oTranscribe

by Elliot Bentley

Free browser-based manual transcription tool — keyboard-shortcut transcript editor.

TL;DR

Free browser-based manual transcription tool — keyboard-shortcut transcript editor.

Best for journalists, researchers, and students transcribing interviews by hand with keyboard playback control. Pricing: free.

Category
Open source
License
—
Stars
—
Last push
—
Pricing
free
Platforms
Web

What it is

oTranscribe is a free, open-source web app for manual transcription — you control playback with keyboard shortcuts while typing. Beloved in journalism and qualitative research.

Best for: Journalists, researchers, and students transcribing interviews by hand with keyboard playback control.
Watch out for: Manual transcription only — no AI transcription.

Install / use

otranscribe.com — free, open source

Features

Speaker diarizationNo
Word-level timestampsNo
Streaming / real-timeNo
Languages supported1
HIPAA eligibleNo

oTranscribe vs Whipscribe

FeatureoTranscribeWhipscribe
CategoryOpen sourceTranscription APIs
Pricingfreefree beta
Speaker diarization—Yes
Word timestamps—Yes
Streaming—No
Languages199
PlatformsWebWeb, API, MCP

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Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX 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.