Live Captions Online: Real-Time Speech to Text
Real-time captions for your microphone. Speak and see text appear.
Ready
0:00
Click Start Captioning to begin.
- 99%
- Accuracy
- 99+
- Languages
- Anytime
- Cancel, no contract
- Free
- 30 min, no signup
Why use Live Captions?
Instant Captions
See words appear on screen as you speak. Interim results update in real time, then lock in once each phrase ends.
Accessibility-Ready
Built for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, classrooms, meetings, and live presentations. High-contrast caption pane.
Multi-Language
Caption in English, Spanish, French, German, and dozens more languages. Switch languages from the dropdown.
Private by Design
Audio is streamed straight to our speech engine and never stored. Stop the session and the audio is gone.
How it works
Click Start Captioning
Allow your browser to access your microphone. We connect to the speech engine in under a second.
Speak Naturally
Talk at a normal pace. Captions appear in real time, with each sentence finalized as you finish it.
Copy or Stop
Stop the session anytime. Copy the full transcript with one click, or just close the tab to discard it.
Live Captions vs typing it out by hand
Why upload-and-go beats manual transcription every time.
| Capability | CATT | Manual transcription |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first draft | Minutes per file | 8 to 10 hours per audio hour |
| Accuracy | 99% on clear audio | Depends on the typist |
| Speaker detection | Automatic | Tagged by hand |
| Languages | 99+ supported | Whatever you speak |
| Exports | TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT | Whatever you build by hand |
| Cost | Free for the first 30 minutes | Your time, every time |
Weighing transcription services instead? Read the full CATT vs Otter.ai comparison
Simple pricing
Free for files up to 30 minutes, no card needed. Paid plans start at $14.99.
Free
- Every file on our premium engine, with speaker detection and top accuracy
- 30 free transcriptions every day, each up to 30 minutes, and your first file up to an hour with an AI summary
- Free TXT download, plus copy and edit every transcript
Cancel anytime. Try the free plan before you upgrade. See all plans
Frequently asked questions
No. Live captions work in any modern browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) using the Web Audio API. No extensions, no downloads.
Captions usually appear within a few hundred milliseconds of you speaking. Network latency and microphone quality can affect speed.
Live captions cover the languages in the dropdown, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Arabic and Hindi. Select your language before you start.
No. Audio is streamed to the speech engine for live transcription and is not stored. Captions stay in your browser until you copy or close the tab.
Yes. Put the captions window next to your call to follow along. For best results, use a quality microphone and speak clearly.
Yes, live captions work on most mobile browsers that support the Web Audio API. Performance may vary based on device and network.