Transcription in numbers: speed, cost and limits (2026)
Reference numbers for audio transcription in 2026: manual versus AI speed, real free-tier limits and prices, file sizes, and language coverage, with dates.
On this page
A reference page of the concrete numbers behind transcription on iPhone, the figures we cite across this site, in one place. All app prices and limits verified against official pricing pages, July 2026.
Speed
- Manual transcription takes a practiced human roughly 4 hours per 1 hour of audio; professional typists get to ~3×.
- AI transcription runs far faster than real time: a 30-minute memo in about a minute, a 2-hour meeting in a few minutes (details).
- Conversational English runs ~130–150 words per minute: so one hour of speech is roughly 8,000–9,000 words, or about 30 book pages.
File sizes (why upload time varies)
- WAV/AIFF (uncompressed): ~10 MB per minute
- MP3/M4A (compressed): ~1 MB per minute
- Opus voice notes (WhatsApp): well under 1 MB per minute, voice-optimized
Free-tier limits, verified July 2026
| Service | Free allowance | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Otter | 300 min/month | 30 min/conversation; 3 file imports per account, lifetime |
| TurboScribe | 3 files/day | 30 min max per file |
| Notta | 120 min/month | 3 min max per conversation |
| Fireflies | Unlimited minutes | ~400 min storage/team; 150 min/file uploads |
| Rev | 45 AI min/month | English only |
| Whisper Memos | None | Subscription-only after brief trial |
| Apple Voice Memos | Fully free | iPhone 12+, iOS 18+, ~10 languages, new recordings only |
| AI Transcribe | Free trial | Then Pro, weekly or yearly |
Paid pricing, verified July 2026 (billed annually → monthly)
| Service | Annual billing | Monthly billing |
|---|---|---|
| Whisper Memos | $5/mo | $10/mo |
| Notta Pro | $8.17/mo | $13.99/mo |
| Otter Pro | $8.33/mo | $16.99/mo |
| TurboScribe Unlimited | $10/mo | $20/mo |
| Fireflies Pro | $10/mo | $18/mo |
| Rev Essentials | $25.49/mo | $29.99/mo |
| Rev human transcription | - | $1.99 per audio minute |
| AI Transcribe Pro | Weekly or annual subscription | - |
Language coverage
- Apple's built-in Voice Memos transcription: ~10 languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese), per Apple's documentation.
- AI Transcribe: 32 transcription languages with automatic detection; transcripts translate into 46 target languages.
- Speaker labeling is unavailable in a few languages across the industry's diarization engines (in AI Transcribe: Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese).
Length limits worth knowing
- AI Transcribe: live recording up to 2 h, file imports up to 3 h (audio & video)
- Whisper Memos: 90 min per recording
- Fireflies uploads: 150 min per file
- TurboScribe Unlimited: files up to 10 h
- Notta paid: recordings up to 5 h
Prices and limits change; every figure above carries its verification date (July 2026) and comes from the provider's official pricing page or documentation.