Transcription at skryba.ai is free in two ways. Without an account you can upload a file up to 5 GB and see a preview of the transcript — up to 900 characters or the first minute of audio, with no email address and no card. Recordings up to 5 started minutes are free in full: just sign in, no card ever. You get 15 free minutes a day, and an unlocked transcript stays for good.
Upload a recording. Create an account only after you see the result.
Drop a file here or choose one from your device. We will show you the beginning of the transcript first.
Which transcription model gets the fewest words wrong?
skryba.ai transcribes on Scribe v2, which gets 2.2% of words wrong in Artificial Analysis' independent index — the lowest of every model measured. Gemini 3.5 Transcribe gets 2.6% wrong, Whisper large-v3 4.1%. It is the same model that writes the transcript preview you see before paying.
Word Error Rate — words transcribed incorrectly — lower is better
Model
WER
skryba.ai (Scribe v2)the model we transcribe on
2.2%
MAI-Transcribe-1.5Microsoft Azure
2.4%
Gemini 3.5 TranscribeGoogle
2.6%
Universal-3 ProAssemblyAI
3.1%
GPT TranscribeOpenAI
3.3%
Whisper large-v3OpenAI
4.1%
Nova-3Deepgram
5.2%
Source: Artificial Analysis, AA-WER v2 index, non-streaming mode — read 27 August 2026. Seven of the 40-plus models measured: the top of the table and the names you already know. The index is measured mostly on English audio; for other languages, Polish included, no comparable public ranking exists. That is why we show you the start of every transcript before we ask for anything.
What you get without an account
The anonymous preview exists so you can judge the quality on your own material before leaving an email address. There is no watermark and no artificial delay.
A file up to 5 GB — the same limit as the paid plans, because the limit is size, not account status.
A transcript preview: up to 900 characters or the first minute of audio, whichever comes first.
Timestamps and detected languages visible immediately.
Up to 5 recordings a day from one address — enough to compare a few files.
An anonymously uploaded recording expires by itself. You do not have to delete anything or write in asking for removal.
What signing in gives you for free
Signing up means an email address and a code from the message, or logging in with Google — no password and no card; the free path never asks for one. A recording up to 5 started minutes opens in full once you sign in.
Recordings up to 5 started minutes — the whole transcript, not a preview.
15 free minutes a day per account; the allowance renews daily.
Editing in the browser, with timestamps and speaker labels.
Link sharing, revocable at any time.
An unlocked transcript stays on your account for good — the daily allowance governs only new unlocks. Recordings longer than 5 minutes unlock with a one-off payment ($0.10 per minute, minimum $1.99) or with hours from a subscription or pack.
What the free tier does not include
Stating this plainly, because the usual disappointment with free transcription is discovering at the end that downloading the file costs money.
TXT and SRT export — paid only.
The redacted (cleaned-up) version — paid only.
Recordings longer than 5 minutes — those unlock with a one-off payment from $1.99 or with subscription or pack hours.
You can of course select and copy the text of a free transcript — the gate is on generating a file, not on access to your own words.
When free is enough, and when it is not
Situation
What to use
You want to check whether AI copes with your recording
The no-account preview — that is what it is for
A recording up to 5 minutes — a voice note or a short conversation
Sign in: the whole transcript is free
You need an SRT file for subtitles
A paid plan — export is behind the paywall
A dozen-plus hours of recordings a month
A subscription works out cheaper than packs
One recording once a quarter
A pack that never expires
Scroll the table sideways to see the remaining columns.
No. The preview does not even ask for an email address, and free recordings up to 5 minutes only need an account — an email code or Google sign-in, no password and no card. Payment appears only for a longer recording: one-off (no card kept on file) or with a subscription.
How long can a free recording be?
Up to 5 started minutes — such a recording opens in full once you sign in. You can unlock 15 minutes a day per account; the allowance renews daily, and an unlocked transcript stays for good. Longer recordings start at $1.99, at $0.10 per started minute.
How much does the free preview actually show?
Up to 900 characters or the first minute of audio, whichever comes first, and never more than 45% of the whole text. On a short recording you therefore see a clear fragment, not the lot.
Does the free tier have a smaller file limit?
No. The limit is 5 GB for everyone — anonymous, free and paid alike. The constraint is file size, not account status. An hour of dictaphone audio is usually 30–60 MB.
What happens to my recording and transcript?
Transcripts stay on your account and remain readable — a free unlock is permanent, and the daily allowance governs only new recordings. You can delete the account and every recording from settings at any time, and audio can auto-delete after 1, 7 or 30 days.
Is the free transcription lower quality?
No. The preview and the full transcript come from the same run of the same model — the difference is how much you see, not how it was transcribed. That is what makes the preview a meaningful quality test.
