Why Live Transcription Is Different from Recorded Transcription
Most transcription tools work on uploaded files. You record the lecture, upload the audio, wait a few minutes, and receive a finished transcript. That workflow works fine for podcasts and meeting recordings — but it fails for students who need the text during the lecture for comprehension support, or immediately afterward for same-day revision before the material cools.
Live transcription converts audio to text in real time, with a latency of a few seconds. The tools that do this fall into three broad categories: meeting bots, dedicated desktop apps, and browser-based solutions.
The Main Tools Available in 2026
Otter.ai
Otter connects directly to Zoom and Google Meet to produce real-time transcripts. An account is required, usage on the free tier is capped, and fuller features sit behind a paid subscription. Audio is processed on the vendor's cloud servers.
Fireflies.ai
Bot-based — Fireflies joins your meeting as a visible participant. Excellent for business meetings with action-item extraction. Not well suited for student use: the bot's presence is visible to all participants, which can be disruptive or prohibited in academic settings.
Microsoft Teams Live Captions
Built into Teams. Free, real-time captions during calls. Limited to Teams sessions and does not produce a downloadable transcript by default. No use outside the Microsoft ecosystem, and no way to transcribe pre-recorded content.
Google Meet Transcripts
Available on eligible Google Workspace plans. Similar to Teams: works only inside Meet and saves the transcript to Google Drive after the meeting. The host has to enable it, and it is not offered on free personal accounts.
Pendict
Pendict is a browser-based live transcription tool. It captures audio from any browser tab — Zoom, Meet, Teams, YouTube, streaming lectures, university portals — using the browser's native screen-share API. No bot joins the call. No account required to start. Two free demo sessions, then €5 per full session. Export as .txt or .docx.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Tool | Live? | Works on | Account needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Yes | Major meeting platforms | Yes | Free tier + subscription |
| Fireflies.ai | Yes (bot) | Most platforms | Yes | Free tier + subscription |
| MS Teams Captions | Yes | Teams only | Teams account | Included |
| Google Meet Transcripts | Yes | Meet only | Workspace | Workspace plan |
| Pendict | Yes | Any browser tab | No | Free demo / €5 |
Details of other products are summarised from their public documentation and change often. Check each vendor's site for current features and pricing.
Which Tool Is Right for Students?
If you attend lectures across multiple platforms — or watch recorded content on YouTube, Panopto, or your university's LMS — a platform-agnostic tool is the most practical choice. You're not locked into a monthly subscription for sessions you may use sporadically, and nothing about your capture is visible to other meeting participants.
If your institution standardises on a single platform (Teams or Meet) and you need tight integration with that ecosystem, the built-in captions are a reasonable free option — provided the host enables them and you're comfortable with the platform's data handling.
For most students, the combination of real-time text, downloadable output, and zero account friction makes Pendict the fastest way to start getting transcripts from any lecture, on any platform, today.