Braina: Braina is a Windows AI assistant and speech-to-text software that handles voice dictation, voice commands, and transcription of recorded audio and video files including meetings and interviews. Handy: Handy is a free, open-source, cross-platform push-to-talk app that transcribes your speech to text completely offline and pastes it into any text field. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Braina when transcribing recorded meetings and interviews into text or subtitles matters most, and Handy when privacy-sensitive voice-to-text where audio must stay on-device matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
Braina is a Windows AI assistant and speech-to-text software that handles voice dictation, voice commands, and transcription of recorded audio and video files including meetings and interviews.
Handy is a free, open-source, cross-platform push-to-talk app that transcribes your speech to text completely offline and pastes it into any text field.
Braina (short for "Brain Artificial") is a Windows desktop AI assistant and speech-to-text application developed by Brainasoft. For meeting-related work, it transcribes pre-recorded audio and video files (WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4) into text, handling content such as meetings, interviews, lectures, and broadcasts. Transcription runs locally on the user's computer, supports multiple speakers without voice training, and can output plain text, text with timestamps, and subtitle formats (SRT and WebVTT). It also offers live voice dictation into any application across many languages, plus voice commands for controlling the PC. Beyond transcription, Braina provides an interface to local and cloud large language models, note-taking with persistent memory, reminders, and document chat. It runs primarily on Windows, with companion iOS and Android apps that can remotely control a connected PC over Wi-Fi. It is aimed at professionals, students, and researchers who want desktop dictation and offline file transcription rather than an automated bot that joins live meetings.
Best suited for
Handy is a free, open-source desktop application that turns your voice into text completely offline, with no audio ever leaving your computer. You press a configurable keyboard shortcut, speak, and release (push-to-talk), or use a toggle mode to start and stop; Handy transcribes what you said and automatically pastes the result into whatever text field is active. Because it runs entirely on-device, it is built for privacy-conscious users who want dictation without cloud uploads or subscriptions. Under the hood it is built with Tauri (a Rust backend with a React/TypeScript frontend) and supports multiple local speech-recognition models, including OpenAI's Whisper variants with GPU acceleration and the CPU-friendly Parakeet V3 model with automatic language detection. Silero Voice Activity Detection filters out silence so only speech is processed. Handy runs on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows, and Linux, and is released under the MIT license. It positions itself as an accessible, extensible alternative to paid dictation tools, and is best suited for hands-free typing rather than recording multi-party meetings.
Best suited for
Braina is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Handy is open source (open source). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Braina | Handy |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Transcribe recorded audio and video files (WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4) to text | Push-to-talk and toggle dictation modes with a configurable global keyboard shortcut |
| Standout feature | Offline multi-speaker transcription with no voice training required | Fully offline, on-device transcription with no cloud uploads |
| Team usage | Output to plain text, timestamped text, SRT and WebVTT subtitles | Multiple local speech models including Whisper (GPU-accelerated) and Parakeet V3 (CPU, auto language detection) |
| Integrations | Live voice dictation into any application across many languages | Silero Voice Activity Detection to filter silence and process only speech |
| Languages & capture | Voice commands for PC control plus note-taking and reminders | Automatically pastes transcribed text into any active application text field |
| Best-fit workflow | Interface to local and cloud large language models | Cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) built with Tauri |
Braina
Choose Braina if you need transcribing recorded meetings and interviews into text or subtitles — strengths include transcription runs locally on your own computer for privacy.
Handy
Choose Handy if you need hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors — strengths include completely free, open-source (mit) with no subscription or paywall.
Braina
Handy
It depends on your workflow. Braina is strong for transcribing recorded meetings and interviews into text or subtitles, while Handy is strong for hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Braina is a free tier with paid upgrades and Handy is open source. 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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