BarRaiser: AI interview intelligence platform that records interviews and coaches interviewers for better hiring. 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. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist BarRaiser when hiring teams running structured, repeatable interview processes matters most, and Handy when privacy-sensitive voice-to-text where audio must stay on-device matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
AI interview intelligence platform that records interviews and coaches interviewers for better hiring.
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.
BarRaiser is an AI interview intelligence platform that records and transcribes job interviews and analyzes them to support structured, more consistent hiring. During interviews, an AI copilot can provide real-time guidance and suggested questions, and the platform automates interview note-taking so interviewers can focus on the candidate. After the conversation, BarRaiser generates structured feedback that can be filled into applicant tracking systems, and it offers interviewer coaching and bias-reduction features that use interview data to help hiring managers improve their interviewing skills over time. The platform integrates with many applicant tracking systems so it fits into existing recruiting workflows. BarRaiser is built for recruiters, hiring managers, interview coordinators, and HR leaders at organizations that want to standardize interviews and raise interview quality. It is actively operating in 2025 and 2026, serving hundreds of customers worldwide, and combines self-service software with optional access to expert interviewers, making it a vertical tool focused specifically on the hiring conversation. 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
BarRaiser 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 | BarRaiser | Handy |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Recording and transcription of interviews with audio and video | Push-to-talk and toggle dictation modes with a configurable global keyboard shortcut |
| Standout feature | AI interview copilot with real-time guidance and questions | Fully offline, on-device transcription with no cloud uploads |
| Team usage | Automated interview notes and structured feedback into the ATS | Multiple local speech models including Whisper (GPU-accelerated) and Parakeet V3 (CPU, auto language detection) |
| Integrations | Interviewer coaching and bias-reduction tooling | Silero Voice Activity Detection to filter silence and process only speech |
| Languages & capture | Integrations with many applicant tracking systems | Automatically pastes transcribed text into any active application text field |
| Best-fit workflow | Recording and transcription of interviews with audio and video | Cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) built with Tauri |
BarRaiser
Choose BarRaiser if you need hiring teams running structured, repeatable interview processes — strengths include combines interview capture with interviewer coaching.
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.
BarRaiser
Handy
It depends on your workflow. BarRaiser is strong for hiring teams running structured, repeatable interview processes, while Handy is strong for hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BarRaiser 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.
Often yes: teams combine tools when one handles capture and another handles analysis.
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