Arabic audio to text for free: the tools that work and their real limits

The short answer

Turning Arabic audio into text means uploading a recording, like a lecture, a voice note or a video, and getting back what was said. The easiest free option today is Riverside's web tool, which says it is unlimited and needs no sign up, and lists Arabic among its languages. If your files should never leave your computer, Buzz is a free, open source app that transcribes offline on Mac and Windows, using OpenAI's Whisper, which has Arabic in its language table. TurboScribe gives you 3 free files a day, up to 30 minutes each, and names Arabic among its best languages. YouTube's automatic captions list Arabic, and Gemini takes up to 10 minutes of audio for free. Two popular tools disappoint for free: Notta cuts each free recording at 3 minutes, and ElevenLabs gives 12 minutes a month. Every limit here is from the maker's own page, read on 22 October 2026. We make DanDin, which does not take files: it types while you talk.

DanDin is our product, and it is not on this list because it does not take files. We did not run a file through any of these tools: every limit and language below is quoted from the maker's own page, linked at the end.

Which free tools take Arabic audio?

Free limits and Arabic support as each maker states them, read on 22 October 2026. Not a test by us.

Tool	Runs on	Free limit	Account	Watch out for
Riverside	Web	Unlimited, per its page	No, per its page	Free tool credits all speakers to one speaker
TurboScribe	Web	3 files a day, up to 30 minutes each	Free plan shows an email sign-up button	Paid is $20 a month
Buzz	Mac, Windows, Linux, offline	Free and open source, no stated limit	No	Windows build is unsigned, so you get a warning on install
YouTube automatic captions	YouTube	No stated length limit	A channel, to upload	Can fail if the video is too long
Gemini	App and web	10 minutes of audio	Google account	Google does not call it transcription, so ask for the words as spoken
Samsung Voice Recorder	Recent Galaxy phones	Not stated	Not stated	Select devices on One UI 6.0 or later
WhatsApp voice message transcripts	iPhone only, for Arabic	Not stated	WhatsApp	Only for voice notes you receive; iOS 16 or later with Siri on

Swipe the table to see every column

Which tool should you use for your file?

Riverside, for a long file with no account. Its page says: "Unlimited transcriptions for free. No sign up required." Its help center lists Arabic among the languages it transcribes. Two catches, both on Riverside's own pages: on the free tool, a recording with several speakers comes back credited to one speaker, and its phone app shows Arabic transcripts left to right. The page states no maximum file size.

TurboScribe, for short files every day. "Transcribe 3 files for free every day," each up to 30 minutes, with Arabic named among the languages where it gives its best results. The paid plan is $20 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly.

Buzz, for private files. A free, MIT licensed app for Mac, Windows and Linux that transcribes "offline", built on Whisper. Your audio never leaves your computer. Speed depends on your machine. Buzz says builds after 1.4.5 need Apple silicon; 1.4.5, the latest release on 22 October 2026, still runs on Intel Macs.

YouTube, when the video is there anyway. Arabic is in YouTube's list of automatic caption languages. YouTube warns that automatic captions can be wrong because of accents, dialects and background noise, and live streams get automatic captions in English only.

Gemini, for a short clip. Google's help page allows up to 10 minutes of uploaded audio on the free plan and 3 hours on Google AI Pro or Ultra, and Arabic is one of Gemini's languages. The page never says "transcribe", so be explicit: ask it to write out every word as spoken, without summarizing.

Samsung's Voice Recorder. Transcribe assist sits inside the Voice Recorder app on recent Galaxy phones, and Samsung's page lists Arabic.

WhatsApp on iPhone. For a voice note someone sent you, turn on Voice Message Transcripts under Settings, then Chats, pick Arabic, then press and hold the message and tap Transcribe. WhatsApp says transcripts are made on your device and the sender cannot see them.

Which popular tools fall short for free?

• Notta lists Arabic, but the free plan stops each recording at 3 minutes.
• ElevenLabs puts Arabic in its "Good" tier, a 10 to 20% word error rate, and the free plan is 12 minutes a month.
• Transcribe in Word lists 11 Arabic locales and 300 minutes a month, but only with a paid Microsoft 365 subscription.
• Happy Scribe and Sonix are one-time trials of 10 and 30 minutes, not free plans.
• iPhone Voice Memos and the Pixel Recorder have no Arabic in their transcription lists.

What happens to a 45-minute lecture in each tool?

Our own arithmetic on the limits above, not a test. You have a 45-minute Arabic lecture:

A 45-minute Arabic lecture against each tool's stated free limit. We uploaded nothing.

Tool	What happens	Uploads
Riverside	One upload, since its page states no length limit	1
TurboScribe	Split into 30 and 15 minutes, using 2 of your 3 files for the day	2
Buzz	The whole file on your computer, as fast as your computer allows	1
Gemini	10 minutes of audio, so at least 5 pieces	5
Notta free	You see the first 3 minutes of text	Does not work
ElevenLabs free	12 minutes for the whole month	Does not work

Swipe the table to see every column

For long files, Riverside or Buzz. For a few short files every day, TurboScribe. Gemini for a single short clip.

How do you get better Arabic text?

• Pick Arabic yourself when the tool asks, rather than letting it guess.
• Cleaner sound, better text. Trim long silences and noisy stretches before you upload.
• Check names and numbers by hand. They are what goes wrong most.
• Think about privacy. Web tools send your file to their servers; Buzz keeps it on your computer.

What if the words have not been spoken yet?

Recording first and transcribing later is the slow way to write. If you are about to speak and want text, dictate instead. Our Arabic speech to text page covers dictating Arabic on a computer, and the Arabic dictation hub lists what Microsoft, Apple and Google offer. You can also try speech to text in your browser with no account.