Balto: Real-time AI guidance and agent-assist platform that coaches contact-center and sales agents live during calls. Spokenly: Spokenly is a system-wide AI dictation app for Mac and iPhone that converts speech to text using offline Whisper and Parakeet models or bring-your-own-key cloud engines. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Balto when guiding agents live through objections and compliance requirements matters most, and Spokenly when privacy-conscious offline speech-to-text for sensitive or confidential work matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
Real-time AI guidance and agent-assist platform that coaches contact-center and sales agents live during calls.
Spokenly is a system-wide AI dictation app for Mac and iPhone that converts speech to text using offline Whisper and Parakeet models or bring-your-own-key cloud engines.
Balto is a contact-center AI platform centered on real-time guidance during live customer and sales calls. Rather than focusing on post-call review, Balto listens to conversations as they happen and surfaces dynamic prompts, objection-handling cues, compliance checklists, and knowledge-base answers to the agent in the moment. Its Agent Assist pulls relevant information so reps can respond to customer questions instantly, while real-time QA automatically scores interactions across all calls and flags compliance risk early, maintaining an audit trail for supervisors. Coaching automation tailors recommendations to each agent's performance, and real-time note generation produces call summaries without manual write-ups. Balto also offers voice AI agents to handle high-volume, repeatable calls and supports omnichannel context across voice and digital channels. It integrates with CRMs and telephony systems such as Salesforce and RingCentral. The platform is used across industries including healthcare, insurance, banking, collections, and home improvement, and is aimed at contact centers and sales teams that want in-the-moment guidance, compliance assurance, and automated quality management at scale. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Spokenly is an AI dictation and speech-to-text app for Mac and iPhone (with Windows listed by the developer). You press a shortcut, speak, and your words are inserted at the cursor in any application — browsers, email, chat, notes, or IDEs. It can run entirely offline on Apple Silicon using local models such as OpenAI's Whisper and NVIDIA's Parakeet, or connect to cloud engines including OpenAI, Deepgram, Groq, Anthropic, and Google through a bring-your-own-key model. Transcription supports 100+ languages with automatic language detection and automatic punctuation, and every transcription is saved to a history. The app also offers AI text processing with custom prompts, a Local Only Mode that blocks network requests for privacy, and an MCP server so AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor can trigger voice input. It is built primarily for professionals and developers who want fast, private, accurate dictation rather than a passive meeting recorder. The app is developed by an independent developer, Vadim Akhmerov, and is in active development.
Best suited for
Balto is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Spokenly is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Balto | Spokenly |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Real-time, in-call guidance with dynamic prompts and objection cues | Offline local transcription on Apple Silicon using Whisper and NVIDIA Parakeet models |
| Standout feature | Agent Assist that surfaces knowledge-base answers live | Bring-your-own-key cloud engines (OpenAI, Deepgram, Groq, Anthropic, Google) |
| Team usage | Automated quality assurance scoring across 100% of calls | System-wide dictation that inserts text at the cursor in any app |
| Integrations | Real-time compliance monitoring with audit trails | Speech-to-text in 100+ languages with automatic detection and punctuation |
| Languages & capture | Automated call summaries and coaching recommendations | Local Only Mode that blocks network requests for full privacy |
| Best-fit workflow | Integrations with CRMs and phone systems such as Salesforce and RingCentral | MCP server integration for AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor |
Balto
Choose Balto if you need guiding agents live through objections and compliance requirements — strengths include guides agents during the call rather than only analyzing afterward.
Spokenly
Choose Spokenly if you need dictating emails, messages, and notes by speaking instead of typing — strengths include genuinely free unlimited on-device transcription on apple silicon, with voice staying local.
Balto
Spokenly
It depends on your workflow. Balto is strong for guiding agents live through objections and compliance requirements, while Spokenly is strong for dictating emails, messages, and notes by speaking instead of typing. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Balto is a free tier with paid upgrades and Spokenly 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.
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