--- title: "Live captions in Zoom without a bot" description: "Zoom takes captions from outside through one API token. How to send live captions, original or translated, into a meeting with no bot, on a free account too." canonical: "https://speecho.app/blog/live-captions-in-zoom-without-a-bot/" language: "en" author: "The Speecho team" date_published: 2026-10-15 date_modified: 2026-10-15 publisher: "Speecho" --- # Live captions in Zoom without a bot > Zoom takes captions from outside through one API token. How to send live captions, original or translated, into a meeting with no bot, on a free account too. _The Speecho team · 2026-10-15 · Canonical: https://speecho.app/blog/live-captions-in-zoom-without-a-bot/_ Zoom accepts captions from an outside service through a link the host copies from the meeting: the caption API token. Paste that token into a live captioning service and its lines appear as the meeting's own captions, in the spoken language or translated into another, and no bot ever joins the call. It works on a free Zoom account. Below: why the built-in captions often fall short, the steps with Speecho, what participants see, and what it costs. ## Why built-in captions fall short Zoom captions speech for free, and for a routine call in one language that is often enough. Three things break it: - **One spoken language.** Built-in captions follow the spoken language set for the meeting. When a participant switches to another language, the captions turn into nonsense until someone changes the setting. - **Names and terms.** Surnames, product names and jargon are where automatic captions go wrong most visibly, and there is rarely a way to teach the meeting how to spell them. - **Translation.** Translated captions depend on a paid plan for the organizer, and the participant who needs them cannot switch them on alone. ## The trouble with bots The usual fix is a captioning or notetaker bot that joins the call as a participant. It works, but it shows up in the participant list, waits in the lobby to be admitted, gets blocked by some company policies, and receives the full meeting audio on a third party's account. For a client call or a public webinar, an unknown guest named after a software vendor is a distraction you would rather not explain. ## The third route: the meeting's own caption link Zoom was built to take captions from human captioners, the stenographers who caption live events (CART writers). The host copies a caption link from the meeting, the captioner's software posts each line of text to it, and Zoom shows those lines in its usual captions area. A captioning service can use the same door. Nothing joins the call. There is no extra participant, and the service never sees the video. It only hears the audio you give it, and in Speecho that is one of two sources: - **Your microphone.** Right for a presenter, a lecturer or a webinar host whose voice is the one that needs captions. Works with the Zoom desktop app. - **The meeting's browser tab.** To caption everyone, join the meeting in the browser, choose "Browser tab (meeting, video)" as the audio source, tick the option to share the tab's audio, and add "+ my microphone" so your own voice is captioned too. This works in Chrome and Edge on a computer. Only the host can copy the link, so the person who runs the meeting sets this up. ## Zoom, step by step 1. **Allow outside captions once.** This setting lives in the Zoom web portal, not in the desktop app: sign in at zoom.us, open Settings, then the Meeting tab, then In Meeting (Advanced). Turn on "Manual captions" and tick "Allow use of caption API Token to integrate with 3rd-party closed captioning services". On a company account, an admin may have to do this. Without it, the next step has no option to click. 2. **Copy the API token.** Start the meeting, open the arrow next to Captions, choose "Set up manual captioner" (in some versions "Host tools for captions"), enable the manual captioner and press "Copy the API token". 3. **Connect Speecho.** In Speecho, open Live subtitles, find "Captions in a meeting", choose Zoom, paste the token and press Connect. 4. **Start.** Pick the audio source and, if you want, a translation language, then press Start. The status changes to "Sending". 5. **Tell participants.** They turn on "Show captions" in Zoom. The first line can take a few seconds to appear. The token belongs to one meeting. When the meeting ends or restarts, copy a new one. If Speecho shows "Link refused. Copy a fresh one", that is what happened. ## What participants see The lines arrive as ordinary captions, in the place where each participant already reads them, in the font and size their own app uses. In Zoom's transcript panel they are signed "Captioner": that is Zoom's name for any outside caption service, not a speaker label. Speecho sends a line when a sentence ends, after a short pause, or after two seconds of steady speech, so captions appear in whole phrases instead of flickering word by word. Participants install nothing and need no Speecho account: only the host does. Your Speecho tab keeps showing the subtitles as well, so you can follow what is being sent. ## Translate the captions live Live subtitles in Speecho recognize speech in 60 languages and translate into any of 60, in both directions. Choose a language under "Translate into", then pick what goes to the meeting with "Send: Original / Translation". When the session translates, the translation is sent by default, and you can switch between the two mid-meeting without reconnecting. That covers the common cases: a talk given in Japanese, captioned in English for an international audience, or an English all-hands captioned in Spanish for a regional team. A session translates into one language at a time, and the meeting shows one caption track from the captioner. For names and terms, add a glossary to the session so they are spelled and translated the way you want. ## YouTube Live and OBS **YouTube Live** takes captions the same way. In the stream settings, with Normal latency, turn on closed captions, choose "Post captions to URL" and copy the captions ingestion URL into "Captions in a meeting". Viewers switch them on with the CC button in the player. **OBS** can carry the captions inside the stream itself, so Twitch, YouTube and other players show them behind their CC button. Enable the WebSocket server in OBS, enter its port and password in Speecho, and keep the tab open; this works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, not in Safari. If you would rather burn styled captions into the picture, use the overlay. Both are covered on the page about [live captions for OBS](/live-captions-for-obs/). ## Teams and Google Meet **Microsoft Teams** has a similar door, CART captions, in work and school accounts. Speecho does not offer it yet: write to us if you need it, and we will set it up with you. **Google Meet** has no way to accept captions from an outside service, so Speecho cannot put captions into a Meet call, and neither can anyone else without a bot. Two alternatives work well: - **The floating window.** Pop the subtitles out into a small window that stays on top of the meeting, for yourself or for a screen you share. Available in Chrome and Edge. - **The viewer link.** Share a link, and participants open the live subtitles, original or translated, in their own browser tab or on their phone. Both are part of [live subtitles](/live-subtitles/). ## What it costs Live subtitles cost 10 credits a minute, billed by the second. The smallest pack is $5 for 2,400 credits, which is 4 hours of live captions, so a one-hour meeting costs $1.25 at most and less with a larger pack. Sending the captions into Zoom, YouTube Live or OBS adds nothing to the price, and translation is included. There is no subscription, and credits never expire. Captions in a meeting need a Speecho account. The full numbers are on the [pricing page](/pricing/). ## Checklist before the meeting - "Allow use of caption API Token" is on in the Zoom web settings (ask your admin on a company account). - A fresh token for this meeting is pasted under "Captions in a meeting". - The audio source is right: your microphone for a talk, the meeting's browser tab plus your microphone to caption everyone. - The translation language and "Send: Original / Translation" are set. - Names and terms are in the glossary. - A one-minute test: Connect, Start, check that the status says "Sending" and that a colleague sees the captions. - Participants know where to turn captions on. ## FAQ ### Does a bot join the meeting? No. The captions arrive through the caption API token the host copies from Zoom. No participant is added, and Speecho only hears the audio from your microphone or the meeting's browser tab. ### Does it work on a free Zoom account? Yes. The caption API token is available on the Basic plan; only the account setting from step 1 has to be on. ### Do participants need to install anything? No. They turn on "Show captions" in Zoom, as they would for a human captioner. ### Can I show translated captions in Zoom? Yes. Pick a translation language in Live subtitles and choose "Translation" under Send. Speech in any of 60 languages can be translated into any of 60. ### Does it work with Teams or Google Meet? Not yet in Teams: it has a similar door (CART captions, in work and school accounts), and we will switch it on once we have verified it; write to us if you need it. Not inside Meet, which does not accept outside captions: use the floating window or share the viewer link instead. ### How much does an hour of captions cost? 600 credits, which is $1.25 on the $5 pack and less on larger packs. No subscription, and the credits do not expire.