Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
In Telegram, voice messages and video notes have a built-in transcription button: without a Premium subscription it gives a few transcriptions per week, with Premium an unlimited number. If the limit is used up or you need a whole file, a link to a video or a short summary, the Potok Telegram bot @potok_now_bot helps: 60 minutes of transcription free per month, with no message counter.
Voice messages and video notes in Telegram have a built-in transcription button, but without a Premium subscription it gives only a few transcriptions per week. If the limit has run out or you need to transcribe a whole file, a link to a video or get a short summary, another tool helps: the Potok Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Telegram's built-in transcription and when you need the bot
The transcription button in Telegram works right in the dialog: you press it, and text appears under the voice message or video note, without forwarding it anywhere. The limit is on the number of transcriptions per week without a Premium subscription; with Premium there is no limit on the number. The button will not accept a whole file, a link to a video or a message from a group: it is only for voice messages and video notes in a private dialog, and it returns the text inside the message itself, without exporting to a separate file.
The bot works differently: you forward a recording, a file or a link to YouTube, VK Video or RuTube in a separate chat, and its limit is not on the number of messages but 60 minutes of recognition per month. Besides the text, the bot sends the buttons Summary, Tasks and deadlines and Ask, which the button in Telegram itself does not have.
A separate task from both is to dictate your own text yourself: a letter, a comment, a reply in a chat. This needs not a transcriber but a voice input tool that inserts what you dictate into the input field of the active app, including Telegram itself, for example the Potok app (potok.now).
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok bot and web version | Telegram (@potok_now_bot, mini app inside the bot) | 60 minutes per month | 7 days: 249 ₽, 30 days: 449 ₽, one year: 2 890 ₽; included in the Potok app subscription | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| Otter.ai | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, Desktop (Mac/Windows), integrations with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet | Basic: 300 minutes of transcription per month, up to 30 minutes per meeting, 3 imported files over the whole lifetime of the account, free forever | $16.99/mo (Pro, monthly billing, 1200 min/mo); $8.33/mo (Pro, billed yearly (the full year is charged at once)); $30/mo (Business, monthly billing) | not directly: dollar billing through international payment processors declines cards issued in Russia and Belarus (confirmed by independent Russian-language guides on dtf.ru and vc.ru; no official Otter.ai statement about blocking Russia was found, this follows from general payment system restrictions) | cloud, US servers (the company is registered in the USA); the exact data center is not disclosed on the pricing page |
| Transkriptor | Web | 10 minutes on sign-up, limited to 2 min/day (according to the localized Russian site transkriptor.ru); the international site transkriptor.com states a free trial (up to 90 minutes according to secondary sources; the official pricing page could not be opened directly because it timed out) | 490 ₽/one-time (Start, 150 minutes (transkriptor.ru)); 790 ₽/one-time (Pro, 700 minutes (transkriptor.ru)); 1900 ₽/one-time (Premium, 2100 minutes (transkriptor.ru)) | yes, on the localized site transkriptor.ru: Visa/Mastercard/Mir bank cards with no fee, SBP via QR code with no fee, YooMoney with a 3% fee; payments are one-off (no subscription) and processed by the KASSA service. The international site transkriptor.com presumably bills in dollars; this is not confirmed directly (the pricing page timed out) | not disclosed |
| SaluteSpeech Bot (Sber) | Telegram | free; voice messages, audio and video notes | — | not disclosed | SaluteSpeech cloud (Sber) |
| Voicy (@voicybot) | Telegram | free; on the Wit.ai engine, recordings of up to 50 seconds | — | not disclosed | Wit.ai, Yandex SpeechKit or Google Speech; the user chooses the engine |
| Voicee (@Voicee_AI_Bot) | Telegram, Web | 45 minutes to start | 500 ₽/hour of recording (without a package; cheaper with packages) | rubles | not disclosed |
| KolerskyAI Whisper Bot | Telegram | the first 5 minutes | 69 ₽/15 minutes; 149 ₽/50 minutes; 490 ₽/200 minutes | rubles | not disclosed |
Ways to transcribe without Premium
Besides the built-in button and the bot, other services also transcribe voice messages in Telegram, with different conditions:
- SaluteSpeech Bot (Sber) accepts voice messages, audio and video notes for free and recognizes Russian and English;
- Voicy (@voicybot) has a choice of recognition engine: Wit.ai, Yandex SpeechKit or Google Speech; the recognition language is set separately with the /language command;
- KolerskyAI Whisper Bot is free only for the first 5 minutes, and after that you pay for separate blocks of minutes;
- Voisi (@Voicee_AI_Bot) states 55 languages and translation into Russian, which neither the built-in button nor the bot has;
- Transkribator (@gotranscribeai_bot) gives 3 transcriptions per month free.
For long recordings and calls there are also non-Telegram services, for example Otter.ai or Transkriptor: these are separate apps with a subscription, working through the web (Otter.ai also has a desktop version), not as bots or a button inside a messenger. If you need to transcribe not only a voice message but any audio file, the bot has a separate instruction on audio to text for that.
| 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 |
| TurboScribe | 3 files a day, each up to 30 minutes | $20/mo (Unlimited, monthly) |
| Tactiq | 10 meeting transcriptions per month | $12/mo (Pro, monthly) |
| Otter.ai | Basic: 300 minutes of transcription per month, up to 30 minutes per meeting, 3 imported files over the whole lifetime of the account, free forever | $16.99/mo (Pro, monthly billing, 1200 min/mo); $8.33/mo (Pro, billed yearly (the full year is charged at once)); $30/mo (Business, monthly billing) |
| Happy Scribe | 10 minutes of AI transcription | $17/mo (Basic, monthly, 120 minutes); $29/mo (Pro, monthly, 600 minutes) |
| Voicee (@Voicee_AI_Bot) | 45 minutes to start | 500 ₽/hour of recording (without a package; cheaper with packages) |
| Kontur.Tolk | not disclosed | — |
When the bot will not fit
If you have few voice messages and stay within the weekly limit without Premium, you do not need the bot: the button in Telegram itself is enough. The Potok bot will not fit for a recording that is not in Russian either: it recognizes 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically) and does not translate; for translation into Russian Voisi (@Voicee_AI_Bot) fits better. Transcription right during a call will not work: the bot processes an already sent recording, not a stream of speech in real time. In a group where the bot is not an administrator, it will not see voice messages. The bot accepts links to Instagram (Reels and posts with video) and TikTok, as well as YouTube, VK Video and RuTube. The bot is cloud-based, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. A broader overview of transcription services is in the article comparison of audio-to-text transcription services.
Frequently asked questions
Without a Premium subscription a few transcriptions per week are available, with Premium an unlimited number. If the limit is used up, you can forward the recording to the bot @potok_now_bot: its limit is not on the number of messages but 60 minutes per month.
The Potok bot has no translation, and it recognizes 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically). Translation into Russian and 55 languages is stated for another bot, Voisi (@Voicee_AI_Bot).
How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium. 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 How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium. 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 How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium. 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 How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium. 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 How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram without Premium 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: core.telegram.org · www.ixbt.com · developers.sber.ru · t.me
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.