BetterDictation: A macOS speech-to-text app that uses on-device Whisper to turn spoken words into typed text in any application. WhisperLiveKit: Open-source, self-hosted real-time speech-to-text and speaker diarization toolkit with a FastAPI server and web interface, suitable for meeting transcription. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist BetterDictation when dictating emails, documents, and notes hands-free across mac apps matters most, and WhisperLiveKit when building privacy-first transcription into custom applications via compatible apis matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
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 real-time speech-to-text and speaker diarization toolkit with a FastAPI server and web interface, suitable for meeting transcription.
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
WhisperLiveKit is an open-source, self-hosted toolkit for ultra-low-latency real-time speech-to-text and speaker diarization. Rather than naively running Whisper on each audio chunk, it uses state-of-the-art simultaneous-speech research for intelligent buffering and incremental processing, which preserves transcription quality while streaming results with minimal latency. The project ships a complete backend built on FastAPI with WebSocket support, an OpenAI-compatible REST API, a Deepgram-compatible WebSocket protocol, and a simple, customizable HTML and JavaScript web interface that captures microphone audio and streams it to the server. It supports multiple ASR backends including Whisper variants, Voxtral, and Qwen3-ASR, covers 200+ languages with translation, and includes real-time speaker diarization and voice activity detection to reduce processing overhead. It can handle multiple concurrent users on a single backend and is distributed via PyPI with Docker images for both GPU and CPU. Licensed under Apache 2.0 and actively maintained into 2026, the project explicitly lists meeting transcription, accessibility tooling, and podcast or call transcription with speaker identification among its intended use cases, making it a practical building block for private, on-premise meeting transcription pipelines. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
BetterDictation is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid); WhisperLiveKit is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BetterDictation | WhisperLiveKit |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | System-wide dictation that inserts text into any macOS application | Real-time streaming speech-to-text with low latency over WebSocket |
| Standout feature | On-device transcription using OpenAI's Whisper on Apple's Neural Engine | Real-time speaker diarization to distinguish multiple speakers |
| Team usage | Offline operation for basic dictation with no cloud round-trips | FastAPI backend with OpenAI-compatible REST API and Deepgram-compatible WebSocket protocol |
| Integrations | Support for 100+ languages with automatic punctuation | Multiple ASR backends (Whisper variants, Voxtral, Qwen3-ASR) and 200+ language support with translation |
| Languages & capture | Push-to-talk and toggle-to-talk recording modes | Included customizable HTML/JavaScript web interface and Docker images (GPU and CPU) |
| Best-fit workflow | Optional Pro post-processing: stammer correction and automatic formatting | Voice activity detection and multi-user support on a single backend |
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.
WhisperLiveKit
Choose WhisperLiveKit if you need self-hosted real-time meeting transcription with speaker labels — strengths include fully open source (apache 2.0) and self-hostable for private, on-premise transcription.
BetterDictation
WhisperLiveKit
It depends on your workflow. BetterDictation is strong for dictating emails, documents, and notes hands-free across mac apps, while WhisperLiveKit is strong for self-hosted real-time meeting transcription with speaker labels. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BetterDictation is a free tier with paid upgrades and WhisperLiveKit 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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