Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
“Voice messages to text” means two different tasks: transcribing a voice message you received, or dictating text instead of recording a voice message yourself. Transcribing other people's messages needs a separate transcription service, and for the second task an ordinary dictation program will do: Potok (potok.now), for example, inserts dictated text into the message field of any messenger with a hotkey, at about 900 characters per minute.
People search for “voice messages to text” meaning different things: some need to read instead of listening to a voice message received in Discord, Botim or Element, others want to dictate a message by voice and send it as text, without recording audio at all. The articles below cover both cases for specific messengers.
- How to dictate text instead of a voice message in Discord
- How to dictate text instead of a voice message in imo
- How to transcribe a voice message in Telegram
- How to dictate text instead of a voice message in Telegram
- How to transcribe a voice message in TrueConf (chat)
- How to transcribe a voice message in WeChat
- How to dictate text instead of a voice message in WeChat
- How to dictate text instead of a voice message in Zalo
All articles in this section, in Russian (80): potok.now/golosovye
The main questions of the topic and where they are answered
- Voice messages are annoying (in Russian): dictating the text right away is often faster than speaking and listening back to a voice message: Potok's dictation speed is about 900 characters per minute.
- How to transcribe a voice message in Botim (in Russian): to transcribe a ready recording you need a transcription tool, for example Voisty with a free 5 minutes of transcription to assess quality.
- Dictate text instead of a voice message in Botim (in Russian): Potok inserts dictated text into the message field after the hotkey.
- How to transcribe a voice message in Discord (in Russian): GigaType recognizes offline through the GigaAM neural network, trained for Russian, without sending the recording to the cloud.
- Dictate text instead of a voice message in Discord: an alternative to Potok is Molvi, which is free forever, with no account and no payment.
- How to transcribe a voice message in Element (Matrix) (in Russian): WhispeRu also recognizes offline, on the device, but works only on Windows.
| 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 |
| SpeakFlow | Windows, Web | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 690 ₽/mo (Personal (unlimited)) | rubles directly | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| Diktuy | Windows, macOS | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 239 ₽/mo (Profi (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)); 2870 ₽/yr (Profi (year, billed in full)); 479 ₽/mo (Max (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)) | rubles directly (not confirmed) | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| Voisty | Windows, macOS | 5 minutes of transcription (to judge the quality) | $6.7/mo (Pro); $67/yr (Pro (year)); $99/one-time (Lifetime) | Visa/Mastercard/Amex cards, PayPal; whether Russian cards are accepted is not stated (not confirmed) | device (offline, local models such as Whisper Large V3 Turbo / NVIDIA Parakeet) |
| WhispeRu | Windows | 7-day free trial (no card) | 290 ₽/mo (monthly license); 1990 ₽/yr (yearly license); 4990 ₽/one-time (lifetime license) | rubles directly (payment via YooKassa) | device (offline) |
| GigaType | Windows, macOS | free with no limits: open source under the MIT license (Copyright (c) 2026 Disrupt Builders), all features are available without payment | — | not needed: there are no paid plans | device (offline, Sber's GigaAM neural network) |
| Molvi | Windows, macOS | free forever, no accounts and no payment | — | not needed: the product is free; voluntary donations are accepted via Telegram Tribute or by card on the website, amounts are not fixed | device (offline; best quality on an NVIDIA GPU, otherwise a fast model on the CPU) |
Where a beginner should start
- Decide what your task is: to transcribe someone else's voice message, or not to record a voice message yourself but dictate text right away. The choice of tool depends on this.
- To transcribe messages already received, choose a separate file transcription service: a dictation program such as Potok will not help with this, since it recognizes only what is spoken live. For ready recordings Potok has a Telegram bot, @potok_now_bot.
- For the second case, dictation instead of recording a voice message, set up a dictation program and a hotkey so that the dictated text goes straight into the message input field of any messenger.
- Check where the sound goes during dictation: to a server, as with Potok, or straight to the device, as with GigaType or Molvi. This is especially important for personal correspondence.
- Compare the free limits before paying: Potok has 2500 words per week with no card, Diktuy and SpeakFlow have 30 minutes per month.
Where Potok does not fit
Potok does not fit for transcribing voice messages already received: it recognizes only what is spoken live while the hotkey is held, not ready audio recordings. For ready recordings Potok has a Telegram bot, @potok_now_bot. Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. If you need offline transcription of personal correspondence, look at programs such as GigaType or Molvi, which recognize right on the device.
Frequently asked questions
No: Potok recognizes only what is said live while the hotkey is held, and does not work with ready audio recordings. To transcribe voice messages you received, you need a separate transcription service.
If the recipient finds it easier to read, dictating the text right away is often faster: Potok's dictation speed is about 900 characters per minute, and neither the sender nor the recipient needs to listen to the recording afterwards.
Voice messages to text. 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 Voice messages to text you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Voice messages to text. 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 Voice messages to text you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Voice messages to text. 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 Voice messages to text you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Voice messages to text. 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 Voice messages to text you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
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 TelegramRelated software: terms compared
| 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 |
| Telegram voice message transcription | Telegram | without Premium, a few transcriptions per week; with Premium, no limit on their number | — | not disclosed | Telegram servers |
| 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 |
| Voix (@RecogMyAudioBot) | Telegram | voice messages up to 15 minutes, video up to 6 minutes | — | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| 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 |
| Transkribator (@gotranscribeai_bot) | Telegram, Max | 3 transcriptions per month | — | not disclosed | not disclosed |
Primary 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.