BB Recorder: A 100% local, no-bot meeting recorder for Mac and iOS that records, transcribes, and summarizes entirely on-device, built by the BuildBetter team. Way With Words: Way With Words is a transcription and captioning service that converts audio and video recordings, including meetings and interviews, into accurate text using human transcribers and automatic speech recognition. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist BB Recorder when regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud matters most, and Way With Words when producing accessible captions and subtitles for recorded video content matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
A 100% local, no-bot meeting recorder for Mac and iOS that records, transcribes, and summarizes entirely on-device, built by the BuildBetter team.
Way With Words is a transcription and captioning service that converts audio and video recordings, including meetings and interviews, into accurate text using human transcribers and automatic speech recognition.
BB Recorder is a local-first meeting recorder built by the team behind BuildBetter, designed for people who want meeting capture without any data leaving their device. Rather than dropping a bot into a video call, BB Recorder captures the computer's system audio directly, links to the user's calendar, and turns rough conversation audio into clean transcripts and summaries. Its defining characteristic is that recording, transcription, summarization, and even live AI chat about the meeting can all run locally using on-device models, so there is no server holding the audio or transcripts. The company frames this as making a data breach architecturally impossible because there is no cloud store to compromise, and it points to SOC 2 and HIPAA considerations along with an AI transparency policy. BB Recorder is positioned as a genuinely free, unlimited option for Mac, with no trial tiers or required registration when using local models, and a companion iOS app extends capture to the iPhone. It is aimed at privacy-sensitive professionals, regulated teams, and anyone who wants automatic meeting notes without a visible bot or a cloud transcription pipeline. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Way With Words is an audio-to-text services company, founded in 2002 and registered in the UK and South Africa, that turns recordings into text. Rather than joining calls as a bot, it works from files: users upload audio or video through a secure account portal (supporting formats such as MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV, and M4A, up to 8GB per file) and receive transcripts back as DOCX, with PDF and RTF available on request. Its core offering is human transcription, including verbatim, intelligent verbatim, and time-coded transcripts for multi-speaker interviews, focus groups, corporate meetings, hearings, and media. It also provides automatic (ASR) transcription in 50+ languages, video captioning and subtitles, machine-transcript polishing, and custom speech datasets for AI/ASR training. Turnaround is offered in tiers from express through to roughly eight days, with human quality checks emphasized for complex audio. It targets research and academia, legal and compliance, media production, education, corporate teams, public sector and NGOs, and AI developers needing dependable, confidential text from audio.
Best suited for
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Way With Words is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BB Recorder | Way With Words |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | No-bot capture of system audio directly on the device | Human transcription with verbatim, intelligent verbatim, and time-coded options |
| Standout feature | Fully on-device recording, transcription, and summarization | Automatic (ASR) speech-to-text transcription in 50+ languages |
| Team usage | Local AI chat to ask questions about a captured meeting | Video captioning and subtitles for accessibility and broadcast |
| Integrations | Calendar linking to associate recordings with scheduled meetings | Secure account portal for audio/video upload (up to 8GB per file, batch uploads) |
| Languages & capture | Available for macOS and iOS | Multiple turnaround tiers from express to several days |
| Best-fit workflow | Built by the BuildBetter team with an AI transparency policy | Custom speech datasets for AI and ASR training programs |
BB Recorder
Choose BB Recorder if you need regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud — strengths include local-only processing keeps meeting audio and transcripts off external servers.
Way With Words
Choose Way With Words if you need transcribing recorded corporate meetings, interviews, and focus groups into searchable text — strengths include human-reviewed transcripts suited to complex, multi-speaker audio like meetings and focus groups.
BB Recorder
Way With Words
It depends on your workflow. BB Recorder is strong for regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud, while Way With Words is strong for transcribing recorded corporate meetings, interviews, and focus groups into searchable text. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades and Way With Words is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
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