Aiko: On-device AI transcription app for Mac, iOS, and visionOS that converts lecture and meeting audio to text privately. noScribe: Free, open-source desktop transcriber that runs Whisper and pyannote fully locally with speaker identification and a synchronized editor. 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 noScribe when journalists generating diarized transcripts of recorded conversations 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.
Free, open-source desktop transcriber that runs Whisper and pyannote fully locally with speaker identification and a synchronized editor.
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
noScribe is a free, open-source desktop transcription tool that runs entirely on the user's own computer to protect the confidentiality of recordings. Licensed under GPL-3.0 and actively maintained, with a v0.7.2 maintenance release in June 2026, it is built around OpenAI's Whisper (via the faster-whisper library) for speech recognition and pyannote for speaker diarization, so it can distinguish between different speakers and label who said what. It understands around 60 languages and supports automatic or manually specified speaker counts. noScribe is primarily designed for producing high-quality transcripts of interviews for qualitative social research and journalistic work, and it ships with a dedicated companion editor, noScribeEdit, that synchronizes audio playback with the transcript text and provides search and replace, formatting, zoom, and playback-speed controls. It supports Windows (with optional CUDA acceleration on Nvidia GPUs), macOS on Apple Silicon, and Linux in both CPU and CUDA versions. Additional capabilities include batch transcription, pause detection and marking, an experimental overlapping-speech detection mode, and export to multiple formats such as HTML, VTT, and TXT, plus an available command-line interface for scripted use. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Aiko is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); noScribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Aiko | noScribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Fully on-device transcription powered by a local Whisper model | Fully local transcription using Whisper via faster-whisper |
| Standout feature | Support for roughly 100 languages | Speaker diarization with pyannote (automatic or manual speaker counts) |
| Team usage | Transcription of audio and video files in formats like m4a, wav, mp3, mp4, and mov | Support for around 60 languages |
| Integrations | Export to multiple formats including JSON, CSV, and SRT subtitles | Synchronized companion editor (noScribeEdit) with playback follow-along |
| Languages & capture | Word-replacement feature to auto-correct common errors | Batch transcription, pause detection, and experimental overlapping-speech detection |
| Best-fit workflow | Apple Shortcuts integration and Universal Purchase across Mac, iOS, and visionOS | Exports to HTML, VTT, and TXT plus a command-line interface |
Aiko
Choose Aiko if you need transcribing recorded lectures into searchable text for studying — strengths include strong privacy because nothing leaves the device.
noScribe
Choose noScribe if you need researchers transcribing qualitative interviews while keeping data on their own machine — strengths include runs 100% locally to keep sensitive recordings confidential.
Aiko
noScribe
It depends on your workflow. Aiko is strong for transcribing recorded lectures into searchable text for studying, while noScribe is strong for researchers transcribing qualitative interviews while keeping data on their own machine. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Aiko is a free tier with paid upgrades and noScribe is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Often yes: teams combine tools when one handles capture and another handles analysis.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Aiko and noScribe.
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