- Starting price
- £24/mo
- Free tier
- No
- Platforms
- Web · Mobile browsers · OBS · ProPresenter · Sound desk input
- Developer
- Voco
- Launched
- 2026
- Updated
- Aug 16, 2026
The verdict
Voco makes live text translation attainable for churches that cannot staff interpreter booths: one audio feed, one QR code, many attendee browsers, and no per-seat fee. It should supplement rather than displace skilled interpreters where precision matters. Rehearse with native speakers, disclose machine translation, protect sermon audio and transcripts, and plan an accessible fallback for bad audio, network failure, or consequential pastoral language.
Try Voco ↗Opens voco.church
Voco turns live church speech into translated text that attendees read on their own phones. A team starts a service from the dashboard using a phone, laptop microphone, or sound-desk feed; guests scan a reusable QR code, choose a language, and follow without installing an app or creating an account.
The current product promotes more than 200 languages, unlimited attendees, reconnect protection, custom word boosting, an always-on profanity filter, permanent church links, transcripts, and display output for OBS, ProPresenter, projectors, confidence monitors, and livestreams.
Monthly pricing is £24 for Starter, £48 for Church, and £88 for Pro. Annual billing advertises a 20% saving. A seven-day trial requires no card, plans can be canceled, and the Grace Promise says an occasional long service or extra visitor will not trigger a mid-service cutoff.
We reviewed current product, pricing, privacy, setup, and accuracy caveats without translating a live multilingual congregation. We did not independently test every language, latency, theology vocabulary, captions, outage recovery, browser support, transcript security, support, or the exact service limits.
✓ The good
- No attendee app - a QR code opens translated text in an ordinary phone browser
- Unlimited attendees - plans are shaped by church rhythm rather than per-seat charges
- Broad language access - one service can serve multiple language channels simultaneously
- Existing audio support - a phone can start a trial while sound-desk input improves production
- Display integration - OBS and ProPresenter outputs extend translations beyond personal phones
✗ Watch out
- Machine translation errors - doctrine, names, idioms, humor, prayer, and pastoral nuance can shift
- Internet and audio dependence - noisy rooms or weak networks degrade a live experience
- Text-first access - attendees who cannot read the selected language still need another solution
- New vendor - reliability and support history are short compared with established interpretation systems
- Sensitive service content - audio and transcript governance must cover testimonies, prayer, and personal details
Best for
- Churches welcoming multilingual families, students, migrants, and refugees
- Congregations needing live text captions without issuing receiver hardware
- Services with recurring language groups and a team able to rehearse
- Churches treating AI translation as assisted access with native-speaker feedback
Avoid if
- The message requires certified, legal, medical, safeguarding, or counseling interpretation
- Attendees primarily need spoken audio rather than translated text
- The venue lacks reliable audio capture, internet, fallback slides, or support volunteers
- No native speaker can test terminology and report harmful mistakes
What Voco is
Voco is automated live speech recognition and text translation for church settings, not a human interpreter, doctrinal authority, accessibility certification, pastoral-care translator, legal accommodation guarantee, emergency communication system, or replacement for bilingual community leadership.
The church remains responsible for disclosure, consent, audio routing, language choice, native-speaker testing, confidential content, terminology, screen accessibility, internet fallback, safeguarding, transcript retention, correction, and responding when a translation harms or excludes.
Why QR translation changes the welcome experience
Traditional interpretation may require booths, radios, headsets, scheduling, and one channel per language. Voco lets a guest use the phone already in hand and choose among many text streams from the same service audio.
Convenience should not make language communities invisible. Invite bilingual members into setup, glossary review, feedback, and ministry leadership. Publish that translations are automated and make it easy to ask for clarification without embarrassment.
Live audio to translated text: sound quality is the first model
Voco accepts a device microphone or cleaner sound-desk feed, converts speech to text, translates it, and streams lines to attendee browsers. A USB interface is recommended for reliable board audio.
Rehearse the full signal path and every major speaker. Check gain, music bleed, room echo, accents, pacing, names, Bible books, quotations, silence, switching microphones, and what attendees see during an interruption.
QR reader and reconnect: simple entry with inclusive design duties
A reusable church URL and QR code open the reader without an app or attendee account. The browser can reconnect and restore missed text after a temporary network disruption.
Offer printed links, staffed help, large text, high contrast, accessible seating, charging, loan devices, and a non-phone option. Test screen readers and right-to-left scripts with real attendees.
Glossary and display output: public text needs active supervision
Word boost can prioritize pastor, church, place, and biblical terms, while OBS and ProPresenter-compatible URLs place captions or translations on shared displays and streams.
Build a reviewed glossary for every language, assign someone to watch the output, and define a stop or correction signal. Shared screens increase the impact of a mistranslation and may expose sensitive content publicly.
Pricing
Voco Starter
£24/mo
One main weekly service, one or two regular language groups, all languages, unlimited attendees, QR link, and transcript.
Voco Church
£48/mo
Multiple Sunday services, occasional midweek use, roughly five live hours weekly, displays, and three team seats.
Voco Pro
£88/mo
Regular midweek and event use, unlimited live hours, Signal API, and unlimited team seats.
Network or event
Custom quote
Campuses, conferences, high-volume services, networks, and one-off events.
Starter is £24 monthly for one main weekly service and one or two regular language groups. All published languages and unlimited attendees are included.
Church is £48 monthly for multiple Sunday services, occasional midweek use, display outputs, three team seats, and guidance around five live hours weekly.
Pro is £88 monthly for use across the ministry calendar, unlimited hours and languages, unlimited seats, and automation features. Annual billing saves 20%.
The seven-day trial needs no card. Network, campus, conference, and one-off event needs are quoted separately.
Where Voco falls behind
Publish measured latency and accuracy ranges by language pair, audio condition, accent, and theological vocabulary.
Add a real-time human correction and interpreter handoff path for consequential errors.
Provide a full accessibility statement for mobile readers, displays, right-to-left scripts, screen readers, and cognitive load.
Document audio and transcript retention, model providers, training use, regions, encryption, subprocessors, and deletion controls.
Expose live service health, redundancy, incident history, recovery targets, and an offline emergency fallback.
Voco vs. human interpreters vs. Wordly
Voco is church-focused text translation with simple QR entry and transparent small-church plans. Human interpreters provide context, tone, relationship, and correction. Wordly offers broader event-oriented AI translation and captions.
Choose Voco for recurring services where reviewed text access is proportionate, skilled interpreters for sensitive or high-stakes ministry, or an event platform for larger conference requirements. Hybrid use may be best.
Test the same sermon excerpt with native speakers, including names, doctrine, humor, prayer, crisis language, poetry, and poor audio. Compare delay, comprehension, privacy, support, fallback, and annual cost.
The bottom line
Voco lowers a real barrier for multilingual congregations. A church can begin with existing audio, print one QR code, and offer many text languages without a receiver cabinet or per-attendee bill. That accessibility is meaningful, but machine translation is not comprehension guaranteed. Churches should pilot with the people they hope to serve, build glossaries, disclose automation, supervise output, protect transcripts, and preserve human interpretation for sensitive settings. The £24 entry plan and no-card trial make honest testing easy. If native speakers say the result helps them participate—and the team can respond when it fails—Voco can become a practical part of hospitality.
Alternatives to Voco
TurboScribePost-service transcription and translation for reviewed captions and archives.Frequently asked questions
How much does Voco cost?
Monthly plans are £24 for Starter, £48 for Church, and £88 for Pro; annual billing advertises a 20% saving.
Is there a free Voco plan?
No permanent free tier is listed, but a seven-day trial is available without a credit card.
Do attendees need an app?
No. They scan a QR code or open the church link in a mobile browser and choose a language.
How many languages does Voco support?
The current pricing page promotes all 200-plus language options on its plans.
Does Voco limit attendees?
No per-seat limit is published; all standard plans include unlimited attendees.
Can Voco show translations on church screens?
Yes. Church and Pro include display workflows for OBS, ProPresenter, projectors, or livestream layouts.
Can it replace a human interpreter?
Not for every situation. Use skilled interpreters where nuance, safeguarding, counseling, legal, or clinical accuracy matters.
Sources & further reading
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