9 Free Open-Source Alternatives That Can Replace Your Paid Productivity Apps
AI transcription platforms abound, but most are just okay, unless you're willing to pay for over-priced subscriptions with lackluster features. So when I stumbled on a solid tool that let me transcribe the interviews I conduct for my freelancing gigs, I couldn't believe it was free.
Turboscribe Actually Is Simple and Free
Trial and error led me through more than a few transcription services that would make quick work of my interviews -- a few on mobile and a few online, but everything had a catch. The UI's were weird, I had to pay per minute of recorded audio, or I had to subscribe to get any features that justified using that particular service.
More googling led me to Turboscribe.ai, and that's where I found a simple user interface with a plain premise -- three free transcriptions per day, up to 30 minutes each. No gimmicks, no free trial period, no intense upselling. It works quickly, it's easy to use, and it's free forever.
What Makes the App Particularly Great
You get a lot of bang for your buck, and by that, I mean literally zero dollars. The free tier of Turboscribe offers exactly what I mentioned before (three free 30-minute transcriptions per day) with a few add-ons to boot.
You can choose how fast you want your file to be transcribed by picking from one of the three options. Cheetah is the fastest option, but it's not going to be as accurate. Dolphin isn't as fast as Cheetah, but it's more accurate. Finally, Whale gets you the most accuracy, but you're gonna have to wait a minute.
What I found is that you don't need to wait much longer than that. Even longer audio files (40-50 minutes) wrap a Whale transcription in under ten minutes, if not less than five. To date, I've only used Whale, and I've never felt like I'd waited too long.
You can tell TurboScribe how many speakers are in the file, and then name the speakers once the transcription is finished, which is essential for deciphering and using the transcription later on down the road.
Most impressively, you can translate foreign language audio directly to English, along with an option that will clean up noisy audio for you.
If you want to pay for the Unlimited tier and unlock the service's full features, it's just $20 per month or $10 per month if paid yearly. This gets you unlimited uploads of up to ten-hour-long audio files and more export options if you want the transcription file in something other than PDF or TXT format.
I still use the free tier of Turboscribe for quick transcription of audio interviews, and as a media professional, I can't recommend it enough.
