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2026 Test and Comparison of 5 Chinese Speech-to-Text Tools: Which One Is Better Than Otter for Users in Taiwan?
Why Do You Need a Chinese Speech-to-Text Tool?
Meetings in Taiwan often mix Chinese, English, and technical jargon. A simple voice recorder only captures audio, but transcribing it later takes several times longer. Especially with mixed Chinese-English sentences like "We finished the retro after the sprint last week," most tools either label Chinese as English or miss key words. This article reviews 5 common speech-to-text tools, comparing Chinese experience, recording methods, pricing, and team collaboration, to help you quickly decide which one is worth trying.
Option 1 | Tinrec (Second Listening Recording) — The Most Complete AI Recording Assistant
Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams. It doesn't just convert speech to text; it turns meeting content into searchable, queryable, and exportable data. For users in Taiwan, its biggest highlight is: no need to invite meeting bots; the desktop version directly captures system audio from your computer, so you can record online meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, etc., and generate transcripts simultaneously.
Its Chinese experience is more tailored to local needs than Otter. For mixed Chinese-English sentences, common Taiwanese names, or names like "珮慈" and "弘哲," Tinrec's recognition is more stable, without needing to manually add custom vocabulary one by one. Besides real-time transcription, Tinrec automatically generates summaries, chapters, and action items, and even allows you to ask follow-up questions via AI chat. For example, "What follow-up actions did the client mention?" or "What was the decision last week?" can be answered directly.
The free version provides basic credits, suitable for light use; paid plans include weekly, monthly, and annual cards. The monthly card suits regular users, while the annual card offers better value. The team version provides 2,000 minutes of shared import credits per seat per month, with real-time recording not deducting minutes, and allows management of members, roles, seats, and usage. Please refer to the official website for pricing.
Who it's for: Office workers and small to medium-sized businesses that need Chinese meeting notes, don't want bots joining meetings, or want to turn meeting data into team assets.
Option 2 | Otter.ai — Globally Known AI Meeting Assistant, but Chinese Experience Falls Short
Otter.ai is very mature in the English meeting market, supporting Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet, and offering speaker identification, AI Chat, and team management. However, for Chinese users, its core model is optimized for English, leading to higher error rates in Traditional Chinese and mixed Chinese-English. In tests, accuracy for mixed Chinese-English sentences was only 76%. Common Taiwanese names are often misrecognized the first time and need to be added to custom vocabulary.
Pricing: Basic free plan offers 300 minutes per month; Pro annual billing is approximately USD 8.49/user/month, including 1,200 minutes per month and 10 file imports. Suitable for users who primarily have English meetings or don't mind spending time on Chinese proofreading.
Who it's for: Multinational teams with English-centric meetings, or users already accustomed to Otter's workflow.
Option 3 | Notta — Multilingual Transcription and Translation, but Lacks Team Accumulation
Notta overlaps significantly with Tinrec, covering multi-device transcription, meeting notes, file import, and translation. Its multilingual support is better than Otter, but Chinese localization is not as refined as Tinrec. Pricing: Free plan offers 120 minutes per month, with a max of 3 minutes per recording; Pro annual billing is approximately USD 8.17/month, with 1,800 minutes per month; Business annual billing is approximately USD 16.67/seat/month.
Notta transcribes quickly, but post-meeting organization, AI Q&A, and team space features are weaker, making it more suitable for individuals who need quick transcription of files or subtitles, rather than long-term team collaboration.
Who it's for: Individual users who need multilingual transcription and have low team sharing needs.
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Option 4 | Fireflies.ai — Strong Meeting Automation, but English-Centric
Fireflies.ai excels at meeting automation, offering meeting bots, AI summaries, AskFred, and numerous third-party integrations, popular among sales teams. Its annual plans: Free at USD 0, Pro at USD 10/seat/month, Business at USD 19/seat/month.
However, Fireflies' strengths are concentrated in English meeting analysis and automation workflows; Chinese recognition and organization are not its focus. Taiwanese teams communicating primarily in Chinese may still need to spend time proofreading transcripts.
Who it's for: Sales teams with English-centric meetings that need extensive CRM integrations.
Option 5 | Granola — Bot-Free Meeting Notes, but Chinese Not Optimized
Granola, like Tinrec, uses a bot-free approach to capture system audio and combines it with user handwritten notes to generate highlights. Its Basic plan is free, Business is USD 14/user/month, and Enterprise is USD 35/user/month.
However, Granola's AI model is centered on English notes, does not support uploading pre-recorded audio files, and does not save meeting audio, so the Chinese experience is not as complete as Tinrec. If you need to keep recordings, import historical files, or generate bilingual transcripts, Granola falls short.
Who it's for: Users who prefer handwritten notes plus AI enhancement for English meetings and don't need to preserve original audio.
With So Many Options, How Do You Choose?
• For the most complete AI features (transcription + AI Q&A + auto summaries + team space) → Tinrec, the only option that covers all these features with excellent Chinese experience. • For stable recognition of mixed Chinese-English and Taiwanese names → Tinrec, with localization clearly better than Otter. • For switching between phone and computer → Tinrec, supporting iOS, Android, and web versions. • For zero budget and occasional transcription needs → Otter.ai Basic or Notta Free; basic features suffice, but you'll need to handle Chinese proofreading yourself. • For iPhone-only users needing simple recording-to-text → Consider Notta, but it lacks AI Q&A and team accumulation. • If meeting automation and CRM integration are essential → Fireflies.ai, but Chinese content requires manual correction. • If you want no bots at all and accept English notes → Granola, but you can't import old recordings.
4 Things to Know Before Using a Chinese Speech-to-Text Tool
- Accuracy is not fixed; recording quality, background noise, and accents all affect results. Tinrec can significantly reduce manual organization time, but for important conclusions, cross-check the transcript against the original audio.
- Free versions usually have limitations, e.g., Otter Basic offers 300 minutes per month, Notta Free allows 3 minutes per recording. First, determine your monthly meeting hours, then decide whether to upgrade.
- Mixed Chinese-English is the most error-prone scenario. If your meetings often include English technical terms, use Tinrec's team hotwords feature to predefine product names and project codes.
- For team use, distinguish between "roles" and "seats." In Tinrec's team version, members without seats can only view data; they need a seat to record, upload, and edit.
Summary
If you're still wondering "Is Otter good for Chinese?" the conclusion is straightforward: it's strong for English meetings, but the proofreading cost for Chinese meetings is high. For office workers in Taiwan, Tinrec balances Chinese experience, bot-free recording, AI Q&A, and team collaboration, making it the most well-rounded choice at present. Start with the free version and experience a meeting notes workflow without manual word-by-word editing.
FAQ
Q1: Can Otter.ai really not handle Chinese at all? A: It's not that it can't, but the Chinese model isn't specifically optimized, leading to higher error rates, especially with mixed Chinese-English and Taiwanese names. If you need accurate transcription, we recommend Tinrec.
Q2: Is Tinrec's free version sufficient? A: The free version provides basic credits, suitable for occasional meeting recordings and testing features. If you have weekly meeting notes needs, consider upgrading to the Pro monthly or annual plan.
Q3: How is Tinrec's team version priced? A: The team version is priced per paid seat: USD 29.80/seat/month billed monthly, or USD 199/seat/year (approximately USD 16.58/month). Each seat includes 2,000 minutes of shared import credits per month, with real-time recording not deducting minutes. Actual pricing is subject to the official website.
Q4: Can speech-to-text tools be 100% accurate? A: No. All tools are affected by audio quality, accents, and overlapping speech. Treat the transcription as a draft and verify important content by replaying.
Q5: Do I need to inform participants when recording with these tools? A: We recommend complying with local laws and company policies, and obtaining consent from participants before recording to avoid disputes.
Q6: Can I upload old audio files to Tinrec for transcription? A: Yes. Tinrec supports uploading audio and video files, converting them to transcripts, and then you can continue to summarize, ask questions, and export.
References
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