2026 Comparison of 3 Transcription Tools: Who Made Yating Transcription and Which One Should You Choose?

Just finished a meeting and realized you need to re-listen for two hours? You don't need a recording—you need meeting materials you can use directly

You had a one-hour online meeting, and afterward, you want to find out who mentioned that budget number. You end up dragging the progress bar and listening from the beginning again.

You recorded a 90-minute interview and need to transcribe it. Typing it out word by word usually takes three to four times as long.

The most troublesome part is when the meeting room has mixed Chinese and English, and occasionally some Taiwanese, the transcribed text is full of errors, making it harder to use than having nothing at all.

If you've encountered these situations, this article is for you. Below, I've actually compared three common transcription tools and also answered the frequently searched question: "Who exactly made Yating Transcription?"

Before choosing a transcription tool, understand these 4 key points

1. Can you use it directly after transcription?

Getting just a transcript versus getting a summary, chapters, and a to-do list are completely different workloads. With the former, you still have to read through 30 pages yourself; with the latter, you can go straight to the conclusions. When choosing a tool, first ask yourself: Do I want text, or organized meeting materials?

2. How is audio captured for online meetings?

Some tools use a "meeting bot" that joins as a participant, while others capture system audio directly from your computer. The former requires the host's permission and adds an extra participant to the list; the latter doesn't disturb anyone but requires you to actively start the software. Each approach has its use cases—think about whether your meeting culture can accept an extra bot.

3. Chinese, mixed Chinese-English, and Taiwanese accents

English meetings have a low recognition threshold; Chinese is the dividing line. Especially for Taiwanese users who often mix Chinese and English (Chinglish), Taiwanese Mandarin, and Taiwanese, the performance differences among tools will be magnified here. It's best to test with your own real recording, not just official numbers.

4. Is data stored in a personal account or team space?

For personal use, it doesn't matter, but as soon as colleagues share it, you need to ask: Who owns the recording? Will the data still be there after a colleague leaves? Who can edit, who can only view? Personal version tools usually don't have answers to these questions.

Tinrec – Our top pick after testing

Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams. It supports real-time recording, online meeting transcription, and audio/video file import, and can automatically generate summaries, chapters, to-dos, and mind maps. Simply put, it connects everything from "recording" to "ready to act on."

Record online meetings without a meeting bot

In actual use, the Tinrec desktop version captures system audio directly. When handling online meetings like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex, you don't need to add a bot to the meeting room. For those who often meet with external clients, this is very thoughtful—no need to explain "who that is on the list." Note that you still need to actively open Tinrec to start recording; it doesn't automatically join every meeting on your calendar.

Meeting ends, key points are already organized for you

Open Tinrec during the meeting, and it will transcribe as it records. As soon as the meeting ends, AI has already generated a summary, chapters, and to-dos—who is responsible for what, what the deadlines are, all listed for you. When you need bilingual meeting notes, you can also view the original text, translation, or bilingual content in real time.

You can even ask it directly after recording

This is the most practical part in my opinion. After recording, you can directly ask Tinrec: "Who mentioned the budget in the last meeting?" It doesn't give you a list of keyword search results but answers directly based on semantic understanding. To organize into reports, tables, or meeting minutes, you can also generate them through Agent post-processing and export to Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, Dropbox, etc., for further use. Using such a tool only as "speech-to-text" means you're only using one-third of its capabilities.

Data ownership for team use

Tinrec for Teams is a separate team space, not multiple people sharing a personal account. Meeting data belongs to the team, and when members change, resources can be transferred to other active members, not lost with the individual. The admin side has roles, seats, usage analytics, and audit logs. One easily confused point to note: members without a seat can still view, play, and read team data, but to record, upload, edit, import/export, they need a seat.

Plans and limitations

The personal version has a free version, weekly card, Pro monthly, and Pro annual. Choose based on usage frequency: for occasional recording, start with the free version; for short-term intensive interviews, consider the weekly card; for weekly meetings, Pro is suitable. The team version is currently USD 29.80 per paid seat per month, or USD 199 per paid seat per year (about USD 16.58 per month). Each paid seat provides 2,000 minutes of shared import quota per month. Eligible teams can try 7 days, 1 free seat, and 300 minutes of shared import quota for the first time. Actual prices and benefits are subject to the official purchase page.

Honestly, there are limitations: the free version quota is for light use, file import consumes quota, and transcription quality is affected by recording environment, accent, and multiple people talking over each other. It's not recommended to treat AI output as the only version; important content should be verified against the transcript timestamps or recording.

Who is it for

If you often have online meetings, need Chinese notes with mixed Chinese-English, want to use AI to find key points directly after meetings, or your team wants to centrally manage meeting data, Tinrec is currently the closest choice to these needs.

Besides Tinrec, what other options are there?

Who made Yating Transcription? Let's answer this first

Most public information points to a local Taiwanese team. The teaching resources of National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology clearly state that Yating Transcription was developed by "Taiwan AI Labs"; the App Store product description also emphasizes 100% Made in Taiwan, with funding, data collection, and developers all from Taiwanese civil organizations. On the other hand, a long-time user blogger mentioned that the company behind Yating Transcription is "Yating Smart," which has extended product lines like FedGPT and Yating Text-to-Speech. Both statements point to the same Taiwanese team system, but public pages do not clearly explain the company structure. If you need formal cooperation information, it's best to confirm directly with the official source.

Yating Transcription: Strong in Taiwanese accent recognition

Yating Transcription is an old brand in the Taiwanese market, focusing on recognition of Taiwanese Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Japanese, and mixed Chinese-English. It offers real-time transcription, recording-to-text, video subtitles, and meeting notes, with both an App and web-based Studio. After transcription, it can do speaker segmentation and key point summaries, and emphasizes enterprise-level data security.

However, based on current public information, Yating Transcription does not emphasize AI conversational Q&A—after recording, you have to search with keywords yourself; it also lacks governance features like team spaces, role seats, and usage audits. If you only use personal devices and value Taiwanese accent recognition, you can consider it; but if meeting data needs team sharing and handover, Tinrec's team space is more convenient.

Otter.ai: A mature choice for English meetings

Otter.ai is a veteran tool for English business meetings. The Basic free plan offers 300 minutes per month, and Pro annual is about USD 8.49 per user per month, including 1,200 minutes of in-app recording and 10 file imports per month. Its English meeting mindset is very mature. If your meetings are almost entirely in English, Otter.ai is a cost-effective choice. But it doesn't focus on Chinese and Taiwanese recognition, nor does it have Tinrec's desktop version's bot-free recording by capturing system audio and real-time translation combination; if your meetings are mainly in Chinese, Tinrec is more suitable.

Notta: File transcription and multilingual subtitles

Notta overlaps significantly with Tinrec, both support multi-platform transcription, meeting notes, file import, and translation. The official free version currently offers 120 minutes per month, with a maximum of 3 minutes per single content. Pro annual is about USD 8.17 per month, with 1,800 minutes per month. Business annual is about USD 16.67 per seat per month. It is suitable for workflows focused on file transcription, subtitles, and translation; but if you want bot-free recording for online meetings, plus post-meeting AI Q&A and team data accumulation, Tinrec's entire workflow is more complete.

Pitfall guide: The 3 most common mistakes when choosing a transcription tool

Pitfall 1: Only looking at official advertised accuracy

Many tools claim "98% accuracy," but that's usually measured in a quiet environment. Real meeting rooms have air conditioning noise, keyboard sounds, and multiple people talking over each other, so the numbers drop significantly. It's best to test with your own recording using the free version, not just advertising copy.

Pitfall 2: Ignoring the post-transcription workflow

Using a transcription tool only for speech-to-text means you're only using one-third of its capabilities. What really saves time is the subsequent summary, to-dos, and Q&A—asking "What was the conclusion of this meeting?" directly after the meeting is much faster than manually flipping through a 30-minute transcript.

Pitfall 3: Managing team meeting data with personal accounts

This is a pitfall many teams have stepped into. Data stored in a personal free account disappears when a colleague leaves or the account is deactivated. If the meeting content belongs to the company, it should be put into a team space from the start, and you should understand the difference between "roles" and "seats"—being able to view data does not mean being able to edit it.

Conclusion: Which one should you choose?

Back to the original question: Who made Yating Transcription? Public information points to Taiwan AI Labs and local Taiwanese teams, and the product itself has long-term accumulation in Taiwanese accent recognition.

As for which one to choose, you can divide it like this:

• Need Chinese, mixed Chinese-English online meeting notes, and don't want a bot to join the meeting → Tinrec (desktop version captures system audio directly)
• After recording, want to use AI to ask key points directly, generate to-dos and reports → Tinrec (AI Q&A and Agent post-processing)
• Need to use on phone, computer, and web, and export to Notion, Google Docs → Tinrec (multi-platform and multi-format export)
• Meeting data needs to be shared by the whole department, need seat and usage management → Tinrec team version
• Only record English meetings, limited budget → Otter.ai (free 300 minutes per month, sufficient for English scenarios)
• Mainly for long file transcription and subtitle translation → Notta or similar tools

It's recommended to start with the free version, run a real meeting recording through it, and see if the Chinese and summary meet your standards before deciding whether to upgrade. The best way to know if a tool is good is to try it once.

References

• Yating Transcription
• Yating Transcription
• Generative AI Guide, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology - Teaching Resource Think Tank
• Yating Transcription - App Store
• A Helpful Tool for Interview Transcripts: Yating Studio / Yating Studio: A Helpful Tool for Interview Transcripts