Montreal Forced Aligner
Don’t want to install Montreal Forced Aligner? Drop the file here.
The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free: a recording up to 20 minutes transcribes in full, a longer one is previewed, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export, and credits never expire.
Word-level alignment via Kaldi for 100+ languages.
Best for linguists + TTS data prep needing phoneme-level alignments. Pricing: free.
What it is
The standard tool for forced alignment in academic linguistics. MIT.
Watch out for: Not for free-form transcription; needs text + audio + pron dict.
Install / use
conda install -c conda-forge montreal-forced-alignerWhat people actually do with Montreal Forced Aligner-style transcription
The tool is the means. These are the jobs — each one priced at published rates, each one wired up on its own page.
Features
| Speaker diarization | No |
| Word-level timestamps | Yes |
| Streaming / real-time | No |
| Languages supported | 100 |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
Links
Montreal Forced Aligner vs Whipscribe
| Feature | Montreal Forced Aligner | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Open source | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | free | $6–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · first 20 minutes free |
| Speaker identification | No | Named in the summary, key quotes and chapters |
| Word timestamps | Yes | Yes |
| Streaming | No | No |
| Languages | 100 | 99 |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS, Windows | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to Montreal Forced Aligner
Frequently asked about Montreal Forced Aligner
Is Montreal Forced Aligner free?
Yes. Montreal Forced Aligner is free and open source.
Does Montreal Forced Aligner work on Mac, Windows and Linux?
Montreal Forced Aligner runs on Linux, macOS and Windows.
How many languages does Montreal Forced Aligner support?
Montreal Forced Aligner lists 100 languages. That is the Whisper-family multilingual set, so quality varies by language — English and the large European languages are strongest.
Does Montreal Forced Aligner identify different speakers?
No. Montreal Forced Aligner does not label speakers; a conversation comes back as one continuous text. If you need speaker labels, that is a separate tool or a different service.
Does Montreal Forced Aligner give word-level timestamps?
Yes — Montreal Forced Aligner produces timing per word, which is what subtitle cues and clip boundaries need.
Can Montreal Forced Aligner transcribe live audio?
No — Montreal Forced Aligner works on finished files, not a live stream.
Is Montreal Forced Aligner HIPAA compliant?
Montreal Forced Aligner does not claim HIPAA compliance. For PHI, run it on infrastructure you control or choose a service that will sign a BAA.
What are the limitations of Montreal Forced Aligner?
Not for free-form transcription; needs text + audio + pron dict.
Who is Montreal Forced Aligner best for?
Linguists + TTS data prep needing phoneme-level alignments.
Does Montreal Forced Aligner run offline?
Montreal Forced Aligner runs on your own machine — it is open source, so nothing leaves the computer unless you configure it to.
Can I use Montreal Forced Aligner in the browser?
No — Montreal Forced Aligner is a Linux, macOS and Windows application, not a web app. You install it rather than sign in to it.
Where is the Montreal Forced Aligner source code?
On GitHub at github.com/MontrealCorpusTools/Montreal-Forced-Aligner. It is maintained by MontrealCorpusTools.
What kind of tool is Montreal Forced Aligner?
In this directory Montreal Forced Aligner is filed under toolkit, alignment, linguistics as a open-source tool.
What are the alternatives to Montreal Forced Aligner?
There is a side-by-side page at /tools/mfa-aligner-alternatives comparing Montreal Forced Aligner with the closest tools in the same category on price, platform and features.
Can I automate Montreal Forced Aligner-style transcription without running it myself?
Yes. If what you want is transcripts rather than the tool itself, Whipscribe does the same job as a hosted API: submit a file or URL, poll a job id, pull the result as txt, json, srt, vtt or docx. $0.012 a minute — about $0.72 an audio hour — bought as credits that never expire. The automation recipes on this site show it wired to Drive folders, Zoom recordings, S3 buckets and no-code platforms.
Whipscribe is a hosted transcription service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.
Transcribe your recordings
Running Montreal Forced Aligner yourself? Send the same file here and compare the transcript. Transcribe any language, any recording · Transcription services from $0.29 an hour · Transcribe from any meeting or recording platform · How to transcribe, step by step
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