Basil AI: On-device AI note taker for Apple devices that transcribes and summarizes meetings entirely offline, with no cloud upload. Scriberr: Open-source, self-hosted AI audio transcription app that runs Whisper models locally with speaker diarization, summaries, and chat-with-transcript. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Basil AI when transcribing confidential client meetings where data must stay on-device matters most, and Scriberr when researchers and journalists generating diarized transcripts of recorded conversations matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
On-device AI note taker for Apple devices that transcribes and summarizes meetings entirely offline, with no cloud upload.
Open-source, self-hosted AI audio transcription app that runs Whisper models locally with speaker diarization, summaries, and chat-with-transcript.
Basil AI (Basil Private AI Note Taker) is a privacy-first AI transcription and note-taking application that processes all audio locally on Apple devices using Apple's on-device speech and machine-learning frameworks. Because recordings, transcripts, and summaries never leave the device and no cloud servers are involved, Basil is positioned for privacy-conscious professionals handling sensitive conversations, including lawyers conducting client meetings and other client-services practitioners where confidentiality matters. The app records live meetings and can also process uploaded audio and DRM-free video files, then generates transcripts with speaker diarization plus AI summaries and key takeaways. It supports a large set of languages and can work offline, including in airplane mode. Outputs can be exported to formats such as text, PDF, CSV, and JSON, and integrated with Apple's ecosystem (Apple Notes, iCloud Drive, Files). Basil is distributed on the Apple App Store by TONSOR LLC and is available as a universal app across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision, with recent iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS versions required. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Scriberr is an open-source, self-hosted audio transcription application aimed at people who want to keep recordings and transcripts on their own hardware. It uses the open-source Whisper family of models (via the WhisperX engine) to transcribe audio and video files entirely offline, with no requirement to send data to a cloud provider. The project is distributed under the MIT license and is packaged as a single binary, with a Go backend and a Svelte frontend compiled into the binary, while Python handles the underlying AI transcription. Beyond raw transcription, Scriberr can automatically detect and label different speakers (diarization), generate summaries using custom prompts, and let users chat with a transcript by connecting to Ollama or OpenAI-compatible providers. It includes a transcript reader with playback follow-along and seek-from-text, a built-in audio recorder, note-taking, and a folder watcher plus API endpoints for automation and integration with tools like n8n. The maintainer publicly noted development is paused but not abandoned, and community contributions are welcome; the most recent release at the time of review was v1.2.0 in December 2025. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Basil AI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Scriberr is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Basil AI | Scriberr |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | 100% on-device transcription with no cloud upload | Local, offline transcription using Whisper models via the WhisperX engine |
| Standout feature | Speaker diarization to separate participants automatically | Automatic speaker diarization (who said what) |
| Team usage | AI-generated summaries, minutes, and key takeaways | AI summaries with custom prompts via Ollama or OpenAI-compatible providers |
| Integrations | Support for recording live meetings and uploading audio/video files | Chat with your transcripts to ask questions and pull insights |
| Languages & capture | Multi-language support and offline (airplane-mode) operation | Built-in audio recorder and note-taking on transcripts |
| Best-fit workflow | Export to text, PDF, CSV, and JSON, plus Apple Notes/iCloud/Files | Folder watcher and API endpoints for automation workflows |
Basil AI
Choose Basil AI if you need transcribing confidential client meetings where data must stay on-device — strengths include strong privacy posture since data never leaves the device.
Scriberr
Choose Scriberr if you need privacy-conscious teams transcribing meeting and interview recordings on their own infrastructure — strengths include fully self-hosted and offline, keeping audio and transcripts on your own hardware.
Basil AI
Scriberr
It depends on your workflow. Basil AI is strong for transcribing confidential client meetings where data must stay on-device, while Scriberr is strong for privacy-conscious teams transcribing meeting and interview recordings on their own infrastructure. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Basil AI is a free tier with paid upgrades and Scriberr 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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