Speech recognition, believe it or not, has been around since the 1980s.

And over the last 40 years, thanks to some of the best speech recognition software AI like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, IBM’s Watson etc., it has improved by leaps and bounds in recognizing human speech.

Can the best speech recognition software available today effectively replace humans in transcribing audio or video files?

And which free, paid and online voice recognition apps and services help you do that efficiently and effectively?

Let’s find out.

DISCLAIMER: 

At the time of writing, while we’ve researched the best speech recognition software and listed them in this article, they work best with slow paced, clear, enunciated American accent dictation recordings by a single speaker with no background noise.

In addition, the person should be talking close to the microphone.

Even the best speech recognition software will oftentimes struggle if there’s:

  • Faint voice of the speaker
  • More than one speaker
  • Background noise or music
  • Overlapping conversation

Having said all that, advanced machine learning has made things easier over the last few years.

Below is a list of the best speech recognition software available today:

1. ScriptoSphere Speech to Text

Automated Speech Recognition Software

Visit the ScriptoSphere website

Operating System

  • PC
  • Mac
  • iOS (iPhone, iPad)
  • Android (smartphones and tablets)
  • Any internet browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari etc.)

Accuracy

With over 15 years of experience in human audio transcription services, working with some of the best universities, individuals and companies in the world, we’ve gathered sizeable expertise in the field.

And that is evident in our verified Trustpilot reviews.

We’ve then used that expertise to train our speech recognition AI to reach state-of-the-art accuracy levels.

To be featured in this list of best speech recognition software in 2020, we had to work hard on making it able to differentiate between fast and slow pace of speech, different accents, and catch even the most obscure technical jargons.

Customizations to Increase Accuracy

Thanks to advanced machine learning, you can provide a base vocabulary or a glossary of terms to feed our speech recognition AI to generate more accurate transcripts for your project.

Using a mix of speech models, neural networks and algorithms, it learns specific words, phrases, technical terminology or names of individuals related to your niche.

Video transcription can use the same system to add quick closed captions or subtitles.

High Confidentiality

Unlike other online tools on this list, for example the ones from Google or Facebook, our speech recognition AI doesn’t process your confidential data online.

It’s processed on a separate device, and all of your sensitive, confidential files are deleted once the job is done.

Furthermore, we can also sign a legal confidentiality agreement without loopholes to ensure your data will not be stored or shared without your permission.

How much does it cost?

$0.10 Per Audio or Video Minute

2. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 15

best speech recognition software Dragon

Visit Dragon’s Website

Operating System: Windows, Mac, iOS and Android

Nuance have improved Dragon incrementally over the years to where its AI today is very good, but still not quite there yet.

The company claims it’s 99% accurate, but that’s not entirely true across the board.

Nevertheless, it deserves its place on this list of the best speech recognition software today.

Accuracy

It’s great for single speaker dictations, especially if you’re speaking slowly close to the microphone.

This means it’s an effective solution if you like taking notes on your digital recorder in a quiet place.  For example, a doctor taking medical notes, or a book author recording ideas.

However, you will need to make sure there is absolutely NO background noise.

Even the slightest background chatter or music, this speech recognition software will struggle and errors will creep in.

Similarly, it will have problems with multiple speaker interviews.

Furthermore, it’s a downloadable software, which is only as good as its latest update.  And you have to install it on a PC or Mac.

How much does it cost?

$300 or £349.99

Your first thought when you see the eye-watering price of $300 or £350 (puzzling) is that for the individual version, it is expensive.

But it’s a one-time fee .

Plus, similar to some of the best speech recognition software on this list, it’s also a learning AI.

So, over time it learns to recognize and understand your voice and accent.

You can use it to open your email, dictate text, send and open projects, and launch applications on your computer.

However, if you only require speech to text conversion for one project, paying that much probably doesn’t make sense.

3. Google Docs Voice Typing

best speech recognition Google Docs

Visit Google’s help page on this topic

Operating system: Android, Chrome OS, iOS, PC and Mac

Even though this has made the list of best speech recognition software, it’s actually a voice dictation app.

Or as Google itself calls it, “voice typing”.

So, if you’ve recorded your interviews in MP3 or WAV or any other audio format, you won’t be able to run it through this as you would with ScriptoSphere or Dragon, for example.

You will need to speak into a microphone and this will convert your dictation to text.

While that is great, it is only accurate as long as you’re speaking clearly and slowly next to the microphone, like talking to a baby.

But if you’re a fast speaker, or there’s more than one person being recorded, you may have to spend time cleaning up (proofreading) the document for accuracy.

4. Braina Speech to Text

Visit Braina’s Website

Cost: $49 for 1 Year and $139 (or $239) for the Lifetime Version

Operating System: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.  Android and iOS App.

The company claims it allows you to accurately and easily dictate speech to text in 100 languages.

You can also use it in a way similar to Dragon to control your computer to open programs and websites.

Furthermore, they offer an Android or iOS app that can turn your smartphone into an external wireless microphone over a WiFi network.  Which we have to admit, is quite cool.

While Braina have built a large vocabulary into the software, it still comes up short if your audio quality isn’t the best.

This seems to be the the stumbling block for even the best speech recognition software AI at the moment.

5. Amazon Transcribe

best speech recognition software Amazon

Cost:  Comprehensive. Visit Amazon Transcribe’s pricing page here

Operating System: PC, Mac, Mobile

This service from Amazon is suitable for developers who want to add speech recognition to their apps.

While Amazon claims their software uses “deep learning process”, it is fairly similar to other speech to text solutions featured here.

What that means is it recognizes speech and does a good job of transcription as long as the audio quality is top notch.

The software helps you to automate transcription of customer service calls, closed captioning and subtitling.

In our testing, you get best results if your audio or video has a single speaker speaking clearly at a slow pace.

Anything worse and you can expect annoying or hilarious errors.

6. IBM Watson Speech to Text

best speech recognition software IBM-Watson

Cost: Visit Watson Speech to Text pricing page here

Operating System: PC, Mac, Mobile

IBM claim their software can transcribe even bad quality audio with high accuracy.

While that is great marketing material, again, reality is similar to other software featured in this article.

In fact, Watson is fairly similar to Dragon, in that you have to spend time training the software.

Accuracy is similar to Dragon too, but can vary depending on audio quality and type.

Example of a Speech Recognition Transcript

Now that we’ve listed some of the best speech recognition software on the planet in this article, let’s see how speech to text AI actually performs.

Below is an example of how a speech recognition AI understands two people talking.

This is a quick automated transcription of a small clip from the incredibly popular Joe Rogan Experience Podcast Series.

So, when we talked about a “rough transcript” earlier, this is what we meant.

The machine transcript is below the video.

Is telling you guys before issue today were my credit card got robbed and you know whatever card fraud some to hold my number which is really that’s the one thing that people worry about the most about shopping online right because I could, happen everywhere but you think that if there’s anything that is change malls more than anything it’s got to be the ability to just shop online default Amazon that the fact that they figure that out when Amazon came out it was just a bookstore with who the focus of our books online at school to the bookstore is just a stupid business meanwhile the guy has more money than any human on the planet that’s related to investors get divorced I heard last night that there’s a rule in West Washington that everything that you make as a couple you to split your for 25 years else Arnie a little military law is just 50-50 will under marriages 20 years or 10 years or more is 50-50 in that clues downstream income will go from anything you did that you’re still getting paid for say 10 years ago you wrote a book or whatever well Mrs. basals is again a he’s worth 100+ billion dollar and 37 while so she’s gonna get half of that ligament because it’s a lot of stock the center to just be friends, though they better if she should be supervised usual user recorder actually I were on July were on the richest people in the are all these bookstores where business or some irony that Amazon I want to start opening physical brick-and-mortar stores that is, in my life but it does make sense though because there are some brick-and-mortar stores and think of as a conqueror think you just want to take over everything will wildly by whole foods and I was out of the supermarket business I can talk this up to well automated I can order whole foods delivered to your house I think that’s available yet but I figured is right is a state now most grocery stores even like all the routes have home delivery within two hours to compete with Amazon prime you are and if they don’t do that you can is where I want to pick it up to John I went to pavilions in the day met a bunch of delivery trucks parked in the parking mom is what will get this is cool delivery trucks have to buy one rate that we can walk in there’s no cashiers they just trust that everyone’s not stealing and I think they just are the comfortable with a certain amount of theft that’s interesting with the left hand was doing but it’s him the online purchasing like that is got a put that must be putting the most this was like the most impact on stores brick-and-mortar stores and ability to purchase online can be devastating from Dorian up in Santa Barbara I live now just writing up State Street this morning at the end of the ride units like the third to be a quarter the stores are closed and business empty and you state streets and Barbara this was like that happen in place to be and I and the real estate minimizes I will see that started at zero $22,000 a month to lease okay so you have to have a retail outlet that’s really turning over the customers and there’s a lot that just can’t do that became an antique store that’s going to do that are a little bit next-door

Ways to Save Time and Money with Speech Recognition

As you can see in the example above, even the best speech recognition software works best with slow, clear speech with single speakers.

So, are you doomed if you want your 2-speaker interviews transcribed?

Not really, no.

By taking some precautions beforehand, you can dramatically increase the accuracy of automated speech to text or human transcription.

Precautions you can take beforehand

We’ve published several in-depth guides on our website that give you unbiased, factual insider tips and tricks to save time and money on transcription.

These guides rely on experience and extensive, painstaking research to bring you condensed, useful information.

By following the steps in these guides, you can improve the quality of your audio or video recordings.

And as a result improve accuracy tenfold using any of the 6 best speech recognition software listed in this article.

Click on any of the links below to read the guides in full:

If you don’t have the time or the energy to click on the links above or read those posts in their entirety, or even skim through, below is a quick list of to-dos:

  • Record in a quiet place.
  • Pay attention to recording quality.
  • Avoid multiple speakers in one interview (if you can)
  • Install a voice recording app for your smartphone
  • Invest in a high quality digital recorder (if you do this often)
  • Plan ahead to avoid paying extra.
  • Communicate your needs clearly to the participants.

When you’ve already Recorded your Interviews

And they are bad.

cat frustrated with speech recognition software

If you’ve already tried speech to text software with abysmal results due to the quality of your recording.

Do not fret.

You may have to transcribe them yourself, or hire a transcription service.

Continuing on in the DIY (do-it-yourself) vein, if you’ve decided to have a go at it yourself during these tough times to save money, the following posts can help:

Or if you think that requires too much time that you don’t have, let our team of human transcribers help.

Can the Best Speech Recognition Software Replace Humans?

Yes and no.

They do well on specific files, but not for all types of content.

No matter what the marketing department of a company says, automated transcription isn’t 100% accurate.

We wouldn’t dare to claim 100% accuracy about our own product.

Our Own Experience

As a transcription service company, we’ve used speech recognition software for a while now.

Our own software has evolved through several different iterations and versions trying to find the holy grail of speech to text accuracy.

That would save us the hassle of searching for, testing, hiring transcribers, and paying their salaries.

The search continues.

Furthermore, all the best speech recognition software makers on this planet claim to catch words accurately.

But as we’ve demonstrated in this article, that’s only true if you speak slowly, like speaking to a child.

And in a quiet environment.

And as close to the microphone as possible.

Current Stumbling Blocks for Voice AI

Some of the biggest stumbling blocks for even the best speech recognition software are:

  • Understanding fast speech.
  • Differentiating between multiple speakers.
  • Ignoring background noise.
  • Deciphering foreign accents.
  • Overlapping conversation

Oftentimes they may even struggle with slow pace of talking.

But there is considerable progress and things have evolved nicely over the last few years.

Best Speech Recognition Software and MoneySaving Math

Sure, transcribing a 60 minute file is going to cost you only about $6 at $0.10 per minute.

But as you can see in the sample transcript earlier in the article, factoring in spelling, grammar, formatting, labeling speakers, time stamping etc. it will take you some time to clean that up.

Now, time = money.  And editing a rough speech to text transcript of a one hour interview can take you anywhere between 6-8 hours.

Depending on how much you earn per hour, let’s assume it’s $15 per hour, you’ll lose around 8 x 15 = $120 by doing it yourself, maybe.

So, you have to factor that in before making your decision.

Conclusion

Speech to text AI has come a long way in the last few years.

However, make your decision wisely, and ask for free trial transcripts.

We hope this complete guide with the 6 best speech recognition software available in 2020 was able to help you make a better decision.

Please share it with your friends if you found it useful, and leave a comment if you liked it.