Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
You can turn an audio file into text on a computer for free in the bot's mini app: a file up to 2 GB is uploaded by dragging right in the browser, and you sign in by email or through Telegram. The free limit is 60 minutes of transcription per month; after that a paid subscription is needed, with amounts in the plans block below.
Free transcription of audio on a computer has one number worth checking right away: 60 minutes per month is exactly how much the Potok bot recognizes for free through the web version in the browser, with no program to install and no card.
| 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 |
Audio file to text on a computer for free: what manual typing costs
Transcribing by hand is not only typing. You listen to the recording, stop, rewind if a phrase is unclear, and type while the next one is still sounding in your head. If several people speak, you also have to work out who said what, and with professional terms and names you have to relisten to the same place several times so as not to get the spelling wrong.
All this time goes not on working with the text itself but on preparing a draft that a transcription service hands over already finished for one wait. The difference is especially noticeable on long recordings (lectures, interviews, an hour-long meeting and more), where manual typing stretches over a whole evening, while uploading a file to a service takes a couple of minutes before you get on with other things. How different transcription services compare with each other is shown in the comparison of audio-to-text transcription services.
| Service | Free | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Potok | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly |
How to choose a service for your volume of recordings
If you need transcripts from time to time and they fit within an hour per month, the free limit is enough: the 60 minutes of the Potok bot renew every month, with no card linked.
For regular transcription (meetings, lectures, interviews) you will need a paid option, and the amounts for each service are collected in the plans block above. If your work depends on calls in Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet and you need a ready integration with them, it is worth looking at Otter.ai, but keep in mind that it officially recognizes only English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, and Russian speech is not in the list. A detailed review of how things stand with Russian at this service is in the material about Otter.ai for Russian (in Russian). For those who need separate apps besides the browser, on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, Notta will do: it states support for 58 languages, and on the free plan it gives 120 minutes per month, but no more than 3 minutes per recording.
When the bot will not fit
The Potok bot is a cloud service: it recognizes audio on servers in Russia and does not work without the internet. A recording in another language works too, the bot understands 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically), but it does not translate is not suitable for multilingual recordings.
If the text must have the real names of the speakers and not "Speaker 1" and "Speaker 2", you will have to write them in by hand, since the bot does not tell them apart. It is also not suitable for transcription right during a conversation: it works with an already recorded file or a forwarded message and not with a live call. The bot accepts links to Instagram (Reels and posts with video) and TikTok, as well as YouTube, VK Video and RuTube.
Frequently asked questions
No, the bot's mini app works right in the browser: the file is uploaded by dragging, and there is nothing to download or install.
60 minutes of transcription are given free every month, and the limit renews on the 1st. For longer recordings a paid subscription is needed, with amounts in the plans block on the page.
How to turn an audio file into text on a computer for free. 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 turn an audio file into text on a computer for free you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to turn an audio file into text on a computer for free. 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 turn an audio file into text on a computer for free you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to turn an audio file into text on a computer for free. 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 turn an audio file into text on a computer for free you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to turn an audio file into text on a computer for free. 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 turn an audio file into text on a computer for free you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
If you want to compare for yourself
Take one of your own tasks and dictate it in Potok. The first 14 days have no limits and need no card. Potok is a cloud service, so it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokOne subscription, two tools: dictation in any program on your computer and @potok_now_bot in Telegram, which transcribes voice messages, audio and video.
Primary sources: www.notta.ai · www.notta.ai · otter.ai · help.otter.ai