Tinrec vs Notta 2026: Cantonese Speech-to-Text Comparison for Meetings

Two-Hour Meeting, Two More Hours of Notes—The Problem Isn't Your Effort

Last Wednesday afternoon, I had a 50-minute project meeting with our Hong Kong team. Half the room spoke Cantonese, then switched entirely to English product names when discussing specs, and some people talked over each other or joined from a hallway. After the meeting, I stared at the recording, not thinking about the content, but: how long will it take to turn this into meeting minutes I can send to my boss and hand off to my team?

I have about 15 meetings a week—weekly syncs, project updates, one-on-ones, cross-department coordination. The worst part was never the meeting itself, but the aftermath: replaying the recording, catching decisions, listing action items, and sometimes listening twice to confirm what someone actually said.

If you also meet in Cantonese, that pain is magnified. Speech-to-text tools vary wildly in handling Cantonese colloquialisms and mixed Chinese-English: the same recording might have English words forced into similar-sounding Chinese, or "唔使" and "喺" transcribed into gibberish, or the tool doesn't focus on Cantonese at all. And after the meeting, most tools can't help with the cleanup.

In this article, I'll lay out the tools I've tried over the past year, focusing on Cantonese meeting scenarios. The one I kept is Tinrec. I'll also be honest about its limitations.

Before Choosing a Cantonese Speech-to-Text App, Understand These 5 Key Points

1. Cantonese recognition depends on "mixed Chinese-English" and "colloquialisms," not the percentage in ads Official claims of 98% accuracy are usually measured in quiet environments with standard accents. Hong Kong colleagues speak mixed Chinese-English, fast, and interrupt each other. Test with your company's real meeting recordings—those with air conditioning noise, keyboard clicks, and three people talking at once will reveal the differences between tools.

2. A transcript is just the entry ticket; whether you can "use it directly" is what matters You still have to read the transcript, extract key points, and list action items. What really saves time is whether the tool can automatically provide summaries, chapters, action item lists, and even let you ask questions directly about the meeting content.

3. How the meeting is recorded: does it require a bot to join? Many tools rely on a meeting bot joining online meetings as a participant. For internal meetings it's fine, but for client meetings it's awkward—the client sees an unknown account in the meeting and you have to explain. Whether you can record computer audio directly without a bot is a crucial practical difference.

4. Are audio files retained and accessible across devices? Record on your phone today, organize on your computer tomorrow, and look up a specific sentence next week. If the tool doesn't save meeting audio or only works on a single device, it's painful.

5. How free quotas work: "total minutes per month" vs. "per-file limit" This is the easiest trap. Some tools offer hundreds of minutes per month in the free version, which looks generous, but the per-file limit is 3 minutes—not enough for a meeting, only for short phrases.

Tinrec—The One I Kept After Testing

Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams, available on web, desktop, and mobile. It doesn't just convert speech to text; it organizes the entire meeting into data you can continue working with, which is why I kept it.

During the meeting: no extra bot in the room I use the desktop version to record Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams meetings. It captures system audio directly, not by joining as a bot, and doesn't require official platform partnerships. The transcript grows in real time, and mixed Chinese-English sentences retain the original English words instead of being forced into similar-sounding Chinese. For cross-language meetings, you can enable real-time translation and view original, translated, or bilingual side-by-side.

After the meeting: summaries, chapters, and action items appear automatically I don't need to replay. Tinrec generates a summary, chapters, and an action item list—who is responsible for what and when it's due, listed out. I can paste it into a group chat to delegate. This is especially useful for "verbal instructions forgotten two days later" because the record is there.

Post-meeting Q&A: the biggest difference from most tools Last month my boss asked, "What was the quote from that supplier last time?" I didn't dig through notes; I typed the question in Tinrec's chat box, and it found the answer from the transcript. This ability to ask questions about meeting content is far better than Ctrl+F in a transcript—because I couldn't remember what term was used for the quote.

Results are portable Transcripts and organized results can be exported in common formats and taken to Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, Dropbox for further processing; when needed, you can generate reports, tables, and documents based on meeting content.

If you lead a team, the team version is worth a look The team version isn't multiple people sharing a personal account; it's a separate team space: meeting data belongs to the team, and members leaving don't take data with them; admins can manage roles and seats, view usage trends and member details, query and export audit logs, and maintain team hotwords to improve recognition of internal product names and project codes. Note that members without a seat can still view and play team data but cannot upload or edit.

Honestly, its limitations The free version offers a basic quota, good for a trial; if you meet daily like me, you'll need a paid plan. Also, I won't say it's 100% accurate—accuracy depends on audio quality, accent, noise, multiple people talking over each other, and technical terms. I still cross-check important numbers with the recording. Team permissions are team-level sharing plus role/seat management, not per-file permissions. If you need file-level granular permissions, confirm first.

Who it's for: People who frequently handle Cantonese and mixed Chinese-English meetings, want to use AI to find key points directly after meetings, don't want an extra bot in meetings, or need to store meeting data in a team space.

Besides Tinrec, What Other Options Are There?

I started with Notta, tried Otter.ai in between, and was finally recommended Subanana by a Hong Kong colleague. Each has its place; the difference is whether you need the "post-meeting" part.

Notta: Highest overlap with Tinrec—multi-platform transcription, file import, translation, team plans. But the official free version is 120 minutes per month with a 3-minute per-file limit. I tried a 40-minute meeting and couldn't even finish one. It's fine for short audio and subtitles; for full Cantonese meetings and retaining data, I ultimately didn't choose it.

Otter.ai: A veteran choice for English business meetings. The free version offers 300 minutes per month, which is generous, and AI Chat and workflows are mature. But its experience is designed around English meetings; when I tested Cantonese meetings, it clearly wasn't its strong suit. If 90% of your meetings are in English, it's more cost-effective than Tinrec; as soon as there's mixed Chinese-English, Tinrec's desktop bot-free recording and Chinese experience are much more practical.

Subanana: A Cantonese-oriented online tool. It claims about 98% accuracy, colloquial or written output, traditional/simplified options, upload files or paste YouTube links, first 15 minutes free preview, and subtitle export. It's suitable for video subtitles and transcripts; but its official feature list doesn't include team governance like members, seats, usage, and auditing—which is where Tinrec's team version shines for managing team meeting assets.

Pitfall Guide: 4 Most Common Mistakes When Choosing a Cantonese Speech-to-Text App

Pitfall 1: Only looking at official accuracy claims 98% is measured under ideal conditions. Real meeting rooms have air conditioning noise, keyboard clicks, and interruptions; the number drops. Test the free version with your worst recording, not just the website examples.

Pitfall 2: Treating the transcript as the end goal Using the tool only for speech-to-text is using only a third of its capability. After recording, ask it "What were the conclusions of this meeting?" "What were the client's concerns?"—much faster than manually scanning a 30-minute transcript.

Pitfall 3: Not checking free version limits Note whether it's total minutes per month or a per-file length limit. Many seemingly generous free plans only allow a few minutes per file, not enough for a meeting.

Pitfall 4: Using "multiple people sharing one account" as a team solution Sharing a personal account password with the whole team saves money short-term but causes problems long-term: messy data ownership, records leaving with departing employees, no usage management. To store team data, use a team space with roles, seats, usage, and audit design.

Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?

In short: if your meetings include Cantonese, look at Tinrec first.

• Cantonese and mixed Chinese-English meeting transcripts → Tinrec, which retains original English words without manual fixes
• Want to use AI to ask key points, get summaries and action items after recording → Tinrec, its biggest difference from most tools at the same price
• Don't want a bot in client meetings → Tinrec desktop captures system audio directly
• Team needs to store meeting data, manage seats and usage → Tinrec team version
• 90% of meetings are in English → Otter.ai, the only scenario in this article where I recommend another tool
• Just need video subtitles or short audio → Subanana or Notta are worth trying

My approach: use Tinrec's free basic quota, throw in your messiest Cantonese meeting, and see if the transcript and summary meet your standards. If it's enough, consider paying; if not, at least you know which part you care about. You don't need to get it perfect at once—if it saves you an hour of meeting notes daily, it's worth it.

References

• 2026 Latest 4 Cantonese Speech-to-Text Tools: Solving Mixed Chinese-English and Meeting Notes Pain Points - Tinrec Blog
• SoundType AI Ultra-Precise Transcripts, Speech-to-Text, AI Dictation - Google Play App
• Free Cantonese Speech-to-Text App 2026 | Subanana
• Tutorial: Free AI Offline Speech-to-Text App Cantonese Colloquial to Written, Compared with iPhone Built-in Transcription
• Hong Kong's Top 5 Speech-to-Text Tools: Accurate Cantonese Recognition, Double Meeting and Interview Efficiency!