AudioNotes: AI note taker for voice, audio, video, and text that records meetings and memos and turns them into structured notes and summaries. Handy: Handy is a free, open-source, cross-platform push-to-talk app that transcribes your speech to text completely offline and pastes it into any text field. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist AudioNotes when recording and summarizing meetings into minutes and action items matters most, and Handy when privacy-sensitive voice-to-text where audio must stay on-device matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
AI note taker for voice, audio, video, and text that records meetings and memos and turns them into structured notes and summaries.
Handy is a free, open-source, cross-platform push-to-talk app that transcribes your speech to text completely offline and pastes it into any text field.
AudioNotes is an AI note-taking app that converts voice memos, audio and video files, text, and other inputs into organized, structured notes. Its workflow centers on capturing content (recording a voice note or live meeting, uploading audio or video, adding text, performing OCR on images, or pasting a YouTube link), transcribing it across many languages, and then generating AI summaries that highlight key ideas and action items. For meetings specifically, AudioNotes can record a live session on web or mobile, or process an uploaded recording afterward, and automatically produce meeting minutes, key decisions, and action items. It includes a chat feature that lets users ask questions about their notes and a library of ready-made templates plus custom prompts so output can be tailored to scenarios like meeting minutes, lecture notes, brainstorming, or journaling. The app is available on iOS, Android, web, and Mac. AudioNotes serves a broad audience including professionals capturing meetings, students taking lecture notes, medical and legal professionals documenting conversations, content creators, and people who prefer speaking their thoughts and want them turned into clean text. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Handy is a free, open-source desktop application that turns your voice into text completely offline, with no audio ever leaving your computer. You press a configurable keyboard shortcut, speak, and release (push-to-talk), or use a toggle mode to start and stop; Handy transcribes what you said and automatically pastes the result into whatever text field is active. Because it runs entirely on-device, it is built for privacy-conscious users who want dictation without cloud uploads or subscriptions. Under the hood it is built with Tauri (a Rust backend with a React/TypeScript frontend) and supports multiple local speech-recognition models, including OpenAI's Whisper variants with GPU acceleration and the CPU-friendly Parakeet V3 model with automatic language detection. Silero Voice Activity Detection filters out silence so only speech is processed. Handy runs on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows, and Linux, and is released under the MIT license. It positions itself as an accessible, extensible alternative to paid dictation tools, and is best suited for hands-free typing rather than recording multi-party meetings.
Best suited for
AudioNotes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Handy is open source (open source). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | AudioNotes | Handy |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Records voice notes and live meetings, or processes uploaded audio/video | Push-to-talk and toggle dictation modes with a configurable global keyboard shortcut |
| Standout feature | Multi-language transcription with AI summaries and action items | Fully offline, on-device transcription with no cloud uploads |
| Team usage | Multiple input types including text, image OCR, and YouTube links | Multiple local speech models including Whisper (GPU-accelerated) and Parakeet V3 (CPU, auto language detection) |
| Integrations | Chat with your notes to ask questions and retrieve details | Silero Voice Activity Detection to filter silence and process only speech |
| Languages & capture | Library of templates plus custom prompts for tailored output | Automatically pastes transcribed text into any active application text field |
| Best-fit workflow | Available on iOS, Android, web, and Mac | Cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) built with Tauri |
AudioNotes
Choose AudioNotes if you need recording and summarizing meetings into minutes and action items — strengths include handles many input types beyond just meetings, including memos and files.
Handy
Choose Handy if you need hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors — strengths include completely free, open-source (mit) with no subscription or paywall.
AudioNotes
Handy
It depends on your workflow. AudioNotes is strong for recording and summarizing meetings into minutes and action items, while Handy is strong for hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
AudioNotes is a free tier with paid upgrades and Handy is open source. 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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