Use speech to text software to bypass physical keyboards and use your voice to compose text quickly.
Workplace success relies heavily on people’s ability to work quickly and effectively. If you can increase your output rate, you’ll have more time to devote to honing the more strategic aspects of your work.
Physically transcribing audio recordings, verbal brainstorming ideas, personal notes, and other documents is a rather tedious, repetitive, and time-consuming task that impacts the brainpower you can apply to other activities.
Thankfully, there is a solution to this problem: speech-to-text software. It’s a great way to bypass the need for physical keyboards and instead use your voice to compose text.
This article will cover the top 10 speech-to-text tools that will help you and your business.
Apple Dictation
- Compatibility: Mac and iPhone
- Price: Free
- Get it from: Go to Mac device’s Apple Menu > click System Preferences > click on the keyboard > go to dictation.
Apple Dictation, preinstalled on most Apple products, is excellent free speech-to-text software. The app utilizes Siri’s servers to simultaneously process up to 30 seconds of speech (remember to connect to the internet).
When time is of the essence, Apple Dictate is your best dictation app for getting your ideas down on paper. However, if you want to record longer passages using only your voice and have upgraded to Mac OS X 10.9 or later, Enhanced Dictation is the way to go.
When time is of the essence, Apple Dictate’s ability to transcribe speech to text without an internet connection is invaluable. More than 70 voice commands to fully command your Mac, allowing you to type, edit, and format any document easily.
Alice Transcription Software
- Compatibility: iOS mobile app or the web; there is no Android app.
- Price: Free ($3/hour if you buy 100 hours — $5/hour if you buy 20 hours — $10/hour if you buy two hours)
- No subscription required; buy however much transcription time you need.
- Get it from: To test the quality, visit aliceapp.ai and upload any audio file for free.
Alice was developed specifically for journalists to record interviews and transcribe them. In order to begin recording, all you have to do is launch the app and tap the screen. You can save an insightful remark by tapping on it. It’s also possible to pause the recording by swiping to the right.
- Emails containing recordings are sent after each completed interview.
- Background recording allows you to snap a photo or jot down notes without interrupting your recording.
- You can get the transcript of your recording online after you’re done with it.
You can try out the service at no cost by uploading an audio file to the website aliceapp.ai.
Otter
- Compatibility: Android and iOS
- Price: Free for 600 minutes/month; $9.99 for 6,000 minutes/month
- Get it from: https://otter.ai/login
In addition to being a note-taking and collaboration app, Otter can record and transcribe any source of coherent speech. Voice interactions such as meetings, interviews, and other data sources are processed in real-time.
Artificial Intelligence Sense (AISense) developed Otter, a speech recognition app that uses Ambient Voice Intelligence to be among the best of its kind. Minutes after ordering a transcription, you can begin sharing it with your staff.
Google Docs Voice Typing
- Compatibility: Any Google Chrome-compatible device
- Price: Free
- Download Link: https://www.google.com/docs/about/
For most content creators, Google Docs has become an integral part of their daily engagements. Add Google Voice Typing into the mix, and you’re getting an indispensable tool.
Use Google Voice Typing if you need a powerful dictation tool. In addition to letting you dictate text, it also provides access to more than a hundred view commands that can be used to format and edit your documents in any way you like.
To get quick access, select Tools > Voice Typing and then give Google Docs permission to use your computer’s microphone to use Voice Typing.
Speechnotes
- Compatibility: Any device with a microphone and Chrome browser
- Price: Free; available for Premium with a donation
- Download Link: https://speechnotes.co/
Speechnotes is a super accessible online dictation tool because it does not require prior downloads, registrations, or installations. Speechnotes uses the Google speech recognition engine.
Dubbed best dictation software by many, Speechnotes allows you to dictate and type simultaneously, and the program will automatically capitalize the first letter of each sentence. All you need to do is finish up; from here on out, you have complete control over every dictation feature, and how your documents are handled. It can be emailed, printed, filed, uploaded to Google Drive, or downloaded to a computer for later use.
Nuance’s Dragon Speech Recognition Software
- Compatibility: You can use Dragon anywhere as long as the device has Windows version 7 and up installed
- Price: $300
- Download Link: shorturl.at/dgqrK
For speech recognition software, Dragon is still the industry standard. Dragon Professional Individual is, without a doubt, the best speech-to-text software on the market, thanks to its extensive customization options and wide range of features.
Since it uses deep learning technology, the program can instantly adjust to the user’s voice and the surrounding conditions. When you use Dragon, it will store commonly used phrases and words in its internal database.
Furthermore, users can easily customize the presentation of various data types (such as dates and phone numbers) by utilizing the Smart Format Rules.
The advanced customization options available in Dragon Professional Individual provide unparalleled adaptability and productivity. Words, acronyms, and industry-specific terms can also be imported or exported from user-created lists. In case that wasn’t enough, you could also set up the best voice commands for your most frequently used tasks. Dragon allows you to save time by creating macros to automate multi-step tasks with simple voice commands, including commonly-used content (e.g., a text feature, graphics) in documents.
Windows 10 Speech Recognition
- Compatibility: It worked in any app or browser, making it a handy tool. If you’re a Windows 10 user and don’t mind a voice “training” period, you’ll get good use out of this feature
- Price: Free
- Download Link: shorturl.at/ekl68
Windows Speech Recognition is preinstalled on all Windows PCs. Since Windows Vista, you can take advantage of Microsoft’s built-in speech recognition.
With speech recognition, you can use your voice to interact with the UI of your computer.
Dictation is much faster than typing; just plug in the microphone and teach the computer to recognize your voice. Words spoken into the microphone get converted from analogue to digital for use by the speech recognition software.
The tool mistranscribed only three words out of 207 on the first try for a 98.6% accuracy rate. Windows Speech Recognition was among the most accurate systems when it first launched; only Gboard could compete.
Gboard
- Compatibility: Android (any device)
- Price: Free
- Download Link: https://support.google.com/gboard/answer/2781851?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en
Gboard is one of the best free text-to-speech programs out there, and it has quickly become the most downloaded Android keyboard app.
The Google keyboard has many excellent features, like one-handed mode and glide typing. But that’s not all: it also has impressive voice recognition features. From emailing to texting, your voice can do it all.
Each Android app that can take text input can use Gboard’s voice typing feature. Tap the microphone icon (on the right side of Gboard’s suggestion strip) and begin dictating when “Speak now” appears to use the feature.
The transcript can be edited by hand to fix any mistakes. If you’re having trouble finding the right word, Gboard’s Voice Typing feature can help. To do this, tap the microphone icon after choosing the relevant word. Say the new word after “Speak now” appears to have it replace the old one. Dictation can be taken in a number of languages on Gboard, and the app can be used both online and offline. It is perfect for those already using Microsoft Office.
Braina Pro
- Compatibility: Any devices with Windows installed and a microphone
- Price: $239
- Download Link: https://www.brainasoft.com/braina/download.html
Braina Pro is an AI-based virtual assistant explicitly designed for individual use. The software supports over a hundred languages and can automate various computer tasks, provide reminders, and alarm you. In addition to being a thesaurus, dictionary, and text-to-speech generator, Briana Pro also serves many other purposes.
SpeechTexter
- Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android
- Price: Free
- Website: https://www.speechtexter.com/
SpeechTexter is a free speech to text app that supports over 70 different languages. You can download it as a Chrome extension or as an Android app from the Google Play store. Enjoy customizable voice commands and roughly 90% accuracy in use. It’s a great free talk to type software for students, foreign language learners, or people with reading and writing difficulties.
Summary
Speech to text software has grown more accessible in recent years, becoming a standard tool for many people and businesses. It’s easier and cheaper to get started with, and it can boost your productivity and speed as a writer once you’ve mastered the basics.
Most voice to text software use English as their base language and upgrade to other languages such as Spanish, German, Italian, and other languages. For the most part, they’ll come with tutorials, and free versions, and are available on both computers and mobile devices. Use your chosen software with a headset or without – the delivery remains the same due to their high-quality algorithms, fantastic transcription service, and exceptional adaptability to virtually everyone’s needs.
Voice recognition software is perfect for people with hearing and writing disabilities and professionals looking to speed up the mundane process of writing using the most suitable speech to text app.
Interested in text to speech instead? Try Speechify
The opposite of speech to text is text to speech (TTS). TTS apps like Speechify use AI voices to read text to you out loud, making TTS perfect for people who having reading difficulties or want to multitask. Speechify’s AI voices cover more than 30 natural, human-like voices and many different languages. It’s available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems, as well as for iOS and Android devices. Use Speechify to news read articles, web pages, emails, social media feeds, documents, flashcards, and so much more. With the OCR technology available to premium users, you can even take pictures of print text and have Speechify read it to you out loud.
