Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Gladia: Developer-focused speech-to-text API with real-time and async transcription, diarization, and meeting-bot integrations. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Alter when freelancers and consultants privately capturing client calls without a visible bot matters most, and Gladia when adding live captions and transcripts to video-conferencing products matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required.
Developer-focused speech-to-text API with real-time and async transcription, diarization, and meeting-bot integrations.
Alter is a native macOS application that records, transcribes, and analyzes meetings directly on the user's Mac without sending a bot into the call. Instead of joining a meeting as a visible participant, Alter captures audio from the system output and microphone, so it works across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Skype, Discord, and in-person conversations. Transcription runs through on-device models, with a choice of an optimized Parakeet model for major languages or Whisper for broader language coverage, and speaker identification is performed locally. Because processing happens on the device, recordings and transcripts stay on the Mac and the app can operate without an internet connection. Beyond raw transcripts, Alter generates summaries and action items, lets users chat with their meetings, and connects to tools such as Notion, Slack, Linear, Asana, and Jira. It targets solopreneurs, freelancers, consultants, and other professionals who want private, bot-free meeting capture on macOS. The product is actively developed and operating in 2025 and 2026. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Gladia is a speech-to-text API built for developers and product teams who want to embed transcription and audio intelligence into their own applications, including meeting assistants and note-taking tools. It offers both asynchronous transcription of pre-recorded audio and video files and a real-time streaming engine over WebSocket that returns results with low latency, making it suitable for live meetings and calls. The platform handles a wide range of languages with automatic language detection and code-switching, so it can follow conversations where participants switch languages mid-call. For meeting use cases, Gladia provides speaker diarization to label who said what, word-level timestamps, custom vocabulary, and audio-intelligence features such as summarization, sentiment analysis, and action-item extraction. It also offers meeting-bot integration that can join Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams sessions to capture audio. Gladia positions itself as infrastructure rather than an end-user product, so companies typically use it to power their own transcription, captioning, or conversation-analytics features while relying on Gladia's compliance posture for data handling. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Alter is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Gladia is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Alter | Gladia |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | On-device transcription using built-in Whisper and Parakeet models | Real-time streaming transcription over WebSocket with low latency |
| Standout feature | Bot-free capture of system audio and microphone across any meeting or call app | Asynchronous transcription for pre-recorded audio and video files |
| Team usage | Automatic speaker identification performed locally | Speaker diarization with word-level timestamps |
| Integrations | AI summaries, action items, and chat-with-your-meeting Q&A | Multilingual transcription with automatic language detection and code-switching |
| Languages & capture | Integrations with Notion, Slack, Linear, Asana, Jira and other tools | Audio intelligence: summaries, sentiment analysis, and action-item extraction |
| Best-fit workflow | Offline operation with recordings and transcripts stored locally | Meeting-bot integration for Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams |
Alter
Choose Alter if you need freelancers and consultants privately capturing client calls without a visible bot — strengths include local processing keeps recordings and transcripts on the user's own mac.
Gladia
Choose Gladia if you need powering a custom ai meeting assistant or note-taker — strengths include single api covers both batch and real-time transcription use cases.
Alter
Gladia
It depends on your workflow. Alter is strong for freelancers and consultants privately capturing client calls without a visible bot, while Gladia is strong for powering a custom ai meeting assistant or note-taker. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Alter is a free tier with paid upgrades and Gladia 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 Alter and Gladia.
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