@TranscribeVoiceBot is a good fit if you don't pay for Telegram Premium and want to read voice messages instead of listening: forward a recording and the text comes back, usually within half a minute for a short voice message. Its strongest feature is groups — as an admin it transcribes every voice message and round video note for everyone. The limits are 30 minutes of recordings a day and 20 minutes or 20 MB per recording.
Key facts
| Price | Free: 30 minutes of recordings a day |
|---|---|
| What you send | Voice messages, round video notes, audio and video files |
| Per recording | Up to 20 minutes and 20 MB |
| Groups | Automatic transcription as an admin (up to 120 minutes a day per group), or reply /text |
| Speech recognition | Open-source Whisper model on our own server |
| Your recordings | Not kept after the reply — neither the audio nor the text |
| Out of free minutes? | Limits reset at 00:00 UTC; /invite gives 5 extra minutes per friend |
| Time to result (measured) | median 7.6 s, 90% within 46.7 s (1,812 results) |
Measured on real requests to our bots, from the button press to the reply: What people do with video, stickers and PDFs in Telegram: data from 23,474 tasks
Pros
- Works without Telegram Premium, for voice messages, video notes, audio and video files.
- Transcribes a whole group automatically when it is an admin.
- Speech is recognised on our own server, with no outside speech service.
- Understands dozens of languages.
- Recordings of 2 minutes or more come back in paragraphs with ⏱ time codes about every 30 seconds.
Cons
- 30 minutes of recordings a day; each recording is rounded up to a whole minute.
- Recordings over 20 minutes or 20 MB are not accepted — split long lectures.
- Long recordings take noticeably longer than a short voice message.
Who it's for
- People without Premium who get many voice messages.
- Work and study groups where not everyone can listen to audio.
- Anyone who needs the text of a short audio or video file.
Who it's not for
- Hours of audio a day — the free limit is 30 minutes.
- Premium subscribers who only need private chats: Telegram's built-in transcription has no limit.
Groups: what the bot needs
Add the bot to the group and make it an admin: then it sees every voice message and replies with the text, up to 120 minutes a day per group. Without admin rights, reply to a recording with /text and it transcribes just that one.
Alternatives
- Telegram Premium — Built-in transcription without limits for subscribers (Telegram).
- Telegram's free trial — Users without Premium get a limited number of trial transcriptions a week; the number is set in Telegram's configuration.
Frequently asked questions
Is @TranscribeVoiceBot free?
Yes. 30 minutes of recordings a day are free.
Is @TranscribeVoiceBot safe?
Recordings are downloaded to our own server, turned into text by the open-source Whisper model and deleted with the text after the reply. No outside speech service is used.
Does it work in groups without admin rights?
Partly: reply to a recording with /text. Automatic transcription of every voice message needs admin rights.
Try it now — it's free
Voice to Text @TranscribeVoiceBot · Free: 30 minutes a day
Guides and lists for this bot
- TOPBest free Telegram bots for everyday tasksThese are the free bots of the HandyBots family, the ones we build and run, each doing one everyday job right inside Telegram: send a file, get the result in the same chat.
- TOPBest Telegram bots for group chatsFor a livelier group, add @ChatGamesForGroupsBot for charades, duels and a daily pick, and @TranscribeVoiceBot so every voice message also appears as text.
- TOPBest Telegram bots for voice messages and audioTo read a voice message instead of listening, forward it to @TranscribeVoiceBot — it replies with the text, and in a group it transcribes every voice message for everyone, without Telegram Premium.
- TOPBest Telegram bots for studentsFor studying, the most useful free Telegram bots are @PhotoToPdfMakerBot (turn photos of notes or homework into one PDF, convert Word, Excel and PowerPoint to PDF, merge PDFs) and @TranscribeVoiceBot (turn a recorded lecture or a voice message into text).
- TOPBest free Telegram bots for small business and online sellersFor a small shop or a freelancer, the most useful free Telegram bots are @BgRemoverPhotoBot (product photos on a transparent background, no watermark), @PhotoToPdfMakerBot (scans, receipts and Office documents to PDF, merge and compress PDFs), @TranscribeVoiceBot (read customers' voice messages instead of listening, also in a work group) and @MakeVideoNoteBot (round video notes for your channel from an edited video).