An Otter.ai Alternative for Meeting Transcription — No Bot Required
Capture your next meeting straight from the browser tab, or upload a recording afterward, and get back an editable, speaker-labeled transcript with Transkio.
Upload audio or video
MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, OPUS and more · up to 100 MB on the free plan
or drag and drop it here
Record in your browser
Meetings and calls up to 30 minutes free — longer on paid plans
Start recordingFree account · 60 trial minutes, then 30 minutes a month · no credit card required
Otter.ai is widely known for its live meeting bot that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls to record and transcribe in real time. If you're weighing that approach against other options, it's usually because you're thinking about what actually happens when a bot joins your call: it shows up as a visible participant, someone on the call may need to admit it, and in some workplaces getting a third-party bot approved to join meetings is its own hurdle.
Transkio takes a different approach. Instead of sending an automated participant into your meeting, you record the meeting audio directly in your browser while the call happens, or you upload a recording after the fact. Either way, you end up with a transcript you can search, edit, and export.
What people weigh when comparing meeting transcription tools
Bot-based meeting transcription is convenient, but it comes with tradeoffs worth thinking through: an extra participant joining the call, needing calendar or meeting-app permissions to set it up, and sometimes a wait for a co-host or admin to let the bot in before recording can start.
Some teams would rather keep their meeting attendee list exactly as it is and handle transcription on their own side instead — capturing the audio themselves during the call, or recording the meeting through their existing video tool and transcribing that file afterward.
How Transkio handles meeting transcription
With a Pro plan, you can capture audio directly from a browser tab while your meeting is running — no bot joins the call, and there's nothing to install or approve. You can also record from your microphone during the meeting, or simply upload a recording afterward if that's how your team already captures calls.
Once the audio is in, Transkio transcribes it and hands you an editor: click any line to jump the playback to that moment, fix any misheard words inline, and rename speakers so labels like "Speaker 1" become actual names — that name then carries through every export. Free exports cover TXT, SRT, VTT; DOCX and JSON are available on Starter and above.
How Transkio compares
Otter.ai's live meeting bot is a well-known way to capture a call automatically once it's set up and admitted into the meeting. Transkio is built around a different workflow: you record the audio yourself, either straight from the browser tab during the call or by uploading a file afterward, so no automated participant ever joins your meeting. Which approach fits better usually comes down to whether you'd rather have a bot handle the capture step for you, or keep that step entirely on your own side. Once the audio is in Transkio, the rest of the workflow is the same regardless of how the meeting was captured: transcription, an inline editor with speaker renaming, and exports in TXT, SRT, VTT on every plan, with DOCX, JSON, translation, speaker detection, and summaries available as you move up plans.
What You Get
See it work
See the Difference
A real example of how the same recording reads before and after Transkio.
Sprint planning stand-up, before and after cleanup
okay so um next up in the backlog we have the notification bug and the search filter thing i think the notification one is smaller so like maybe i grab that first and then jason can you take the search filter since you already touched that code last sprint yeah i can do that but i might need like a day just to reproduce it consistently before i actually fix anything
Speaker 1: Okay, so next up in the backlog we have the notification bug and the search filter issue. I think the notification one is smaller, so maybe I grab that first, and Jason, can you take the search filter since you already touched that code last sprint? Speaker 2: Yeah, I can do that, but I might need a day just to reproduce it consistently before I actually fix anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is this page affiliated with Otter.ai?
No. Transkio is an independent product, and this page is an independent, unaffiliated comparison written to help people evaluating meeting-transcription options. It is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with Otter.ai or its parent company in any way.
How does Otter.ai's pricing compare to Transkio's?
We can't speak to Otter.ai's current plans or pricing, so check its own site for up-to-date numbers. For Transkio: the free plan includes a 60-minute trial allowance, 30 minutes per month ongoing, uploads up to 100MB, in-browser recordings up to 30 minutes, and exports in TXT, SRT, VTT. Paid plans add more minutes plus translation, tab-audio capture, speaker detection, and AI summaries.
Does Transkio have a bot that joins my meeting like Otter.ai?
No, Transkio doesn't send any bot or automated participant into your call. Instead you record the meeting audio yourself — from your browser tab or microphone while the meeting is happening — or upload a recording once the meeting is over.
Can I capture audio from Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams with Transkio?
Yes. On the Pro plan, you can capture audio directly from the browser tab those meetings are running in at Transkio's #transcribe recorder, no matter which video platform you're using, since capture happens at the browser level rather than through an integration with a specific app.
What file types can I upload if I already recorded the meeting elsewhere?
You can upload audio in MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, OPUS, or FLAC, or video in MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, MPEG, or MPG. There's no separate step needed — just upload the recording and transcription starts.
Can I rename speakers in the meeting transcript?
Yes. In the editor you can rename any speaker label, such as changing "Speaker 1" to an actual name, and that name automatically carries through to every export format.
Can I get a translated version of my meeting notes?
On the Pro plan, Transkio can produce a translated text transcript of your meeting across 50+ languages. This produces a translated text version of the transcript, not translated SRT or VTT subtitle files.
Related Tools and Guides
Meeting Transcription
See how teams use Transkio to turn recorded meetings and calls into searchable, speaker-labeled transcripts.
Audio to Text
Convert any audio recording into an accurate, editable text transcript in minutes.
Pricing
Compare Transkio's free and paid plans, including minute limits, export formats, and add-on features.
Try recording your next meeting without a bot
Head to #transcribe to record straight from your browser during your next call, or upload a recording afterward, and see your Transkio transcript in minutes.
Transcribe for free- 30 free minutes, no card required
- Transcripts in minutes, not hours
- 50+ languages