BeAware Conference Captioning: AI real-time captioning and translation app for live in-person and hybrid events, with on-screen overlays and multilingual attendee access. ownscribe: Local-first command-line tool that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings on macOS entirely on-device, with natural-language search across notes. 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 BeAware Conference Captioning when providing accessible live captions for deaf and hard-of-hearing conference attendees matters most, and ownscribe when keeping fully on-device transcripts and summaries for privacy-sensitive discussions matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
AI real-time captioning and translation app for live in-person and hybrid events, with on-screen overlays and multilingual attendee access.
Local-first command-line tool that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings on macOS entirely on-device, with natural-language search across notes.
BeAware Conference Captioning is an AI-powered real-time transcription and translation tool designed for live in-person, seminar, and hybrid event settings, with a focus on accessibility for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and non-native-language attendees. Built by BeAware (founded by Saamer Mansoor), the product transcribes a speaker in real time and can translate the output into more than 25 languages, with simultaneous translation into several languages at once. Attendees can follow captions on event screens or join on their own devices via a QR code or URL without downloading an app, and the captioning view can be customized for overlay design, text size, and background color to suit different venues and broadcast setups. The system integrates with production tooling such as Bitfocus Companion and supports remote control over a local network, making it suitable for AV-driven stage productions. It also generates AI summaries and follow-up questions based on the live talk and provides offline access to transcripts and translations after the event. A companion app is available on Apple platforms and is actively maintained, with the latest version released in mid-2026, confirming the product is currently operating. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
ownscribe is a local-first meeting transcription and summarization command-line tool that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings entirely on the user's own machine without sending data to external servers. It is MIT-licensed and actively maintained, with v0.12.0 released in June 2026, and is written primarily in Python with a Swift component for system audio capture. On macOS 14.2 and later it captures system audio through Core Audio, and it transcribes with WhisperX to produce word-level timestamps, with optional speaker diarization via PyAnnote. For summaries it ships with a built-in local model (Phi-4-mini) and can also connect to Ollama or OpenAI-compatible backends, offering multiple templates tailored to meetings, lectures, and brief summaries. A standout feature is its natural-language search: the ask command lets users query across their stored meeting notes to retrieve relevant information. Quality-of-life features include silence-based auto-stop so recordings end cleanly when a meeting goes quiet. Because it is a CLI distributed through GitHub and runs entirely on local hardware, ownscribe targets developers and privacy-focused users who prefer scriptable, terminal-driven workflows over a graphical meeting notetaker while keeping all audio and transcripts on-device. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
BeAware Conference Captioning is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); ownscribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BeAware Conference Captioning | ownscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Real-time AI transcription with translation into 25+ languages | Local-first recording, transcription, and summarization via CLI |
| Standout feature | Simultaneous translation into multiple languages within seconds | System audio capture on macOS 14.2+ through Core Audio |
| Team usage | Customizable on-screen caption overlays (design, text size, background) | WhisperX transcription with word-level timestamps |
| Integrations | Attendee access via QR code or URL with no app download required | Optional speaker diarization via PyAnnote |
| Languages & capture | Integration with Bitfocus Companion and local-network remote control | Local summarization with a built-in Phi-4-mini model, plus Ollama and OpenAI-compatible backends |
| Best-fit workflow | AI-generated summaries and follow-up questions plus offline transcript access | Natural-language search across meeting notes with the ask command |
BeAware Conference Captioning
Choose BeAware Conference Captioning if you need providing accessible live captions for deaf and hard-of-hearing conference attendees — strengths include purpose-built for live in-person and hybrid stage events and av workflows.
ownscribe
Choose ownscribe if you need developers capturing and summarizing meetings from the terminal on a mac — strengths include runs entirely on-device with no data sent to external servers.
BeAware Conference Captioning
ownscribe
It depends on your workflow. BeAware Conference Captioning is strong for providing accessible live captions for deaf and hard-of-hearing conference attendees, while ownscribe is strong for developers capturing and summarizing meetings from the terminal on a mac. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BeAware Conference Captioning is a free tier with paid upgrades and ownscribe 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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