BuildBetter: A no-bot meeting recorder (BB Recorder) that captures and processes calls locally on Mac, with optional cloud upload for team collaboration. Sotto: Sotto is a native macOS voice-to-text dictation app that turns speech into text system-wide using local AI transcription models. 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 BuildBetter when product teams aggregating customer-call insights into jira, linear, or notion matters most, and Sotto when privacy-first transcription of imported audio recordings on-device matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
A no-bot meeting recorder (BB Recorder) that captures and processes calls locally on Mac, with optional cloud upload for team collaboration.
Sotto is a native macOS voice-to-text dictation app that turns speech into text system-wide using local AI transcription models.
BuildBetter offers BB Recorder, a no-bot meeting recorder that captures meetings by recording system audio directly on the device rather than sending a bot into the call. On macOS it can run as a menu-bar (notch-style) recorder, a floating overlay, or a full-window app, and it includes smart auto-detection that begins recording when it detects a call. Recording, transcription, summarization, and even a live AI assistant for asking questions during a call can run locally using on-device models, so notes and transcripts can stay on the user's machine. Users can optionally upload recordings to BuildBetter's cloud for enhanced transcripts with speaker diarization, AI-powered summaries, and team collaboration. The broader BuildBetter platform is oriented toward product teams and customer-facing roles, helping aggregate insights across many calls and route them into tools such as Jira, Linear, and Notion. BB Recorder is available on macOS as well as iOS and Android. It is aimed at product, sales, customer success, and support teams that want privacy-conscious local capture with the option to escalate to cloud-based team features. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Sotto is a native Swift dictation app for macOS 13 and later that converts speech to text in real time. It works as a system-wide push-to-talk layer: the user holds a hotkey, speaks, and Sotto inserts clean text into whatever app is in focus, from Slack and Notion to Xcode and email fields. Audio is transcribed by local engines, including OpenAI Whisper models (Tiny through Large V3 Turbo and Distil Large V3) and NVIDIA Parakeet v2/v3, so by default recordings never leave the Mac; users can optionally connect cloud providers such as OpenAI or Groq with their own API keys for added accuracy. Beyond live dictation, it can import and re-transcribe audio files, supports 90+ languages, keeps a searchable history of recordings with timestamps, and offers a custom vocabulary dictionary. One-click AI processing can rewrite, summarize, translate, or reformat dictated text. It is aimed at developers, writers, and privacy-conscious professionals who want fast, local voice input rather than a cloud meeting-bot service.
Best suited for
BuildBetter is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Sotto is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BuildBetter | Sotto |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | No-bot recording that captures system audio locally | System-wide push-to-talk dictation that inserts text into any app |
| Standout feature | macOS recorder with menu-bar, floating overlay, and full-window modes | Local on-device transcription via Whisper and NVIDIA Parakeet models |
| Team usage | Smart auto-detection that starts recording when a call is detected | Audio file import and re-transcription with searchable, timestamped history |
| Integrations | Local transcription, summarization, and a live AI assistant | Support for 90+ languages with per-language hotkeys |
| Languages & capture | Optional cloud upload for speaker diarization and team collaboration | One-click AI processing to summarize, translate, or rewrite dictated text |
| Best-fit workflow | Routes insights into tools like Jira, Linear, and Notion | Optional cloud transcription via user-supplied OpenAI or Groq API keys |
BuildBetter
Choose BuildBetter if you need product teams aggregating customer-call insights into jira, linear, or notion — strengths include local processing keeps recordings and notes on the device by default.
Sotto
Choose Sotto if you need hands-free dictation of emails, messages, and documents across mac apps — strengths include local processing keeps audio on-device for strong privacy.
BuildBetter
Sotto
It depends on your workflow. BuildBetter is strong for product teams aggregating customer-call insights into jira, linear, or notion, while Sotto is strong for hands-free dictation of emails, messages, and documents across mac apps. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BuildBetter is a free tier with paid upgrades and Sotto is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Yes. Many teams run more than one meeting assistant when the workflows are complementary.
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