Amical: Amical is an open-source, local-first AI dictation and voice-notes app that transcribes speech to text on your own machine using Whisper and open-source LLMs. Polar Notes: AI note taker for students that turns lectures, audio, slides, PDFs, and videos into notes and study packs. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Amical when dictating emails, messages, and documents hands-free with app-appropriate formatting matters most, and Polar Notes when converting youtube videos, slides, and pdfs into a study pack matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Amical is an open-source, local-first AI dictation and voice-notes app that transcribes speech to text on your own machine using Whisper and open-source LLMs.
AI note taker for students that turns lectures, audio, slides, PDFs, and videos into notes and study packs.
Amical is an open-source, MIT-licensed AI dictation application that turns speech into formatted text directly on your device. It runs OpenAI's Whisper for speech recognition locally and uses open-source LLMs (via Ollama) for intelligent processing, so dictation can work offline once a local model is set up; for machines that can't handle local inference, it offers a cloud fallback. Built with Electron and TypeScript, it runs on Mac and Windows as a desktop app with a floating widget interface and configurable hotkeys. Its standout feature is context-aware formatting: it detects the active application and adapts tone and structure accordingly, producing professional text in email, casual phrasing in chat apps, or prompt and command-style output in IDEs and terminals. It supports many languages plus mixed-language dictation, and custom vocabulary for domain-specific terms. Beyond dictation, it is adding smart voice notes with summaries and task generation. It targets privacy-conscious writers, developers, and professionals wanting a free alternative to paid dictation tools.
Best suited for
Polar Notes (PolarNotes AI) is an AI note-taking tool built for students and teachers that converts lectures and course materials into organized study resources. Users can record or upload a lecture, paste a YouTube link, or import slides and PDFs, and the app automatically transcribes audio when needed and analyzes the content to produce summarized notes, key concepts, section headings, and short overviews. From the same source material it can generate a study pack that includes study guides, flashcards, and assessment questions, and results can be exported to Google Docs or PDF with study sets organized in one place. Polar Notes emphasizes privacy and offline access on iOS, keeping notes stored locally on the device unless the user chooses to back them up or share them, which lets students review notes without an internet connection. It also supports multilingual transcription, making it usable for international students and teachers recording in different languages. The tool is delivered as an iOS app with an accompanying web experience and free online tools, and is aimed at learners who want lecture and document content distilled into exam-ready study material rather than verbatim meeting records. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Amical is open source (open source); Polar Notes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Amical | Polar Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Local speech-to-text transcription powered by OpenAI Whisper | Record or upload lectures, paste YouTube links, and import slides or PDFs |
| Standout feature | On-device LLM processing via Ollama, with a cloud fallback option | Automatic audio transcription and AI-generated summarized notes with headings |
| Team usage | Context-aware formatting that adapts tone to the active app (email, chat, IDE, terminal) | Study pack generation including study guides, flashcards, and quiz questions |
| Integrations | Multi-language and mixed-language dictation support | Export to Google Docs and PDF with organized study sets |
| Languages & capture | Custom vocabulary for domain-specific terms and configurable hotkeys | Offline access on iOS with notes stored locally by default |
| Best-fit workflow | Smart voice notes with summaries and task generation (in development) | Multilingual transcription for international students and teachers |
Amical
Choose Amical if you need dictating emails, messages, and documents hands-free with app-appropriate formatting — strengths include fully open source (mit) and actively maintained with frequent releases.
Polar Notes
Choose Polar Notes if you need turning recorded lectures into summarized notes and flashcards — strengths include turns multiple source types into exam-ready study material.
Amical
Polar Notes
It depends on your workflow. Amical is strong for dictating emails, messages, and documents hands-free with app-appropriate formatting, while Polar Notes is strong for turning recorded lectures into summarized notes and flashcards. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Amical is open source and Polar Notes is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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