Introducing "NAMO" Real-Time Speech AI Model: On-Device & Hybrid Cloud 📢PRESS RELEASE

Live Transcription Software vs. Building Your Own: Understanding Real-Time Audio Transcription Options

Compare live transcription software options with building your own real-time audio transcription system. This developer-focused guide includes code examples, setup instructions, and decision factors.

If you've ever found yourself frantically typing notes during an important meeting or struggling to recall key points from a conference call, you're not alone. As a developer or product manager, you're likely faced with a critical decision: should you adopt an existing live transcription software solution, or build your own real-time audio transcription system?
This guide will help you navigate this decision by exploring both options, with a focus on practical implementation for developers who want to build their own solution.

What is Real-Time Audio Transcription?

Real-time audio transcription (also called live transcription) converts spoken language into written text as it's being spoken, with minimal delay. Unlike traditional transcription services that deliver results hours or days after recording, real-time transcription provides text within seconds.
Before diving into the code, let's understand your two main options:
  1. Using pre-built live transcription software: Solutions like Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, and others that work out of the box
  2. Building your own transcription system: Creating a custom solution using APIs and SDKs
For developers looking to implement their own solution, let's dive into the practical steps.

Getting Started with Building Your Own Transcription Solution

Setting Up Your Development Environment

Let's start by setting up a React application with VideoSDK for real-time transcription capabilities. This approach gives you complete control over the user experience while leveraging robust transcription technology.

Project Setup

  1. First, create a new React project:
1npx create-react-app transcription-app
2cd transcription-app
3
  1. Install the VideoSDK React SDK:
1npm install @videosdk.live/react-sdk
2
  1. Your project structure should look like this:
1transcription-app/
2├── node_modules/
3├── public/
4├── src/
5│   ├── components/
6│   │   ├── TranscriptionDemo.jsx   # We'll create this
7│   │   └── MeetingRecorder.jsx     # We'll create this later
8│   ├── App.js
9│   ├── index.js
10│   └── ...
11├── package.json
12└── ...
13
  1. Now let's create our TranscriptionDemo.jsx component in the src/components directory:

Implementing Real-Time Transcription

Create a new file at src/components/TranscriptionDemo.jsx with the following code:
1import React, { useState } from 'react';
2import { useTranscription, Constants } from '@videosdk.live/react-sdk';
3
4const TranscriptionDemo = () => {
5  const [isTranscribing, setIsTranscribing] = useState(false);
6  const [transcript, setTranscript] = useState('');
7  
8  // Get transcription methods from the SDK
9  const { startTranscription, stopTranscription } = useTranscription({
10    // Handle state changes in the transcription service
11    onTranscriptionStateChanged: (state) => {
12      if (state.status === Constants.transcriptionEvents.TRANSCRIPTION_STARTED) {
13        setIsTranscribing(true);
14      } else if (state.status === Constants.transcriptionEvents.TRANSCRIPTION_STOPPED) {
15        setIsTranscribing(false);
16      }
17    },
18    
19    // Handle incoming transcription text
20    onTranscriptionText: (data) => {
21      const { participantName, text } = data;
22      setTranscript(prev => `${participantName}: ${text}\n${prev}`);
23    }
24  });
25  
26  return (
27    <div className="transcription-panel">
28      <button 
29        onClick={() => isTranscribing ? stopTranscription() : startTranscription()}
30      >
31        {isTranscribing ? 'Stop Transcription' : 'Start Transcription'}
32      </button>
33      
34      <div className="transcript-display">
35        <pre>{transcript}</pre>
36      </div>
37    </div>
38  );
39};
40
41export default TranscriptionDemo;
42
This component provides a simple interface for starting and stopping transcription, while displaying the transcribed text in real-time. The useTranscription hook from VideoSDK handles all the complex speech recognition processes behind the scenes.

Integrating Into Your App

Now, update your App.js to incorporate the transcription component:
1import React from 'react';
2import { MeetingProvider } from '@videosdk.live/react-sdk';
3import TranscriptionDemo from './components/TranscriptionDemo';
4import './App.css';
5
6function App() {
7  // Replace with your actual VideoSDK credentials
8  const meetingId = "your-meeting-id";
9  const token = "your-token";
10
11  return (
12    <div className="App">
13      <h1>Real-Time Transcription Demo</h1>
14      
15      <MeetingProvider
16        config={{
17          meetingId,
18          micEnabled: true,
19          webcamEnabled: false,
20          name: "Test User",
21          participantId: "participant-id",
22          token
23        }}
24      >
25        <TranscriptionDemo />
26      </MeetingProvider>
27    </div>
28  );
29}
30
31export default App;
32

Adding Post-Meeting Transcription Summaries

For more advanced functionality, let's create a component that handles recording meetings and generating transcription summaries automatically. Create a new file at src/components/MeetingRecorder.jsx:
1import React, { useState } from 'react';
2import { useMeeting } from '@videosdk.live/react-sdk';
3
4const MeetingRecorder = () => {
5  const [isRecording, setIsRecording] = useState(false);
6  
7  // Get recording controls from the SDK
8  const { startRecording, stopRecording } = useMeeting({
9    onRecordingStarted: () => setIsRecording(true),
10    onRecordingStopped: () => setIsRecording(false)
11  });
12  
13  const toggleRecording = () => {
14    if (!isRecording) {
15      // Configure recording with transcription
16      const config = {
17        layout: {
18          type: "GRID",
19          priority: "SPEAKER",
20          gridSize: 4,
21        },
22        theme: "LIGHT",
23        mode: "video-and-audio",
24        quality: "high",
25      };
26      
27      // Enable AI summary generation
28      const transcription = {
29        enabled: true,
30        summary: {
31          enabled: true,
32          prompt: "Generate a summary with sections for Key Points, Action Items, and Decisions"
33        }
34      };
35      
36      // Start recording with transcription
37      startRecording(null, null, config, transcription);
38    } else {
39      stopRecording();
40    }
41  };
42  
43  return (
44    <div className="recording-container">
45      <button 
46        onClick={toggleRecording}
47        className={`recording-button ${isRecording ? 'recording' : ''}`}
48      >
49        {isRecording ? "End Meeting & Generate Summary" : "Record Meeting with Transcription"}
50      </button>
51      
52      {isRecording && <div className="recording-indicator">Recording in progress...</div>}
53    </div>
54  );
55};
56
57export default MeetingRecorder;
58
To use this component, add it to your App.js alongside the TranscriptionDemo component:
1import MeetingRecorder from './components/MeetingRecorder';
2
3// Then add inside your MeetingProvider:
4<MeetingRecorder />
5

Enhancing Transcription Accuracy

To improve transcription accuracy for domain-specific terminology, you can customize the transcription engine. Create a new file at src/components/EnhancedTranscription.jsx:
1import React, { useState } from 'react';
2import { useTranscription, Constants } from '@videosdk.live/react-sdk';
3
4const EnhancedTranscription = () => {
5  const [isTranscribing, setIsTranscribing] = useState(false);
6  const [transcript, setTranscript] = useState('');
7  
8  const { startTranscription, stopTranscription } = useTranscription({
9    onTranscriptionStateChanged: (state) => {
10      if (state.status === Constants.transcriptionEvents.TRANSCRIPTION_STARTED) {
11        setIsTranscribing(true);
12      } else if (state.status === Constants.transcriptionEvents.TRANSCRIPTION_STOPPED) {
13        setIsTranscribing(false);
14      }
15    },
16    
17    onTranscriptionText: (data) => {
18      const { participantName, text } = data;
19      setTranscript(prev => `${participantName}: ${text}\n${prev}`);
20    }
21  });
22  
23  // Enhanced start function with customized vocabulary
24  const startEnhancedTranscription = () => {
25    startTranscription({
26      vocabulary: [
27        "API",
28        "GraphQL",
29        "Kubernetes",
30        "microservices",
31        "serverless",
32        "WebRTC",
33        // Add other technical terms specific to your domain
34      ],
35      language: 'en-US',
36      // Optional: customize other settings
37      speakerDiarization: true,
38      minSpeakerCount: 2
39    });
40  };
41  
42  return (
43    <div className="transcription-panel">
44      <button 
45        onClick={() => {
46          if (isTranscribing) {
47            stopTranscription();
48          } else {
49            startEnhancedTranscription();
50          }
51        }}
52      >
53        {isTranscribing ? 'Stop Transcription' : 'Start Enhanced Transcription'}
54      </button>
55      
56      <div className="transcript-display">
57        <pre>{transcript}</pre>
58      </div>
59    </div>
60  );
61};
62
63export default EnhancedTranscription;
64
With these components, you have a solid foundation for implementing real-time transcription in your application.

Live Transcription Software vs. Building Your Own: The Trade-offs

Now that you've seen how to implement your own transcription solution, let's explore the broader decision factors that should influence your choice between buying and building.

Advantages of Using Pre-Built Live Transcription Software

Pre-built solutions offer several compelling benefits:
Rapid Deployment
Commercial transcription software can be implemented almost immediately through browser extensions, API access, or native integrations with common business tools. This rapid deployment means your team can start benefiting from transcription services within hours rather than weeks or months of development time.
Lower Initial Investment
Off-the-shelf solutions typically follow a subscription model with minimal upfront costs. Many offer free tiers to get you started, and you can scale pricing based on actual usage. This approach transforms what would otherwise be a major development project into a predictable operational expense.
Proven Accuracy and Reliability
Established transcription platforms have invested heavily in their speech recognition algorithms, training their models on massive, diverse datasets. This level of accuracy would be difficult and time-consuming to achieve with a newly developed system. Commercial providers benefit from network effects – every transcription they process helps improve their system for all users.
Rich Feature Sets
Most commercial solutions include helpful features beyond basic transcription, such as speaker identification, automatic punctuation, searchable transcripts with timestamps, calendar integration, mobile apps, and collaboration tools for editing and sharing transcripts.

Advantages of Building Your Own Solution

Despite the benefits of pre-built options, there are compelling reasons to build your own transcription system:
Complete Customization and Control
Building your own solution provides maximum flexibility to create exactly the features your users need. You can customize the accuracy for your specific domain by training the system on relevant terminology. This approach allows you to design a user experience that aligns perfectly with your existing products and workflows.
Data Privacy and Security
Keeping transcription in-house offers stronger data protection, which is particularly important for organizations handling sensitive information. Sensitive data never leaves your control, and you can implement your own security standards that match your organization's broader security policies.
Potential Long-Term Cost Savings
For high-volume users, building your own solution might be more economical in the long run. You can avoid per-minute or per-user fees that escalate with scale, which can become significant for large organizations. While the initial investment is higher, organizations with substantial transcription needs often find that the total cost of ownership becomes lower after a certain scale threshold.
Competitive Advantage
A custom solution can become a differentiator for your product in the marketplace. You can offer unique features that competitors don't have, such as specialized accuracy for particular industries or novel ways of interacting with transcribed content.

Challenges of Building Your Own Solution

Building your own transcription system comes with several significant challenges:
Technical Expertise Required
You'll need specialized knowledge in audio processing, speech recognition, machine learning, backend infrastructure for real-time processing, and front-end development for user interfaces. Without the right expertise, your custom solution may struggle to match the accuracy and reliability of established commercial offerings.
Development Time and Resources
Custom development represents a significant investment in both time and money. Initial development can take months, and you'll need dedicated engineering resources throughout the development cycle and for ongoing maintenance.
Infrastructure Costs
Running your own transcription system demands substantial infrastructure, including processing power for speech recognition models, low-latency networking, storage for audio data and transcripts, and comprehensive monitoring systems.

Key Decision Factors: Build vs. Buy

To help you make the right choice for your organization, consider these critical factors:

Budget Considerations

For a mid-sized company with 50 employees having 20 hours of meetings per month, a pre-built solution might cost around $12,000 annually at $20/user/month. A custom solution could cost $50,000-$150,000 for initial development, plus $15,000-$30,000 in annual maintenance and infrastructure. The break-even point would typically be reached after 3-5 years, assuming stable usage patterns.

Timeline Requirements

Pre-built solutions can be deployed within hours to days, while custom development requires weeks to months before producing usable results. Consider whether you need an immediate solution or can afford to wait for a more tailored implementation.

Technical Requirements

Evaluate whether you need specialized vocabulary recognition, have unusual audio conditions, strict latency requirements, or need integration with proprietary systems. The more specialized your requirements, the more you may benefit from a custom solution.

Data Security and Compliance

If you're handling sensitive information or subject to specific compliance requirements like HIPAA, GDPR, or industry-specific regulations, a custom solution gives you more direct control over data handling and security.

Hybrid Approaches: The Best of Both Worlds

Many organizations find that hybrid approaches combine the best aspects of both pre-built and custom solutions:
  1. Start with commercial, build toward custom: Use a pre-built solution initially while developing your own components
  2. API-based approach with custom UI: Leverage proven speech recognition APIs while maintaining control over the user experience
  3. Component-based hybrid: Use commercial services for speech recognition while building custom post-processing for industry-specific terminology and formatting

Conclusion: Making the Right Choice

The decision between using live transcription software or building your own real-time audio transcription system depends on your specific needs, resources, and constraints.
For many organizations, the best approach evolves over time. Starting with a pre-built solution allows you to test the concept and understand user needs without significant upfront investment. As your usage grows and specific requirements emerge, you can gradually transition to a more customized approach using APIs or fully custom components.
Whether you choose to buy or build, implementing real-time transcription will transform how your organization captures, shares, and leverages spoken communication—making information more accessible, searchable, and valuable for everyone involved.
If you decide to build your own solution, the implementation examples provided in this guide give you a solid foundation to get started with VideoSDK's transcription capabilities, offering a good balance between customization and development complexity.

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