1Highest rated
Otter.aiTranscription & meetings
Automatic meeting transcription and notes in real time.
Read the review →Best AI tools for transcribing interviews (researcher)
4 tools selected and reviewed
Transcribing a qualitative interview by hand takes hours, and a researcher often conducts several interviews per week. These tools automatically transcribe speech, separate speakers and export text ready to code.
Our ranking, from most reliable for research interviews to simplest for occasional use.
Our quick recommendation
2Excellent choice
Fireflies.aiTranscription & meetings
An assistant that joins your meetings, records, and summarizes them.
Read the review →3Worth a look
tl;dvTranscription & meetings
The AI meeting recorder that summarizes, indexes, and shares your Zoom, Meet, and Teams calls
Read the review →All results
| Tool | Best for | Price | FR | Level | Verdict | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Automatic meeting transcription and notes in real time. | Freemium | — | Beginner | Good choice | ★ 4.2 | |
| Fireflies.ai | An assistant that joins your meetings, records, and summarizes them. | Freemium | 🇫🇷 | Beginner | Very good | ★ 4.3 | |
| tl;dv | The AI meeting recorder that summarizes, indexes, and shares your Zoom, Meet, and Teams calls | Freemium | 🇫🇷 | Beginner | Very good | ★ 4.6 | |
 Read AI | The AI meeting assistant that analyses your call quality and generates reports and insights automatically | Freemium | — | Intermediate | Good choice | ★ 4.2 |
Frequently asked questions
What's the best AI for transcribing a research interview?
Otter.ai is the gold standard for transcribing interviews, with good speaker identification and clean text export. Fireflies.ai is a solid alternative if you already record interviews on video call.
Can AI distinguish speakers in a multi-voice interview?
Yes: Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai and Read AI attribute each turn to a distinct speaker, which makes qualitative coding easier later. tl;dv does the same for interviews conducted on video call.
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