), speak, release — and the finished text is inserted into the active field of any app. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
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, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok 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 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically); 60 minutes per month are free.