Aiko: On-device AI transcription app for Mac, iOS, and visionOS that converts lecture and meeting audio to text privately. Meeting Transcriber: Open-source, local-first macOS app that auto-records Teams, Zoom, and Webex calls and transcribes, diarizes, and summarizes them entirely on-device. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Aiko when transcribing recorded lectures into searchable text for studying matters most, and Meeting Transcriber when recording and summarizing teams, zoom, or webex calls without inviting a cloud meeting bot matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
On-device AI transcription app for Mac, iOS, and visionOS that converts lecture and meeting audio to text privately.
Open-source, local-first macOS app that auto-records Teams, Zoom, and Webex calls and transcribes, diarizes, and summarizes them entirely on-device.
Aiko is a native transcription app for macOS, iOS, and visionOS, developed by Sindre Sorhus, that converts speech to text from meetings, lectures, and recordings entirely on-device. It uses OpenAI's Whisper model running locally, so audio never leaves the user's device, which makes it appealing for students and professionals with privacy requirements. Aiko transcribes both audio and video files in common formats such as .m4a, .wav, .mp3, .mp4, and .mov, and supports around 100 languages. Transcriptions can be exported in multiple formats, including JSON, CSV, and SRT subtitles, and the app includes a word-replacement feature to automatically correct recurring errors. It also integrates with Apple Shortcuts for automation workflows. Because Aiko prioritizes accuracy over speed, it does not perform live transcription while recording and currently does not include speaker detection, so it is best for transcribing recorded lectures, interviews, and meetings after the fact. The app is offered as a Universal Purchase with a free trial via TestFlight, making it a low-cost, privacy-first option for turning lecture and meeting recordings into searchable text. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Meeting Transcriber is an open-source, local-first meeting transcriber for macOS, distributed under the MIT license and developed in the open on GitHub (pasrom/meeting-transcriber) with its own product site at meetingtranscriber.app. It runs as a menu bar application that automatically detects and records calls on Teams, Zoom, and Webex, capturing the meeting app's audio and your microphone as separate tracks so that transcription and speaker separation stay clean. Transcription happens fully on-device using one of three selectable speech-recognition engines: WhisperKit (covering 99+ languages), Parakeet TDT v3 (25 European languages with a small, fast model), or Qwen3-ASR (30 languages, requiring macOS 15+). It performs dual-track diarization and can recognize recurring speakers by storing voice embeddings across meetings and matching them with cosine similarity. After a meeting, it can generate a structured Markdown protocol containing a summary, participants, topics discussed, decisions, tasks, open questions, and the full transcript, using either the Claude Code CLI, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as Ollama or LM Studio, or a transcript-only mode with no LLM. Because everything runs locally, audio, transcripts, and summaries stay on the user's Mac. It installs via Homebrew Cask and requires macOS 14.2 or later. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Aiko is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Meeting Transcriber is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Aiko | Meeting Transcriber |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Fully on-device transcription powered by a local Whisper model | Automatic recording of Teams, Zoom, and Webex meetings via a macOS menu bar app |
| Standout feature | Support for roughly 100 languages | On-device transcription with selectable engines: WhisperKit, Parakeet TDT v3, or Qwen3-ASR |
| Team usage | Transcription of audio and video files in formats like m4a, wav, mp3, mp4, and mov | Dual-track diarization with separate app and microphone tracks for clean speaker separation |
| Integrations | Export to multiple formats including JSON, CSV, and SRT subtitles | Recurring-speaker recognition using stored voice embeddings matched by cosine similarity |
| Languages & capture | Word-replacement feature to auto-correct common errors | Structured Markdown protocols (summary, participants, topics, decisions, tasks, open questions, transcript) |
| Best-fit workflow | Apple Shortcuts integration and Universal Purchase across Mac, iOS, and visionOS | Pluggable summarization backends: Claude Code CLI, OpenAI-compatible APIs (Ollama, LM Studio), or transcript-only |
Aiko
Choose Aiko if you need transcribing recorded lectures into searchable text for studying — strengths include strong privacy because nothing leaves the device.
Meeting Transcriber
Choose Meeting Transcriber if you need privacy-conscious professionals who want meeting transcripts and notes kept on their own mac — strengths include fully open source under the mit license with development in the open on github.
Aiko
Meeting Transcriber
It depends on your workflow. Aiko is strong for transcribing recorded lectures into searchable text for studying, while Meeting Transcriber is strong for privacy-conscious professionals who want meeting transcripts and notes kept on their own mac. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Aiko is a free tier with paid upgrades and Meeting Transcriber is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
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