You can export your data from Gong: recordings and transcripts are yours to take, one call at a time through the app or in bulk through the API. What you cannot take is most of the structure built on top of them.
What you can export from Gong
| Asset | Route out | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Call recordings | Per-call download, or API for bulk | Downloads must be enabled by your admin |
| Transcripts | Copy from call page, or API | API returns structured JSON per call and speaker |
| Call metadata and stats | API | Titles, participants, durations, activity stats |
| CRM fields | Nothing to do | They live in your CRM, not in Gong |
| Trackers, scorecards, coaching notes | No clean export | Plan to rebuild or lose these |
The table is the honest summary: raw conversation data leaves cleanly, Gong-native intelligence does not.
How do I export individual calls from Gong?
From any call page you can download the recording and copy the transcript, provided your admin has enabled downloads for your role. This route is fine for a handful of must-keep calls: the reference demo, the best discovery call you ever ran, the calls attached to open deals.
It is hopeless for history at scale. Nobody is clicking through three years of calls, which is what the API is for.
How do I bulk export with the Gong API?
Gong's public API exposes calls, media files, transcripts, users, and stats. You will need API access on your plan, an admin-issued key, and someone comfortable writing a short script. The script pages through the call list, then pulls media and transcripts per call.
A few hundred calls is an afternoon of work. Tens of thousands of calls is mostly a storage question, so decide up front whether you need video files at all or whether transcripts plus a shortlist of key recordings covers you. Transcripts are tiny, searchable, and usually the part with lasting value.
How long does a Gong export take?
Longer than the script suggests. APIs enforce rate limits, so a multi-year history downloads over days of wall-clock time even when the code is simple, and media files dominate that time. The practical order is: pull the full call list first (fast), then all transcripts (still fast), then recordings for your shortlist only. Start well before your renewal date so a failed run or a permissions surprise is an annoyance rather than a crisis.
Where should the archive live?
An export nobody can use is a backup, not an archive. A layout that stays useful:
- One folder per account, files named by date and call title, so a human can find the call about the pricing dispute without a database.
- Convert transcript JSON to plain text alongside the original. The JSON keeps speaker structure for machines; the text file is what a colleague actually opens and searches.
- Keep the shortlist recordings next to their transcripts, not in a separate video dump.
- Store the tracker keywords and scorecard definitions you captured manually in the same place, because they describe how the next tool should be configured.
What you lose when you leave Gong
The recordings survive. The intelligence does not. Trackers, scorecards, deal warnings, points of interest, and coaching threads are Gong-native structures with no meaningful export path. Capture your scorecard definitions and tracker keyword lists manually (a screenshot and a spreadsheet are enough) so the next tool can be configured to match.
Be honest with yourself about one thing: if that intelligence layer was delivering, you probably would not be leaving. Most teams exporting from Gong discover the transcripts matter more than the dashboards did.
A related trap: raw recordings sitting in cloud storage are dead weight. They only stay useful if the next tool can learn from them. Caretta, for example, builds its answers from your past calls, docs, and CRM, so imported history keeps working on future calls instead of sitting in a bucket.
Do you need the full export at all?
Worth asking before writing the script. If Gong served you for years, most of the archive is closed-lost deals and reps who have left. A defensible minimal export is: all transcripts (because they are nearly free to keep), recordings for open deals and the training library, and the manual capture of trackers and scorecards. Teams that skip the video bulk export rarely regret it; teams that skip transcripts always do, usually the first time a renewal dispute needs the exact wording from a call two years ago.
Checklist before you cancel Gong
- Inventory the calls that actually matter: open deals, reference calls, the training library.
- Confirm your plan includes API access, and get the key issued while you are still a customer in good standing.
- Export transcripts for everything; export recordings only for the shortlist.
- Capture tracker keywords and scorecard definitions manually.
- Read the data retention clause in your contract and finish exporting well before termination.
- Decide where the archive goes next, ideally a tool that can ingest it (see our Gong alternatives guide, and our Gong review if you are still deciding whether to leave at all).
Moving off Gong and want your call history to keep earning its keep? Book a Caretta demo.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I export all my call recordings from Gong?
- Yes, but the route depends on volume. Individual calls can be downloaded from the call page when your admin has enabled downloads. For bulk export, Gong's API exposes calls, media, and transcripts, which usually means a short script written by an engineer or data person on your team.
- Does Gong let you export transcripts?
- Yes. You can copy a transcript from any call page, and the API returns transcripts in structured JSON keyed by call and speaker. Transcripts are small and searchable, so export them even for calls where you skip the recording files.
- What happens to my Gong data when I cancel?
- Gong retains and then deletes customer data after termination according to your contract terms. The exact window varies by agreement, so read your own contract rather than relying on a general answer, and finish your export well before the subscription ends.
- Can another tool import my old Gong calls?
- Some tools can ingest historical recordings and transcripts so past conversations keep working for you, for example by feeding answer retrieval or onboarding. Ask the vendor whether import is supported before you export terabytes of video you will never open again.