Speech to text online, free in your browser

Guide · LK Forge · Updated 22 June 2026

"Speech to text" means turning spoken words into written text automatically. Online speech-to-text does it in a web browser with no software to install — you talk, and the words appear on screen. It is one of the fastest ways to write, because most people speak far quicker than they type. This guide explains how browser speech-to-text actually works, the one distinction that trips people up (live dictation versus file transcription), what it is best for, and where its limits are — so you know exactly what you are getting before you start.

Live dictation vs file transcription — know which you need

This is the single most important thing to get right when you search for speech to text, because the two are different jobs:

• Live dictation (real-time): you speak into your microphone now and the words appear as you talk. This is what VoiceFlow and most "voice typing" tools do, and it is ideal for writing emails, notes, messages, and first drafts.
• File transcription: you upload an existing audio or video recording (a meeting, a podcast, an interview) and get a transcript back. That is a different category of tool. VoiceFlow does live dictation, not file uploads — if you need to transcribe a recording you already have, you want a transcription service instead.

If your goal is to write by talking, live online speech-to-text is exactly the tool for the job.

How online speech-to-text works

Browser speech-to-text is powered by the Web Speech API, a speech-recognition engine built into Chrome and Edge. When you press the mic, your audio is streamed to the browser's cloud speech service, converted to text, and returned to the page almost instantly, with punctuation added automatically. Because the recognition happens in the cloud, you need an internet connection, and it works best in Chrome or Edge (Safari and Firefox have limited or no support). Nothing is installed — the web page is the tool.

What it's best for

Online speech-to-text shines for everyday writing: drafting an email, capturing an idea before it slips away, writing a journal entry, replying to messages hands-free, or getting the bones of an article down quickly to edit later. It is also a genuine accessibility aid for anyone who finds typing slow or painful. It is less suited to highly technical dictation full of unusual jargon, or to situations that demand perfect accuracy without review — for those, dictate first and then edit, since the text lands in a box you fully control.

Languages and accuracy

VoiceFlow's free browser demo supports 100+ languages and regional accents, including English (US, UK and more), Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Japanese and many others — exact availability and accuracy depend on your browser. Accuracy on clear, conversational speech is high; background noise, strong accents, and heavy jargon are what lower it. A decent microphone in a quiet room makes the biggest difference — see our microphone guide for dictation. You can also speak your punctuation ("comma", "period", "new paragraph") for cleaner results, and add a custom-replacements list so names and acronyms come out right.

Free to start, one-time to go unlimited

VoiceFlow's online speech-to-text is free for 2,000 dictated words a day, with automatic punctuation and one-click copy, no card and no sign-up. If you need more, Pro is a one-time $8.99 payment — not a subscription — that removes the daily cap and saves and syncs your text to your account across devices. To see how dictating compares with typing, read Voice Typing vs Typing; to start from scratch, see how to use voice dictation in your browser.