Free Transcription, No Sign-Up: Real Limits
Which transcription tools work without an account, and what the free tier really limits: minutes, file length, downloads and watermarks.
The Scriptorium team ·
"Free" and "no sign-up" are two different promises, and a transcription tool can make one without the other. Some let you paste a file in with no account, then charge to download the result. Some give you a generous monthly allowance, but only after you register. Some are free in a way that ends after three uses. This article lists what each tool states on its own page, so you can match the limit to the file you actually have.
We make Scriptorium, which has a no-account preview; it is in the table with the same treatment as the others, and the limits that make it a poor fit for some jobs are stated alongside the ones that make it a good fit for others.
The table
| Tool | Starts without an account? | What the free route limits | Can you download the text? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scriptorium | Yes | One file at a time, up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, 3 tries a day; file deleted after 24 hours | TXT, timestamped TXT, SRT, VTT, Markdown, JSON and CSV; saving it to a library and speaker labels need a free account |
| Riverside free tool | Yes, per its page | Page says unlimited, no length cap stated; MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV only; multi-speaker audio is shown as one speaker | TXT or SRT |
| VEED | "Free to try, no upfront signup" | Longer videos need an upgrade; free video export is watermarked | VTT, SRT and TXT need an upgrade |
| Sonix | Trial account, no card | 30 minutes of free transcription; then $10 an hour pay-as-you-go | Word, PDF, SRT, VTT and more (18+ export options, per its Arabic page) |
| Happy Scribe | Free plan | 10-minute free trial of AI transcription, subtitling and translation | Not checked |
| Notta | Free plan, no card | 120 minutes a month; up to 3 minutes per conversation; 50 uploads a month | Export not listed on the free plan |
| Otter | Free Basic plan | 300 minutes a month; 30 minutes per conversation; 3 imports for the lifetime of the account | Not checked |
| Tactiq | Free Chrome extension | 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits a month (live meetings only) | Not checked |
| Granola | Free plan | Unlimited notes; notes older than 30 days need an upgrade | Not checked |
| TurboScribe | Check its own page | 3 transcripts a day, 30 minutes each* | Check its own page |
Sources, each read on 2026-10-21: Riverside, VEED, Sonix pricing and Sonix Arabic page, Happy Scribe, Notta, Otter, Tactiq, Granola. *TurboScribe's site blocked automated fetches, so that row comes from its pages as shown in search results. "Not checked" means we did not find the answer on the vendor's page; it does not mean the feature is missing.
Checked on 2026-10-21. All rows: the vendor's own page, except TurboScribe (search results of its pages). Prices and limits change; confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.
Reading the table: three kinds of free
1. Free to look, pay to take the result
VEED is the clear example: you can see the transcript, but its page says that VTT, SRT and TXT downloads need an upgrade, and the free video export carries a watermark. That is a fair business model for a video editor. It is worth knowing before you spend twenty minutes uploading a file to find the download button locked.
2. Free for a few files, with an account
Notta, Otter, Tactiq and Granola give you a monthly or ongoing allowance, but they are account-based products, and the limits are tuned for live meetings. Notta's three minutes per conversation and Otter's three lifetime imports are the ones that surprise people who arrive wanting to transcribe a recording they already have.
3. Free with no account, for a file
Riverside's free tool and Scriptorium's preview sit here. They differ in what they leave out. Riverside's page states no length cap and offers four formats in and two out. Ours is capped at 15 minutes per file, but takes more input formats (see the video to text page) and exports TXT, timestamped TXT, SRT, VTT, Markdown, JSON and CSV. For a single speaker in a supported format, Riverside's free tool is hard to beat on length. For a short file where you want subtitles, timestamps or a JSON file, ours is.
What "no sign-up" still costs you
- Your recording is uploaded to someone's server. No account does not mean no upload. On our hosted preview the file is deleted after 24 hours (see the privacy page); check what each other tool says.
- Nothing is saved for you. Download or copy the transcript before closing the page.
- Per-IP limits. A daily try count is tracked per network address, so several people behind one office connection share it.
- Accuracy is not a free-tier feature. Any of these can mishear a name or a number. Read how accurate AI transcription is before you quote anyone.
A five-minute test that works on any of them
- Cut a five-minute slice from the hardest part of your recording: the place where two people overlap, or the noisiest stretch, or where specialist terms appear.
- Upload that slice to two tools, with the language set by hand rather than left on automatic if you know it.
- Read both outputs while listening. Count the errors that change meaning: wrong names, wrong numbers, missing negatives. Ignore commas.
- Check what you can do with the result: can you download it, in which format, and is anything locked behind an upgrade?
- Only then look at price. A tool that is free but gets your proper nouns wrong costs more of your time than one that is not.
This takes about ten minutes and is the single most reliable way to choose. It is also fair to every vendor in the table, ours included.
Choosing quickly
- Under 15 minutes, want a file you can use (SRT, VTT, TXT, Markdown, JSON or CSV): Scriptorium's no-account preview.
- Longer, one voice, MP3/WAV/MP4/MOV, only need text or SRT: Riverside's free tool.
- Live meetings, no bot: Tactiq or Granola.
- A few files a day with an account: TurboScribe or Notta, depending on file length.
- Sensitive recording: none of these. See the private transcription guide.
If your file fits our limit, you can upload a file without an account and see what you get before deciding anything else.