French speech-to-text transcription and translation
Designed for real-world French conversations
French is spoken by over 280 million people worldwide — across France, Democratic Republic of Congo, Canada, Madagascar, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Niger, and beyond. But most speech-to-text solutions struggle with real-world French, which comes with regional accents, fast speech, background noise, or mixed languages.
Understand how French is really spoken.
Accents, slang, fast speech, code-switching, and overlapping dialogue? No problem. Soniox handles the French used in real conversations with ease.
Transcribe and translate instantly - in one call.
Use a single API call to transcribe or translate French into English and other languages, as it's being spoken. Get token-level output in mere milliseconds.
Industry-leading accuracy in any condition.
Get top-tier accuracy on French audio with a Word Error Rate of just 5.7% — even in challenging conditions with multiple speakers, overlapping speech, and real-world noise.
Built for production and scale.
Supports real-time (streaming) and asynchronous (batch/file) French transcription, structured JSON output, low latency, and reliable back end.
Use Soniox anywhere French is spoken
Build French-speaking agents and assistants
Power fast and responsive voice agents that understand, transcribe, and respond to French.
Capture clinical conversations in French
Securely transcribe medical conversations and generate structured notes in French.
Generate live French captions and translations
Turn French podcasts, interviews, and videos into ready-to-publish subtitle files and live captions.
Transcribe and translate French on wearable devices
Power hands-free voice features on smartwatches, glasses, and fitness devices.
Built-in tools for French speech-to-text
Everything you need for real-time French transcription and translation - built right into the Soniox API.
- Real-time streaming and async support
- On the fly language detection
- Speaker-aware diarization with punctuation
- JSON formatted and production-ready
- Translate between French and 60 other languages
French transcription with industry-leading accuracy
Never miss a word in French, even when it's fast, messy, accented, or hard to hear. That accuracy means fewer errors, better UX, and apps people can trust.
- Streams fluent, full-sentence output in real time
- Handles regional French accents, noise, and overlapping speech
- Built to perform across real-world conditions
Soniox outperforms other providers for French accuracy (async model):
| Provider | French WER |
|---|---|
| Soniox | 5.7% |
| OpenAI | 9.4% |
| 15.3% | |
| AWS | 10.9% |
| Azure | 12.4% |
| Deepgram | 10.7% |
| AssemblyAI | 8.3% |
| Speechmatics | 8.3% |
| ElevenLabs | 9.8% |
Don't take our word for it. Use your own French audio to compare Soniox against other providers live.
Compare nowBenchmark reportFor developers
Build fast, accurate French voice features - live agents, subtitles, notes - all in one API. It's easy to add French voice capabilities to any app, bot, or tool.
Get API key For everyone
Transcribe, translate, and summarize French conversations on the go. Record live audio and get instant results - perfect for meetings, travel, or everyday conversations.
Get the App Frequently asked questions
How is Soniox different from other French speech APIs?
Most speech APIs are designed for lab conditions and struggle with real-world French speech and conversations, which can include fast talkers, messy audio, regional accents, interruptions, and more. Soniox is speaker-aware and can deliver live, fluent, and organized output with incredible accuracy. Use our live compare tool to test us against other providers.
Is Soniox just for transcription, or can I use Soniox to translate French speech as well?
You can transcribe and translate French in real time with a single API call, even when there are multiple languages being spoken at once. Perfect for multilingual meetings, support conversations, travel, or accessibility tools.
What types of apps can I build with Soniox?
Anything that needs to quickly and accurately understand French speech. Think: voice agents, call centers, media transcription, meeting assistants, wearable tools, medical note systems, and more.
What does the output look like?
You get structured JSON with words, timestamps, speakers, and optional translation. All ready to use in production. Check out our API docs.
How fast is Soniox?
Soniox streams transcription in milliseconds, with token-level updates and sentence-level fluency.
How much does Soniox cost?
For most use cases, it's simple: $0.10/hour for async (file uploads) and $0.12/hour for real-time (streaming). For advanced use cases with translation, custom context, or fine-grained control, pricing is based on token usage. See more on our pricing page.
Go global with one API
Get production-ready speech-to-text recognition, transcription, and translation in 60+ languages.