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Google Meet

Google Meet is commonly used by coaches who are already in the Google Workspace ecosystem. This page covers what each Google Meet plan offers for recording and transcription, and how coaches using Google Meet can work with the coaching platform.

Plans​

FeatureFree (personal Gmail)Workspace Business StarterWorkspace Business Standard
Price (AUD, monthly)$0~A$10/user (annual)~A$22/user (annual)
Meeting recordingNoNoYes (MP4)
TranscriptionNoNoYes (Google Docs)
Recording storageN/AN/AGoogle Drive
Storage limitN/AN/A2 TB pooled per user
API accessNoNoGoogle Meet REST API
Recording and transcription require Business Standard or higher

Neither Google Meet Free nor Business Starter include recording or transcription. Both features require Workspace Business Standard (approximately A$22/month per user) at minimum.

Recording​

On Workspace Business Standard and above, recordings are saved as MP4 files to the meeting organiser's Google Drive in the My Drive > Meet Recordings folder.

  • An email with the recording link is sent to the organiser and whoever started the recording
  • Recordings typically appear within a few minutes after the meeting ends, though Google notes it can take up to 24 hours
  • Only the meeting host or co-host can start recording
  • Recording is only available on desktop (not mobile)
  • No auto-expiry. Recordings persist until manually deleted or storage quota is reached

Download process​

  1. Open Google Drive and navigate to My Drive > Meet Recordings
  2. Right-click the MP4 file and select Download
  3. Alternatively, click the recording link in the email notification and select Download from the three-dot menu

Transcription​

On Workspace Business Standard and above, transcription is available but works differently from Zoom and Teams.

Format​

Transcripts are saved as Google Docs files, not VTT, SRT, or any timed subtitle format. The transcript includes:

  • Speaker labels. Identifies who said what
  • Text content. The transcribed speech

The transcript does not include:

  • Timed timestamps per utterance. There are no start/end times for individual segments
  • Subtitle-format structure. It is a prose document, not a playback-synchronised file

This means Google Meet transcripts cannot be directly imported into tools that expect VTT format (including the coaching platform's review, talk-time, and AI features).

Storage​

Transcripts are saved to the same My Drive > Meet Recordings folder as the recording. An email with the transcript link is sent to the organiser and whoever enabled transcription.

Third-party alternatives​

Chrome extensions such as Google Meet CC Capturer and TranscripTonic can capture live captions during a meeting and export them as SRT or TXT files with timestamps. These run in the browser during the meeting and do not require API access.

API​

Google Meet provides a REST API for accessing recording and transcript metadata:

  • Recording access. The API returns a Google Drive fileId for the MP4. The actual file is downloaded via the Google Drive API.
  • Transcript access. The API returns a reference to the Google Docs file. Content is retrieved via the Google Docs API.
  • Authentication. OAuth 2.0 with scopes drive.readonly or drive.meet.readonly
  • No native webhook. There is no event notification when a recording or transcript becomes available

Considerations for third-party integration​

  • Transcripts are Google Docs, not VTT. Any integration would need to parse the document and convert to VTT with estimated timestamps
  • The Google Docs format does not include per-utterance timing data, making accurate VTT conversion difficult
  • Transcript API entries are deleted 30 days after the conference ends (the Google Doc itself persists in Drive)

Using Google Meet with the coaching platform​

The coaching platform does not currently have a direct Google Meet integration. Coaches using Google Meet can import recordings manually:

  1. Download the MP4 recording from Google Drive
  2. Produce a VTT transcript using the transcription guide. Google Meet's native transcript (Google Docs) is not in VTT format and cannot be imported directly
  3. Import both files via the Staging page in the coaching platform
  4. All platform features (review, talk-time, competency tagging, AI assessment) work identically

If you do not need AI features, import just the recording. Core features (session tracking, ICF certification, development plans) work without a transcript.

Direct Google Meet integration may be added in a future release if requested by purchasers via roadmap voting and if the API supports VTT transcript access.

Data freshness

Pricing and features were researched in March 2026. Google Workspace plans change frequently.