Open Source Transcription API: Complete Guide

Looking for a transcription API that gives you complete control, full transparency, and the freedom to customize? Open source transcription APIs provide all the benefits of proprietary solutions—real-time transcription, multilingual support, enterprise features—with the added advantages of transparency, community support, and zero vendor lock-in.

The Vexa open-source transcription API is the #1 open-source solution in the meeting transcription category, with 1,500+ GitHub stars and active enterprise pilots with Sony, Disney, Autodesk, and Industrial Light & Magic. Built on Apache 2.0 license, Vexa provides enterprise-grade transcription infrastructure that you can deploy, customize, and extend to fit your exact needs.

Open source transcription APIs are transforming how developers and enterprises approach meeting intelligence. Unlike proprietary solutions that lock you into vendor ecosystems, open source APIs give you complete control over your infrastructure, data, and features.

What Is Open Source Transcription?

Open source transcription means the source code for the transcription API is freely available, allowing you to:

• View the code – Understand exactly how transcription works
• Modify the code – Customize features to fit your needs
• Deploy anywhere – Self-host on your infrastructure
• Contribute back – Improve the project for everyone
• No vendor lock-in – Switch providers or go fully independent

Why Open Source Matters for Transcription

Transparency:

• See exactly how your audio is processed
• Audit security and privacy implementations
• Understand data handling and storage
• Verify compliance with regulations

Control:

• Deploy on your infrastructure
• Customize features and workflows
• Integrate with your existing systems
• No dependency on third-party services

Community:

• Benefit from community contributions
• Get help from developers worldwide
• Share improvements with others
• Build on proven, tested code

Cost:

• No licensing fees
• No per-minute pricing
• Scale on your own hardware
• Predictable infrastructure costs

Open Source vs. Proprietary: A Comparison

| Feature | Proprietary APIs | Open Source (Vexa) |---------|------------------|------------------- | Source Code Access | ❌ Closed source | ✅ Fully open (Apache 2.0) | Transparency | ❌ Black box | ✅ Complete visibility | Customization | ❌ Limited to API | ✅ Full code access | Vendor Lock-in | ⚠️ High risk | ✅ Zero lock-in | Self-Hosting | ❌ Cloud-only | ✅ Self-hosted or cloud | Community Support | ❌ Vendor support only | ✅ Community + vendor | Cost | 💰 Per-minute pricing | ✅ Free (self-hosted) | License | ⚠️ Proprietary terms | ✅ Apache 2.0 (enterprise-friendly) | Security Audit | ❌ Cannot audit | ✅ Full auditability | Compliance | ⚠️ Depends on vendor | ✅ Your control | Data Sovereignty | ❌ Vendor-controlled | ✅ Your infrastructure | Contributions | ❌ Cannot contribute | ✅ Open to contributions | Enterprise Pilots | ⚠️ Limited transparency | ✅ Public (Sony, Disney, etc.)

When to Choose Open Source

Choose open source when you need:

• ✅ Complete control over infrastructure
• ✅ Customization and extensibility
• ✅ Transparency and auditability
• ✅ No vendor lock-in
• ✅ Self-hosted deployment
• ✅ Community support and contributions
• ✅ Cost efficiency at scale
• ✅ Compliance and data sovereignty

Choose proprietary when you need:

• ⚠️ Managed cloud service only
• ⚠️ Vendor-provided support (though open source can have this too)
• ⚠️ No technical team for self-hosting

Vexa Open Source Features

The Vexa transcription API is built from the ground up as an open-source, enterprise-ready solution. Here's what makes it unique:

1. Apache 2.0 License

Enterprise-friendly licensing:

• ✅ Use commercially without restrictions
• ✅ Modify and extend freely
• ✅ Deploy in proprietary products
• ✅ No copyleft requirements
• ✅ Patent protection included

Why Apache 2.0 matters:

• Most permissive open-source license
• Trusted by enterprises worldwide
• Used by major projects (Kubernetes, Apache projects)
• Allows commercial use and modifications
• Provides legal protection for contributors

2. Complete Transparency

Full source code access:

• View all code on GitHub
• Understand every feature implementation
• Audit security and privacy measures
• Verify compliance implementations
• Learn from production-grade code

Active development:

• Regular commits and updates
• Public roadmap and discussions
• Transparent issue tracking
• Community-driven feature requests
• Open development process

3. Community & Ecosystem

Growing community:

• 1,500+ GitHub stars (7 months)
• Active contributors and maintainers
• Community discussions and support
• Regular updates and improvements
• Foundation participation (Academy Software Foundation)

Ecosystem integration:

• MCP Server for agentic AI workflows
• Integration with LangChain, LangGraph, Crew AI
• Compatible with Red Hat AI 3
• Works with major meeting platforms (Google Meet, Zoom, Teams)
• Extensible architecture for custom integrations

4. Enterprise-Ready Features

Production-proven:

• Active pilots with major enterprises (Sony, Disney, Autodesk, ILM)
• Real-time transcription (sub-second latency)
• Multilingual support (100 languages)
• Scalable multi-user API architecture
• Kubernetes deployment for enterprise scale

Enterprise capabilities:

• Self-hosted deployment
• Multi-user API with authentication
• WebSocket real-time streaming
• Containerized architecture
• Production-grade reliability

5. Customization & Extensibility

Full customization:

• Modify transcription models
• Customize bot behavior
• Extend API endpoints
• Add custom integrations
• Build proprietary features on top

Extensible architecture:

• Modular design for easy extension
• Plugin system for custom features
• API-first architecture
• Webhook support for integrations
• MCP Server for AI agent integration

Getting Started with Vexa

Getting started with the Vexa open-source transcription API is straightforward. Here's how to deploy and make your first API call:

Step 1: Clone the Repository

# Clone Vexa from GitHub
git clone https://github.com/Vexa-ai/vexa.git
cd vexa

Step 2: Deploy with Docker

Quick deployment:

# Deploy all services
make all

GPU deployment (for better performance):

# Deploy with GPU support
make all TARGET=gpu

What gets deployed:

• Transcription API server
• Bot infrastructure (Playwright-based)
• Database (PostgreSQL)
• Cache (Redis)
• WebSocket server for real-time streaming

Step 3: Get Your API Key

Generate API key:

# Access the API key generation endpoint
curl -X POST http://localhost:18056/api-keys \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "My API Key"
  }'

Save your API key – you'll need it for all API requests.

Step 4: Make Your First API Call

Send a bot to a meeting:

curl -X POST http://localhost:18056/bots \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" \
  -d '{
    "platform": "google_meet",
    "native_meeting_id": "your-meeting-id-xxx-xxxx-xxx"
  }'

Get real-time transcript:

# Connect to WebSocket for real-time transcripts
wscat -c ws://localhost:18056/transcripts/MEETING_ID

Step 5: Explore the API

Available endpoints:

• POST /bots – Send bot to meeting
• GET /transcripts/{meeting_id} – Get transcript
• GET /meetings – List meetings
• GET /bots – List active bots
• DELETE /bots/{bot_id} – Stop bot

For detailed setup instructions, see: How to Set Up Self-Hosted Meeting Transcription in One Hour

Contributing to Vexa

The Vexa project welcomes contributions from the open-source community. Here's how you can contribute:

Types of Contributions

Code contributions:

• Bug fixes
• New features
• Performance improvements
• Documentation updates
• Test coverage

Non-code contributions:

• Documentation improvements
• Issue reporting
• Feature requests
• Community support
• Use case examples

How to Contribute

1. Fork the repository:

# Fork on GitHub, then clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/vexa.git
cd vexa

2. Create a branch:

git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

3. Make your changes:

• Write clean, documented code
• Follow existing code style
• Add tests for new features
• Update documentation

4. Submit a pull request:

• Push your branch to GitHub
• Open a pull request
• Describe your changes
• Link to related issues

Contribution Guidelines

Code quality:

• Follow existing code style
• Write clear, documented code
• Add tests for new features
• Ensure all tests pass

Documentation:

• Update README if needed
• Add code comments
• Update API documentation
• Include examples

Community:

• Be respectful and inclusive
• Help others in discussions
• Share knowledge and experiences
• Follow the code of conduct

Getting Help

Resources:

• GitHub Discussions – Ask questions, share ideas
• GitHub Issues – Report bugs, request features
• Documentation – Setup and usage guides
• Community – Connect with other users

Open Source Benefits: Real-World Examples

Enterprise Adoption

Sony Group Corporation:

• Active pilot with Vexa
• Self-hosted deployment
• Privacy-first requirements
• Open source transparency

Walt Disney Company:

• Enterprise pilot
• Production-grade deployment
• Custom integration needs
• Community-driven improvements

Industrial Light & Magic:

• Media/entertainment use case
• Real-time transcription needs
• Self-hosted infrastructure
• Open source flexibility

Autodesk:

• Enterprise pilot
• Integration with existing tools
• Customization requirements
• Open source advantages

Developer Adoption

1,500+ GitHub stars:

• Rapid community growth
• Active developer interest
• Production deployments
• Community contributions

Open source advantages:

• Developers can audit code
• Customize for specific needs
• Contribute improvements
• Learn from production code

Conclusion: Why Open Source Wins

Open source transcription APIs provide unmatched transparency, control, and flexibility compared to proprietary solutions. With the Vexa open-source transcription API, you get:

• ✅ Complete transparency – Full source code access
• ✅ Zero vendor lock-in – Deploy and customize freely
• ✅ Enterprise-ready – Production-proven with major enterprises
• ✅ Community support – Active community and contributions
• ✅ Apache 2.0 license – Enterprise-friendly, commercial use allowed
• ✅ Self-hosted deployment – Complete control over infrastructure
• ✅ Cost efficiency – No licensing fees, scale on your hardware
• ✅ Customization – Modify and extend to fit your needs

Ready to get started with open source transcription?

• 🚀 Get Started with Vexa – Deploy in one hour
• 📖 Read the Setup Guide – Step-by-step instructions
• 💬 Join the Community – Get help and share experiences
• 🤝 Contribute to Vexa – Help improve the project
• 📧 Contact Enterprise Support – For enterprise deployments

Open source transcription gives you complete control. Start with Vexa today.

Related Resources

• How to Set Up Self-Hosted Meeting Transcription in One Hour – Complete setup guide
• Privacy-First Meeting Transcription: Why Self-Hosted Matters – Privacy and compliance guide
• Vexa GitHub Repository – Source code and documentation
• Vexa Deployment Guide – Production deployment instructions
• Academy Software Foundation – Foundation participation

Keywords: open source transcription API, transcription API open source, self-hosted transcription API, Apache 2.0 transcription, open source meeting transcription, Vexa API, open source Whisper API, community transcription API, enterprise open source transcription, customizable transcription API