Tinrec vs Notta 2026: 5-Dimension Comparison for Free Cantonese Speech-to-Text

Do you also have three hours of Cantonese recordings sitting on your phone, never opened for organization?

At the end of last month, you recorded a Cantonese interview, thinking "I'll transcribe it slowly when I get back." But when you opened the file on the weekend, you found the progress was still 0—because with the old method, a one-hour recording, repeatedly playing, pausing, and typing, easily takes two to three hours.

What's more troublesome is that you want a free solution. Searching for "how to convert Cantonese speech to text for free," the tools that pop up either only recognize Mandarin, or have a pitifully small free quota, or split the recording into several segments, and you have to pay to stitch them together.

This article is not about asking you to buy anything, but rather to break down the concept of "free": which tools can truly get you started for free, and which are just free to see but not to use.

Before choosing a Cantonese transcription tool, understand these 5 key points

1. Is the free quota reset monthly or used up in one go? Some tools say "free," but the quota is given once, and you have to pay after it's used up; others give you a fixed amount of time each month. The difference is huge—if your recordings are generated regularly every week, the monthly reset type is the one that really lasts.

2. Does the free version have a "single file length" limit? This is the most easily overlooked item. No matter how much quota you have, if the single file limit is 3 minutes, a 40-minute meeting would need to be split into a dozen segments, and just stitching them together makes people give up. When choosing a tool, first confirm the single file limit of the free version.

3. For Chinese and Cantonese colloquial recognition, don't just look at the advertised accuracy rate. Many tools claim "98% accuracy," but that is usually measured in a quiet environment. Real meeting rooms have air conditioning noise, keyboard sounds, and multiple people talking over each other, so performance will decline. A more practical approach is to test with your own recording. For Tinrec, it focuses on Chinese meetings, mixed Chinese-English content, and multilingual scenarios. Actual performance is still affected by recording quality, accent, and background noise, which it does not deny.

4. After transcription, can you use it directly? A transcript is just raw material. If you still have to manually extract key points and retype action items, the time saved is limited. Whether it can automatically generate summaries, chapters, and action items determines whether this tool saves you half your time or only 30%.

5. Cross-platform and subsequent organization. Recording on your phone today and organizing on your computer tomorrow is a daily routine for many. If a tool is bound to a single platform, or the transcribed files are hard to export to your existing workflow, it will just become another data silo.

Tinrec — The one that starts free and remains useful after the meeting

Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams, supporting web, desktop, and mobile, mainly handling Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and multilingual meeting content.

Its core value is not just "turning sound into text," but also handling the post-transcription organization.

Transcribe while recording, so the meeting is captured in the moment. When you open Tinrec during a meeting, the transcript is generated in sync with the recording; the desktop version directly captures the computer's system audio, so for online meetings like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex, you don't need to invite a meeting bot. For participants, it's just the original people in the meeting room, without an extra "AI assistant" being asked questions.

After the meeting, summaries, chapters, key points, and action items are already organized. This is where it differs most from ordinary transcription tools. Besides the transcript, it produces summaries and chapters to help you review what was discussed in a 60-minute meeting; action items that come up in the discussion are extracted as to-dos, so you don't have to listen to the recording again to know who is responsible for what and what the next step is.

After recording, you can also ask it questions directly. For example, if you only remember "the client mentioned budget last time," you don't have to manually Ctrl+F through the transcript; just ask the meeting data directly, and it will give you the corresponding answer. This is a relatively rare capability among similar tools and, in my opinion, the most practical one.

Output and export. Transcripts, summaries, and action items can be exported in common formats and taken to Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, Dropbox, etc. for further processing; if you need post-meeting deliverables, you can further generate reports, tables, and documents.

How to choose between free and paid plans. The free version lets you experience recording, import, summary, and transcription with a basic quota, suitable for trying with one or two of your own recordings. If you just have several meetings or interviews in a week, consider a weekly card; if you have stable needs every week, the Pro monthly card is more suitable; if you want to accumulate recordings into a searchable database long-term, the annual card has a lower monthly equivalent.

To be honest, the free quota is ultimately limited, and heavy users will definitely need to pay. Also, no tool can guarantee 100% accuracy; for important content, it is recommended to verify with timeline playback. Don't forget to inform participants and get consent before recording.

If a team needs to share meeting data, Tinrec's team version provides an independent team space where you can manage members, roles, and seats, uniformly store meeting data, and view usage and activity logs. Currently, the first eligible team trial is 7 days, 1 free seat, and 300 minutes of team shared import quota; paid seats provide 2,000 minutes of team shared import quota per month, and real-time recording under active seats is currently not deducted by minutes. Actual prices and benefits are subject to the official purchase page.

Who it's for: People who frequently handle Chinese and mixed Chinese-English meetings, want to get key points and action items directly after recording, and use both mobile and computer.

Besides Tinrec, what other options are there?

Notta: A multilingual transcription and meeting notes tool with significant overlap with Tinrec. The free version offers 120 minutes per month, but a single session is limited to 3 minutes, so a 40-minute interview needs to be split into many segments; the Pro annual plan is about USD 8.17/month with 1,800 minutes per month. Its strengths are language variety and file processing, while Tinrec adds bot-free online meeting recording, AI Q&A, and team spaces, allowing you to continue working directly after transcription.

TurboScribe: A file transcription tool with a high cost-performance ratio. The free version allows 3 files per day, up to 30 minutes per file; the Unlimited annual plan is USD 120, and after payment, single files can be up to 10 hours or 5 GB, and you can upload 50 files at once, suitable for those with many long recordings to batch process. Note that it is more focused on file transcription; real-time meetings and post-meeting Q&A are not its main strengths.

Otter.ai: A mature choice for English business meetings. The free version offers 300 minutes per month, which is quite generous, and the Pro annual plan is about USD 8.49/user/month. If your meetings are almost all in English, it will be more cost-effective than Tinrec; but Chinese and Cantonese content are not its main strengths, which is the dividing line for most Chinese users.

Pitfall guide: The 4 most common mistakes when looking for free Cantonese transcription

Mistake 1: Only looking at the word "free" without checking the quota unit. 120 minutes per month and 30 minutes per file are two completely different things. The former determines how many times you can use it, the latter determines how long you can process at once. Find these two numbers before choosing a tool.

Mistake 2: Forcing a Mandarin model onto Cantonese. Cantonese colloquialisms, lazy sounds, and mixed Chinese-English sentences are a disaster for models trained only on Mandarin. This is not something that can be solved by adjusting settings; you need a tool that is primarily designed for Chinese and multilingual use.

Mistake 3: Thinking that getting the transcript is the end. The transcript is just the first step. If the tool cannot conveniently produce summaries, chapters, and action items, you still have to organize it yourself, which means you only used one-third of its value. Being able to ask questions directly after the meeting and export to a report is where real time is saved.

Mistake 4: Ignoring notification and consent before recording. Recording involves local regulations and the willingness of participants, especially for client meetings and interviews. Develop the habit of announcing it at the beginning, and you will feel more at ease using the data later.

Conclusion: How should you choose to convert Cantonese speech to text for free?

In one sentence: If you want to start for free and continue using it after transcription, Tinrec is the smoothest choice in this comparison.

• Want to try with your own recording without spending money → Tinrec free version (basic quota to experience recording, import, summary, and transcription)
• Intensive meetings or interviews in the short term → Weekly card, more fitting than monthly card
• Regular meeting notes every week → Pro monthly card
• Many long files to batch transcribe → TurboScribe
• Meetings almost all in English → Otter.ai
• Team needs to share and govern meeting data → Tinrec team version (independent space, seats, and usage management)

It is recommended to start with the free version and try a Cantonese or mixed Chinese-English recording of your own. Confirm that the transcription recognition, summary quality, and export process meet your needs before deciding whether to upgrade—after all, the best way to test a tool is with your own recording.

References

• Free Cantonese Speech-to-Text App 2026 | Subanana
• [Free Tool] Cantonese Speech to Text! Just upload a file or YouTube link. Up to 96% accuracy - YouTuber AI | Spend time on creativity, leave the AI to do the hustle work.
• Text to Speech Cantonese - Toolbang
• Speechnotes | Hong Kong Cantonese | Speech to Text Online Notepad
• Online AI Speech, Video, Audio File Auto Transcription - Free Trial - cSubtitle