Balto: Real-time AI guidance and agent-assist platform that coaches contact-center and sales agents live during calls. StenoAI: Open-source desktop app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings entirely on-device with no bots, subscriptions, or cloud processing. 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 StenoAI when generating diarized live transcripts during zoom, teams, or meet calls on a mac matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Real-time AI guidance and agent-assist platform that coaches contact-center and sales agents live during calls.
Open-source desktop app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings entirely on-device with no bots, subscriptions, or cloud processing.
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
StenoAI (Steno) is an open-source desktop application that records meetings, transcribes them in real time, and generates AI-powered summaries while keeping all data local on the user's device. It positions itself as a privacy-first meeting notes tool with no cloud processing, no subscriptions, and no bots joining calls, and it is distributed under the MIT license with an actively maintained release history (v0.5.4 in June 2026). On Apple Silicon it can use the Parakeet TDT v3 model for live transcription, and it also supports Whisper models, capturing both system audio and microphone input via a native Core Audio Tap on recent macOS versions so it works across platforms like Zoom, Teams, Meet, Discord, and phone calls without OAuth integrations. During recording it shows live speaker labels distinguishing the user from others, and it supports 25 European languages for live transcription with up to 99 languages available via Whisper after recording. Summaries are produced with local LLMs through Ollama (for example Llama 3.2, Gemma, or Qwen), with optional remote Ollama server support to run larger models on a separate machine, and both transcripts and summaries can be exported as editable Markdown. A Windows build is in alpha alongside the primary macOS app. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Balto is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); StenoAI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Balto | StenoAI |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Real-time, in-call guidance with dynamic prompts and objection cues | On-device transcription with Parakeet TDT v3 (Apple Silicon) or Whisper models |
| Standout feature | Agent Assist that surfaces knowledge-base answers live | System audio and microphone capture via native Core Audio Tap (no bots) |
| Team usage | Automated quality assurance scoring across 100% of calls | Real-time on-screen speaker labels distinguishing you from others |
| Integrations | Real-time compliance monitoring with audit trails | Local LLM summaries through Ollama, with remote Ollama server support |
| Languages & capture | Automated call summaries and coaching recommendations | 25 European languages live, up to 99 languages via Whisper after recording |
| Best-fit workflow | Integrations with CRMs and phone systems such as Salesforce and RingCentral | Markdown export of transcripts and summaries |
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.
StenoAI
Choose StenoAI if you need capturing and summarizing confidential meetings without sending audio to the cloud — strengths include fully local, bot-free capture with no cloud processing or subscriptions for core use.
Balto
StenoAI
It depends on your workflow. Balto is strong for guiding agents live through objections and compliance requirements, while StenoAI is strong for capturing and summarizing confidential meetings without sending audio to the cloud. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Balto is a free tier with paid upgrades and StenoAI 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.
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