Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Maestra: AI platform for transcription, subtitles, dubbing, and live captioning across many languages. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Alter when freelancers and consultants privately capturing client calls without a visible bot matters most, and Maestra when adding live captions to webinars, streams, and meetings matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required.
AI platform for transcription, subtitles, dubbing, and live captioning across many languages.
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
Maestra is an AI-powered media platform that provides transcription, subtitling, translation, and dubbing for audio and video content, both on demand and in real time. For transcription, users upload audio or video and Maestra produces speech-to-text output with features such as speaker detection, punctuation, and timestamps. The platform can auto-generate subtitles and captions, which users can edit, style, and export in multiple formats, and it can translate that text across a large set of languages. Maestra also offers live transcription for meetings, webinars, and streams, with stated integrations for platforms including Zoom and Microsoft Teams, as well as live production tools. This makes it usable both as a post-production transcription and captioning service and as a real-time captioning layer over live sessions. Maestra is aimed at media companies, content creators, marketers, and organizations that need multilingual transcripts, subtitles, and captions, and that may also want real-time captioning for live events and meetings. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Alter is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Maestra is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Alter | Maestra |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | On-device transcription using built-in Whisper and Parakeet models | AI transcription with speaker detection, punctuation, and timestamps |
| Standout feature | Bot-free capture of system audio and microphone across any meeting or call app | Automatic subtitle and caption generation with editing tools |
| Team usage | Automatic speaker identification performed locally | Translation of transcripts and subtitles across many languages |
| Integrations | AI summaries, action items, and chat-with-your-meeting Q&A | Real-time live transcription for meetings, webinars, and streams |
| Languages & capture | Integrations with Notion, Slack, Linear, Asana, Jira and other tools | Integrations with live and meeting platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams |
| Best-fit workflow | Offline operation with recordings and transcripts stored locally | AI transcription with speaker detection, punctuation, and timestamps |
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.
Maestra
Choose Maestra if you need generating multilingual subtitles for video content — strengths include covers both on-demand and real-time transcription needs.
Alter
Maestra
It depends on your workflow. Alter is strong for freelancers and consultants privately capturing client calls without a visible bot, while Maestra is strong for generating multilingual subtitles for video content. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Alter is a free tier with paid upgrades and Maestra 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.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Alter and Maestra.
Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Amber Notes: EU-focused AI meeting notetaker by Dutch company Amberscript, with EU-only data hosting, multilingual transcription and an Ask Amber chat. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Amberscript: Audio and video to text service offering automatic and human-verified transcripts and subtitles. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
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Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Anarlog: Open-source, local-first AI meeting notepad (formerly Hyprnote) by Fastrepl that records and summarizes private meetings on your own device with no bot. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
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Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Attention: AI conversation intelligence platform that records and transcribes sales calls, scores them against frameworks, and automates CRM updates and follow-ups. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Attio Call Intelligence: Attio's native call intelligence records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings and syncs every conversation to the Attio CRM automatically. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. AudioNotes: AI note taker for voice, audio, video, and text that records meetings and memos and turns them into structured notes and summaries. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. AudiosTranscribe: French-focused, bot-free meeting transcription tool with European inference, summaries, action plans, and automatic audio deletion. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. Audiosum: AI transcription platform with Arabic dialect support that transcribes and summarizes meetings, lectures and videos. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.