Free YouTube transcript tools compared
This table lists what YouTube's own transcript viewer, this site and five other tools say about their free use. Every row comes from the page linked in its last column, read on 24 Oct 2026. Where a page does not state a fact, the cell says so.
Prices and limits change, so check the linked page before you rely on a figure here. This site is one of the tools in the table.
| Tool | Free limit | Account needed | Formats | Extras | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Show transcript | Not stated on its page | Not stated on its page | Transcript shown on the video page, click a line to jump | Lets you find a moment in the video and jump to it | YouTube Help, View video transcriptschecked 24 Oct 2026 |
| This site | No daily limit on reading, copying or downloading | No account | TXT, timestamped TXT, SRT, VTT, Markdown | Translation through YouTube’s machine translation, key points on your device (desktop Chrome), live transcription on your device for videos without captions (desktop Chrome and Edge), 12 interface languages | freeyoutubetranscribe.comchecked 24 Oct 2026 |
| youtube-transcript.io | “free plan with 25 tokens per month” | Paid plans need a login. The free plan is not stated on its page | Not stated on its page | Plus plan at $9.99 a month with 1000 transcripts per month, bulk transcripts and a channels API | youtube-transcript.io pricingchecked 24 Oct 2026 |
| glasp.co | “On the free plan the extension copies or downloads 5 transcripts a day” | “sign in with a free Glasp account to read, copy or download its transcript” | Copy or download, formats not stated on its page | Paid plans “from $15 a month or $150 a year” | glasp.co YouTube transcript pagechecked 24 Oct 2026 |
| tactiq.io | No limits stated on its page | View, copy and download “without entering your email” | View, copy and download, formats not stated on its page | None stated on its page | tactiq.io YouTube transcript toolchecked 24 Oct 2026 |
| notegpt.io | Free plan limits not stated on its page | Not stated on its page | Not stated on its page | Pro plan at $9.99 a month, or $9 a month billed annually, with 1,000 basic quotas per month | notegpt.io pricingchecked 24 Oct 2026 |
| downsub.com | “a free online subtitle downloader”, no numeric limit stated on its page | No account mentioned on its page | SRT, VTT, TXT | A Pro option is linked from the page | downsub.comchecked 24 Oct 2026 |
Quoted text appears in quotation marks exactly as the page words it. Prices are the ones each page shows on the date above.
If you only need to read along, YouTube's own viewer is enough, andthe guide to getting a YouTube transcript shows where it is. If a video has no transcript at all, seewhy that happens and what to do.
Common questions about comparing transcript tools
Which free YouTube transcript tool should I use?
It depends on the job. YouTube’s own Show transcript is enough for reading along. A separate tool helps when you want the text in a file, in another language or on a phone. Compare the limits in the table, and check each linked page, because they change.
Why does the table say not stated on its page?
Each row uses only what the vendor states on the linked page on the date shown. Where a page does not say, the table says so instead of guessing.
Is this comparison neutral?
This site is one of the tools in the table, so read its row with that in mind. The other rows quote or paraphrase the vendors’ own pages and link to them.