⚠ Service Status · Unmaintained since 2023
Web Captioner Is Shut Down — Here's What to Use Instead
Web Captioner has been unmaintained since October 31, 2023. The creator publicly recommended that users find alternatives. If you're still using it (or hitting the broken speech recognition errors), here's the working replacement.
⚠ Web Captioner status
Web Captioner's creator Curt Grimes
archived the repository in October 2023. The site still loads but speech recognition increasingly fails as Chrome deprecates the Web Speech API. The creator recommends "exploring alternatives to Web Captioner which are better maintained and more fully featured."
No credit card. 6-hour free trial. Works on any browser.
TL;DR
Web Captioner is dead. It relied on the Chrome Web Speech API which Google is deprecating, AND its creator stopped maintaining it in October 2023. Speech recognition increasingly fails. StreamTranslate is built for the same use case (live captions + translation) but uses Deepgram server-side speech recognition that doesn't depend on Chrome. Works in any browser. 30+ languages with translation. 6-hour free trial.
What happened to Web Captioner?
Web Captioner was a popular free, browser-based live captioning tool. Type into your mic, captions appear on screen. Worked great for several years for live streams, classrooms, conferences, and accessibility.
Two structural problems killed it:
- Browser dependency. Web Captioner used the Chrome Web Speech API (browser-native, free). When Google started deprecating that API in favor of on-device SODA models, Web Captioner became unreliable.
- Maintainer burnout. Web Captioner was maintained by one person (Curt Grimes). When Chrome's API got flaky, fixing it would have required migrating to a paid speech-to-text service — a major rewrite. The maintainer chose to archive the project instead.
Both problems are common to free, browser-native captioning tools. Caption.Ninja is facing the same issues right now — its docs already recommend switching to Edge as a workaround (which doesn't fully fix the problem).
What to use instead
For live streaming specifically, you need a tool that:
- Doesn't depend on browser-native speech recognition (which is getting deprecated)
- Has a managed speech recognition backend (Deepgram, AssemblyAI, etc) — not free Web Speech API
- Integrates with OBS / Streamlabs / Meld as a browser source
- Supports translation for international audiences
- Is actively maintained
StreamTranslate hits all five. We use Deepgram Nova-3 for speech recognition (server-side, professional-grade), support 30+ languages with translation, integrate with any OBS-compatible streaming software via browser source URL, and we're actively maintained.
Migration: Web Captioner → StreamTranslate
- Sign up free at streamtranslate.live/control — no card required.
- Pick your spoken language (English, Spanish, etc) and your target language (or just transcription if no translation needed).
- Copy your browser source URL.
- In OBS: Sources → + → Browser → paste URL → 1920×1080. Same workflow as Web Captioner.
- Go live. Captions appear on stream within 500ms of you speaking.
The OBS integration is identical to Web Captioner's. The difference is what's behind it.
StreamTranslate vs Web Captioner — feature comparison
| Feature | StreamTranslate | Web Captioner |
|---|
| Status | Actively maintained | Unmaintained since Oct 2023 |
| Speech recognition | Deepgram Nova-3 (paid, reliable) | Chrome Web Speech API (free, breaking) |
| Translation | Built-in, 30+ languages | No (transcription only) |
| Browser support | Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge | Chrome/Edge only |
| OBS browser source | Yes | Yes (when API works) |
| Cost | From $9.99 once | Free (but breaking) |
| Support | Active email/chat | Archived GitHub |
Frequently asked questions
Is Web Captioner permanently shut down?
The site still loads but it has been unmaintained since October 31, 2023. The creator publicly archived the repository and recommended alternatives. As Chrome's Web Speech API gets less reliable, Web Captioner becomes less usable.
Why did Web Captioner shut down?
Two reasons. Web Captioner depended on the Chrome Web Speech API which Google is deprecating. AND the project's maintainer chose to archive the project rather than rewrite it to use a paid speech-to-text backend.
Can I still use Web Captioner for now?
Technically yes — the site loads. Practically, the speech recognition is unreliable and getting worse. For live streams where reliability matters, switch.
Does StreamTranslate work the same way as Web Captioner?
Yes for the OBS integration — a browser source URL you paste into OBS. Differs in: speech recognition (we use Deepgram, not Web Speech API), translation (we have it, they didn't), uptime (we're maintained).
What if I just need captions in English, no translation?
StreamTranslate handles that too. Set source language to English, target language to English. You get clean English captions on your stream.
Free 6-hour trial
If you were using Web Captioner and need a replacement: sign up free, paste one URL into OBS, you're live in 60 seconds.
Launch StreamTranslate →