Temi Made Transcription Cheap. Sometimes Cheap Isn’t Enough.

Temi disrupted transcription pricing.

At around $0.25 per minute, it made automated transcription accessible to almost anyone. For casual use, transcribing a podcast episode, capturing lecture notes, or converting voice memos Temi’s pricing is hard to beat.

But low cost comes with tradeoffs.

Accuracy drops sharply on real-world audio. Speaker identification is limited. There’s no real-time transcription. API access and workflow integration are minimal. For professional or production use cases, Temi’s budget-first positioning quickly becomes a constraint.

That’s why many teams eventually look for Temi alternatives.

Why Teams Outgrow Temi

Accuracy requirements increase

Temi prioritizes cost over transcription quality. Professional use cases—media production, customer conversations, research, legal review—require accuracy Temi doesn’t consistently deliver.

Missing core features

Capabilities like speaker diarization, real-time streaming, custom vocabulary, or domain adaptation are standard in professional services but missing or limited in Temi.

No API-first integration

Temi is built as a web upload tool. Teams embedding transcription into applications, automating workflows, or processing audio programmatically need API access Temi doesn’t offer.

Limited language coverage

Temi focuses primarily on English. Global teams require multilingual transcription that Temi can’t support reliably.

Best Temi Alternatives (By Use Case)

1. Pulse Speech-to-Text (Pulse STT) by Smallest.ai

Best for: Production use cases that need reliability over rock-bottom pricing

Pulse Speech-to-Text (Pulse STT) represents the professional tier Temi doesn’t reach. It provides accurate, low-latency transcription via API—designed for applications, pipelines, and systems where transcription quality matters.

Teams moving beyond Temi typically adopt Pulse STT for its consistent performance across real-world audio, real-time capabilities, and predictable usage-based pricing. 

Pulse STT fits when transcription is infrastructure—not a disposable utility.

2. Otter.ai

Best for: Meeting transcription with real-time features

Otter costs more than Temi but delivers live transcription, speaker identification, and collaboration features that Temi lacks—making it suitable for meeting-heavy workflows.

Key features:

• Live transcription

• Speaker identification

• Searchable archives

• Team collaboration tools

3. Sonix

Best for: Media teams needing multilingual transcription

Sonix provides better accuracy than Temi along with strong multilingual support. For content teams working across languages, it addresses one of Temi’s biggest limitations.

Key features:

• Support for 40+ languages

• Automated translation

• Improved accuracy

• Subtitle export

4. Rev.ai

Best for: Applications needing professional-grade accuracy

Rev.ai (the API, not the human service) offers significantly higher transcription quality than Temi. For applications where transcript accuracy impacts user experience, the upgrade is noticeable.

Key features:

• Developer-friendly API

• Real-time streaming

• Speaker diarization

• Custom vocabulary support

Budget Transcription vs Professional Transcription

Temi optimizes for one thing: lowest possible price per minute. Accuracy, features, and integration take a back seat.

Professional services like Pulse STT optimize for reliability and performance. The cost per minute is higher—but the value per minute is significantly greater.

Choose budget tools (Temi) if:

• Accuracy isn’t critical

• Transcription is casual or occasional

• Volume is low

• Features don’t matter

Choose professional transcription (Pulse STT) if:

• Transcript quality affects outcomes

• You’re building or operating systems

• You need reliable, repeatable performance

• Integration and automation matter

The Hidden Cost of Cheap Transcription

Temi’s low price looks attractive until you factor in:

• Time spent correcting errors

• Failed downstream processes due to poor transcripts

• Inability to automate workflows

• Missing features that require workarounds

For production use cases, these costs compound quickly.

Pulse Speech-to-Text  is designed as transcription infrastructure accurate, scalable, and integrated. Not the cheapest option, but the one teams rely on when transcription becomes business-critical.