Free transcription, no minute meter
Download SnailText, drop in a file, get the transcript. That is the whole flow, and it is free — no per-minute meter, no monthly minute cap, no card. Because the speech model runs on your own machine instead of a server, there is no minute cost for anyone to bill.
Transcribe a five-minute memo or a five-hour archive; the price is the same, which is nothing. No "you have used your free minutes this month" message — that does not exist here.
Free audio transcription, no minute cap
If you are looking for audio transcription free of a monthly minute cap, this is the difference: metered tools give you a slice of minutes (often 30 to 300 a month) and then charge. SnailText has no meter at all, so you can transcribe an hour of calls or a hundred hours of interviews at the same price — nothing.
It covers calls, voice memos, podcasts, and interviews, as many as you want. See audio to text for the formats and the full audio workflow.
Free video transcription, nothing uploaded
Getting a video transcript free usually means uploading your file to a web tool that watches the clock. Here the video never leaves your computer, so there is no minute meter and no privacy trade — a recorded webinar or screen capture transcribes locally at no cost.
Video works after a one-time one-click decoder download. See video to text for the formats and the full video workflow.
The one honest catch
Free is not a crippled trial. The free tier uses the compact Whisper speech models — genuinely unlimited, no minute wall. The larger, higher-accuracy models are part of Pro ($7.49 / month).
So the trade is an accuracy tier, not a time limit. You can transcribe unlimited audio and video on the free tier without ever hitting a minute paywall on the models it ships with. Batch a whole folder free, too.