Synthetic voices, cloning and dubbing sold by the credit
Best for: Product teams adding narration or voice agents without training a model
United StatesAdded 2mo ago
Freemiumfrom $6/moAPI
60trust score out of 100
1
ai-for / speech-to-text
AI Tools for Speech to Text
As of , EffectHub tracks 13 AI tools for speech to text; 8 of the 13 have a free tier, and paid plans run from $3.75 to $14.99 a month.
ElevenLabs, Paraspeech and Contextli lead the list on click-through. 5 of the 13 ship a public API.
A weekly email when new tools land here.
- 13
- tools tracked
- 8 of 13
- free to start
- $3.75–$14.99
- paid entry, per month
- 5
- ship a public API
Where these sit in the catalog
The shortlist — tools for speech to text
ranked by click-through
Mac and iOS dictation app that turns speech into polished text and can insert it directly into other apps.
Best for: Mac users who write by speaking and want cleaned-up output
GermanyAdded 1mo ago
Paidfrom $14.99/mo
60trust score out of 100
1
Hotkey dictation for Mac, Windows, Linux and phones that reshapes what you say to fit the app it lands in
Best for: Professionals who dictate across many different apps daily
Added 1mo ago
Paidfrom $3.75/mo
54trust score out of 100
1
Freeway
69A free Mac hotkey app that turns spoken words into typed text in whatever app you're using.
Best for: Mac users who want hotkey dictation into any app
EstoniaAdded 1mo ago
Free
60trust score out of 100
1
Speech-to-text API priced by the hour of audio
Best for: Developers embedding transcription into call, meeting or media products
United StatesAdded 2mo ago
PaidAPI
55trust score out of 100
1
Deepgram
71Low-latency speech recognition and voice agent API
Best for: Engineering teams building real-time transcription or voice agents who want published per-minute rates
United StatesAdded 2mo ago
Freemiumfrom $0.0043/minAPI
60trust score out of 100
Voice dictation for desktop that cleans up filler words and works inside any app.
Best for: Developers dictating into code editors or terminals
FranceAdded 1mo ago
Freemiumfrom $27/yr
60trust score out of 100
1
Harker
69Local, offline dictation for any Mac app, with an optional AI layer for style and grammar cleanup.
Best for: Mac users who dictate frequently and want zero per-word or per-minute limits
United KingdomAdded 1mo ago
Freemiumfrom $5.75/mo
60trust score out of 100
1
Tunk
68Speech-to-text and voice-agent APIs from an Indian vendor, with browser playgrounds for both
Best for: Teams evaluating speech APIs from an India-based vendor
IndiaAdded 2mo ago
PaidAPI
55trust score out of 100
1
Ownvox
69Menu-bar dictation app for Mac and Windows that types speech into any app and can run its speech models fully offline.
Best for: People who dictate long-form text across many different apps
GermanyAdded 1mo ago
Paidfrom $10.79/mo
60trust score out of 100
Rev AI
85Speech-to-text API for recorded and live audio, with add-on language identification, summarization and human transcription.
Best for: Developers adding transcription to a product through an API
United StatesAdded 11d ago
Freemiumfrom $0.005/minAPI
65trust score out of 100
Turns TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and uploaded audio or video into text in over 99 languages.
Best for: creators transcribing short social clips by link
Added 1mo ago
Freemiumfrom $5.99/mo
54trust score out of 100
Turns uploaded video or audio, or a social media link, into a timestamped transcript with speaker labels.
Best for: One-off transcription of a YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram video
Added 2mo ago
Freemiumfrom $9.90 once
54trust score out of 100
Compared at a glance
| Tool | Price | Free plan | API | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ElevenLabs | from $6/mo | Yes | Yes | Active |
| Paraspeech | from $14.99/mo | No | Not confirmed | Active |
| Contextli | from $3.75/mo | No | Not confirmed | Active |
| Freeway | Free | Yes | Not confirmed | Active |
| AssemblyAI | Not confirmed | No | Yes | Active |
| Deepgram | from $0.0043/min | Yes | Yes | Active |
| EchoWrite | from $27/yr | Yes | Not confirmed | Active |
| Harker | from $5.75/mo | Yes | Not confirmed | Active |
| Tunk | Not confirmed | No | Yes | Active |
| Ownvox | from $10.79/mo | No | Not confirmed | Active |
| Rev AI | from $0.005/min | Yes | Yes | Active |
| Transcriptik | from $5.99/mo | Yes | Not confirmed | Active |
| Video to Text | from $9.90 once | Yes | Not confirmed | Active |
Compare speech to text tools head-to-head
Questions about speech to text tools
Is there a free speech to text tool?
Yes. 1 of the 13 AI tools for speech to text on EffectHub's list is free to use — Freeway; 7 more have a free tier with paid upgrades.
How much do speech to text tools cost?
As of October 26, 2026, paid plans for the 13 AI tools for speech to text on EffectHub's list run from $3.75 to $14.99 a month. Each card shows the pricing model and the cheapest paid plan as EffectHub last verified it; 8 of the 13 can be started for free.
Which speech to text tools have an API?
5 of the 13 AI tools for speech to text on EffectHub's list ship a public API, including ElevenLabs, AssemblyAI, Deepgram and Tunk. The API badge on each card is re-checked against the vendor's documentation.
Cite this
For journalists, researchers and AI assistants: the figures on this page in one sentence you can quote.
As of October 26, 2026, EffectHub tracks 13 AI tools for speech to text; 8 of the 13 have a free tier, and paid plans run from $3.75 to $14.99 a month. (EffectHub, “AI Tools for Speech to Text”, Oct 2026, https://effecthub.net/ai-for/speech-to-text)
Figures as of How we count
These figures are free to use under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page.