TL;DR: Whisper Web runs OpenAI’s Whisper speech-recognition model directly in your browser, and its free plan has no cap on the number of transcriptions — each file just has to be 200 MB or under and 20 minutes or shorter. Because processing happens locally on your device, your audio never leaves your computer, and it even works offline after the first model download.
What is Whisper Web?
Whisper Web is a browser-based transcription service powered by OpenAI’s open-source Whisper model. Instead of uploading your recording, free mode runs the model locally in your browser using WebGPU or WebAssembly. Nothing to install, no account: open the page, add audio by microphone, file upload, or URL, and export a transcript as TXT, SRT, VTT, or JSON.
What do you actually get for free?
- Transcription runs entirely in your browser — audio never leaves your device in Free mode
- No limit on the number of free transcriptions; each file up to 200 MB and 20 minutes
- 99 languages with automatic language detection
- Export transcripts to TXT, SRT, VTT, or JSON
- Works offline once the model has downloaded, and no account is required
The privacy angle is structural, not a policy promise: in Free mode the audio is processed on your own machine, so there is no server copy to worry about. The trade-off is that your device does the work — a long file on an older laptop takes longer than a cloud service, and the 20-minute ceiling keeps free jobs in the “short clip” lane.
What does Unlimited add?
| Plan | Price | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Unlimited transcriptions, files up to 200 MB / 20 minutes, local processing, no account |
| Unlimited (monthly) | $20/month | Cloud processing, files up to 10 hours / 5 GB, batch uploads of 50 files, cross-device sync |
| Unlimited (yearly) | $10/month billed yearly ($120/year) | Same Unlimited features at half the monthly rate |
Note the flip side of Unlimited: files are processed on Whisper Web’s cloud servers (the company says they are deleted after transcription) rather than locally. You are trading the free plan’s total privacy for length, batch handling, and speed.
Pros and cons
Pros
- No cap on how many files you transcribe free — the limit is per-file length, not a monthly minute budget
- Maximum privacy: free transcription never uploads your audio anywhere
- Works offline after the first visit, on desktop and mobile browsers with WebGPU
- Subtitle exports (SRT, VTT) included free, where many rivals paywall them
Cons
- 20-minute / 200 MB per-file ceiling rules out full podcast episodes and long interviews on free
- Local processing speed depends entirely on your device’s hardware
- Long files and batch work require the paid cloud tier, which gives up the local-only privacy
Who is Whisper Web free best for?
Students transcribing lecture segments, journalists and researchers handling short interview clips, creators who need subtitles for short videos, and anyone with sensitive recordings — meetings, medical or legal notes — who would rather the audio never left their machine at all.
FAQ
Is Whisper Web really free?
Yes. The Free plan lets you transcribe an unlimited number of files, each up to 200 MB and 20 minutes, with no account required. Processing runs locally in your browser.
Does Whisper Web upload my audio?
Not in Free mode — transcription happens entirely on your device. The paid Unlimited plan processes files on cloud servers and says files are deleted after transcription.
How many languages does Whisper Web support?
99 languages, with automatic detection — you do not need to select the spoken language yourself.
How much is Whisper Web Unlimited?
$20/month, or $10/month billed yearly ($120/year). It raises the per-file limit to 10 hours / 5 GB, adds batch uploads of 50 files at once, and syncs transcripts across devices.
Verdict
Most “free” transcription tools ration you by the minute per month. Whisper Web rations by file length instead — which, for short clips, means effectively unlimited free transcription with the best privacy story in the category.
Research-based review — no hands-on testing claims. Pricing and free-tier limits checked October 21, 2026 against Whisper Web’s official site (whisperweb.dev). Whisper Web is an independent app built on OpenAI’s open-source Whisper model; it is not operated by OpenAI.