BetterDictation: A macOS speech-to-text app that uses on-device Whisper to turn spoken words into typed text in any application. Felo Subtitles: A browser extension and companion app that adds real-time transcription and translated live subtitles to online meetings and live streams without joining as a bot. 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 BetterDictation when dictating emails, documents, and notes hands-free across mac apps matters most, and Felo Subtitles when generating live bilingual subtitles and downloadable transcripts for youtube live and other streams matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
A macOS speech-to-text app that uses on-device Whisper to turn spoken words into typed text in any application.
A browser extension and companion app that adds real-time transcription and translated live subtitles to online meetings and live streams without joining as a bot.
BetterDictation is a system-wide dictation tool for macOS that converts speech into typed text inside any application. Users trigger it with a keyboard shortcut (Option+Space) and can choose push-to-talk or toggle-to-talk modes; the transcribed text is then inserted directly where the cursor sits. It runs OpenAI's Whisper model locally on Apple's Neural Engine, so basic transcription works fully offline and, per the vendor, no audio recordings or transcripts are stored. It supports 100+ languages and applies automatic punctuation. The app requires Apple Silicon (M1 or newer); Intel Macs are not supported. An optional Pro add-on adds stammer correction, automatic formatting, and post-processing of dictations. It is aimed at people who write or capture text frequently, such as founders, engineers, and writers, who want to dictate emails, documents, notes, and messages rather than type them. Because it works across all apps, it can be used to capture spoken notes alongside meetings, though it is a general dictation utility rather than a dedicated meeting-recording assistant.
Best suited for
Felo Subtitles, made by Felo Inc. (Sparticle), is a real-time transcription and translation tool delivered as a Chrome/Edge browser extension plus companion desktop apps for Windows and macOS. It listens to meeting and video audio, recognizes speech, and overlays live captions with instant translation into other languages, so participants can follow conversations across language barriers. The browser extension captions web-based audio such as Google Meet (web), YouTube Live, Twitch, and Facebook Live, while the separate Felo desktop app extends coverage to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and Tencent Meeting without a bot joining the call. It recognizes speech in roughly 23 languages and translates into about 20 target languages. Captured sessions can be saved as transcripts and exported as text, and the tool offers AI summaries using templates for contexts like sales, learning, and one-on-ones. Custom speech and translation dictionaries let teams add industry terminology. It is aimed at IT, research, HR, legal, education, and video-creator users needing multilingual meeting communication.
Best suited for
BetterDictation is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid); Felo Subtitles is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BetterDictation | Felo Subtitles |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | System-wide dictation that inserts text into any macOS application | Real-time live transcription with subtitles overlaid on meetings and video streams |
| Standout feature | On-device transcription using OpenAI's Whisper on Apple's Neural Engine | Instant translation of captions across roughly 20 target languages (speech recognition in ~23 languages) |
| Team usage | Offline operation for basic dictation with no cloud round-trips | No-bot capture: transcribes audio locally/in-browser without joining the meeting as a participant |
| Integrations | Support for 100+ languages with automatic punctuation | Transcript saving and export to text documents |
| Languages & capture | Push-to-talk and toggle-to-talk recording modes | AI-generated meeting summaries using templates (sales, learning, one-on-one) |
| Best-fit workflow | Optional Pro post-processing: stammer correction and automatic formatting | Custom speech and translation dictionaries for industry-specific terminology |
BetterDictation
Choose BetterDictation if you need dictating emails, documents, and notes hands-free across mac apps — strengths include runs locally on-device for privacy; vendor states no audio or transcripts are stored.
Felo Subtitles
Choose Felo Subtitles if you need following and translating multilingual video meetings on zoom, google meet, teams, or webex in real time — strengths include captures meetings without adding a visible bot participant, which is less intrusive than bot-based notetakers.
BetterDictation
Felo Subtitles
It depends on your workflow. BetterDictation is strong for dictating emails, documents, and notes hands-free across mac apps, while Felo Subtitles is strong for following and translating multilingual video meetings on zoom, google meet, teams, or webex in real time. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BetterDictation is a free tier with paid upgrades and Felo Subtitles 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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