Alter: macOS-native AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls locally with built-in Whisper and Parakeet models, no bots required. 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 Alter when freelancers and consultants privately capturing client calls without a visible bot matters most, and noScribe when journalists generating diarized transcripts of recorded conversations 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.
Free, open-source desktop transcriber that runs Whisper and pyannote fully locally with speaker identification and a synchronized editor.
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
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
Alter 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 | Alter | noScribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | On-device transcription using built-in Whisper and Parakeet models | Fully local transcription using Whisper via faster-whisper |
| Standout feature | Bot-free capture of system audio and microphone across any meeting or call app | Speaker diarization with pyannote (automatic or manual speaker counts) |
| Team usage | Automatic speaker identification performed locally | Support for around 60 languages |
| Integrations | AI summaries, action items, and chat-with-your-meeting Q&A | Synchronized companion editor (noScribeEdit) with playback follow-along |
| Languages & capture | Integrations with Notion, Slack, Linear, Asana, Jira and other tools | Batch transcription, pause detection, and experimental overlapping-speech detection |
| Best-fit workflow | Offline operation with recordings and transcripts stored locally | Exports to HTML, VTT, and TXT plus a command-line interface |
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.
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.
Alter
noScribe
It depends on your workflow. Alter is strong for freelancers and consultants privately capturing client calls without a visible bot, while noScribe is strong for researchers transcribing qualitative interviews while keeping data on their own machine. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Alter 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.
Yes. Many teams run more than one meeting assistant when the workflows are complementary.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Alter and noScribe.
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. 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.
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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. 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.