BetterDictation: A macOS speech-to-text app that uses on-device Whisper to turn spoken words into typed text in any application. Scriberr: Open-source, self-hosted AI audio transcription app that runs Whisper models locally with speaker diarization, summaries, and chat-with-transcript. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist BetterDictation when dictating emails, documents, and notes hands-free across mac apps 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.
A macOS speech-to-text app that uses on-device Whisper to turn spoken words into typed text in any application.
Open-source, self-hosted AI audio transcription app that runs Whisper models locally with speaker diarization, summaries, and chat-with-transcript.
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
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
BetterDictation is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid); Scriberr is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BetterDictation | Scriberr |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | System-wide dictation that inserts text into any macOS application | Local, offline transcription using Whisper models via the WhisperX engine |
| Standout feature | On-device transcription using OpenAI's Whisper on Apple's Neural Engine | Automatic speaker diarization (who said what) |
| Team usage | Offline operation for basic dictation with no cloud round-trips | AI summaries with custom prompts via Ollama or OpenAI-compatible providers |
| Integrations | Support for 100+ languages with automatic punctuation | Chat with your transcripts to ask questions and pull insights |
| Languages & capture | Push-to-talk and toggle-to-talk recording modes | Built-in audio recorder and note-taking on transcripts |
| Best-fit workflow | Optional Pro post-processing: stammer correction and automatic formatting | Folder watcher and API endpoints for automation workflows |
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.
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.
BetterDictation
Scriberr
It depends on your workflow. BetterDictation is strong for dictating emails, documents, and notes hands-free across mac apps, while Scriberr is strong for privacy-conscious teams transcribing meeting and interview recordings on their own infrastructure. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BetterDictation 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.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
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