Live captions and translation for lectures: the options compared
Which apps can caption and translate an in-person university lecture as it happens, what their free plans actually allow, and which suits international students.
The short answer: for live captions of an in-person lecture, the free options are Google Live Transcribe on Android and Live Captions on iPhone, iPad and Mac. For live translation of a lecture, the free option is the Transcribe mode in the Google Translate app. Otter and Notta both cap free sessions well below the length of a lecture (30 minutes and 3 minutes). Olive shows English captions and a translation together in a laptop or iPad browser, with a course glossary, and is free for your first week.
Details checked against each provider's own pages in October 2026. Plans change, so confirm before you rely on one.
The options at a glance
| Tool | Captions a lecturer in the room | Live translation | Free limit that matters for lectures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Live Transcribe (Android) | Yes | No, same language only | Free |
| Apple Live Captions (iPhone, iPad, Mac) | Yes, using the microphone | No | Free |
| Google Translate, Transcribe mode | Yes | Yes | Free |
| Android Live Caption | No, only audio playing on the phone | Pixel 6 and later | Free |
| Otter.ai | Yes | Not listed on its pricing page | 30 minutes per conversation, 300 a month |
| Notta | Yes | Paid plans | 3 minutes per recording, 120 a month |
| Olive | Yes | Yes, 16 languages, under the English | First week free, all courses, up to 3 hours per session |
Free, built into your device
Google Live Transcribe turns speech around you into text on an Android phone. It's simple and reliable for captions, but it doesn't translate, so it suits students who want captions in English.
Apple Live Captions does the same on iPhone, iPad and Mac. You tap Microphone to transcribe an in-person conversation. It captions in English but doesn't translate what it hears.
Android Live Caption is a common mix-up. It captions media playing on your phone, like videos and calls, not a lecturer speaking in the room. It's useful for watching recorded lectures, not live ones.
Free live translation: Google Translate
The Google Translate app's Transcribe mode is the strongest free option for live translation. Google's own help page says you can use it to "translate a classroom lecture or speech". The trade-off: you mostly see the translation, not the English and your language side by side, so it's harder to learn the English terms you'll be assessed on. Technical terms can also come out differently from one lecture to the next.
Paid transcription apps
Otter.ai is built for meetings. Its free Basic plan allows 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, so a 50 minute lecture gets cut off partway. Pro is US$16.99 a month, or US$8.33 a month billed annually, and allows up to 90 minutes per meeting. Students with a .edu email get 20% off. Otter transcribes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese, and its pricing page doesn't list live translation.
Notta does transcription and translation, but the free plan allows 3 minutes per recording and translation is mostly a paid feature. Lectures need a paid plan.
Microsoft Teams can show translated captions, but only inside Teams meetings and with a premium licence. That helps for online classes run in Teams, not for a lecture theatre.
Where Olive fits
Olive was built for in-person university lectures rather than meetings. You open it in a browser on your laptop or iPad and it:
- captions the lecture in English as the lecturer speaks
- shows your language right under each caption, in any of 16 languages
- keeps technical terms translated the same way all semester with a course glossary
- runs a single session for up to 3 hours, so a full lecture stays in one piece
Live captions and translation are free for your first week, across all your courses. Notes, an AI tutor and flashcards built from what was said come with the paid plan.
Which one should you use?
- You want English captions only and you have an iPhone or Android: start with the free built-in option.
- You want a translation and don't mind seeing only your language: try Google Translate's Transcribe mode.
- You want English and your language together, with consistent technical terms: that's what Olive is for.
Whichever you choose, check your university's rules on capturing lecture audio, and see our guide to following a lecture in your own language, live.