CallBro: Bot-free AI meeting assistant that transcribes calls from system audio and produces structured notes without joining the call. 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. 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 CallBro when transcribing legal client meetings, consultations, and intake calls without a visible recorder matters most, and Handy when privacy-sensitive voice-to-text where audio must stay on-device matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Bot-free AI meeting assistant that transcribes calls from system audio and produces structured notes without joining the call.
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.
CallBro is a desktop AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes meetings in real time directly from your device's system audio and microphone, without sending a separate bot to join the call. Because capture happens locally at the system level, it works with any meeting platform, including Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, as well as in-person conversations, and it remains invisible to other participants. CallBro combines the live transcript with the user's own typed notes to generate structured summaries that highlight key decisions, action items, and next steps, and it includes an AI chat that can answer questions about the meeting or draft follow-ups using the full context of the transcript and notes. The product is offered as a downloadable application for macOS and Windows, with Linux noted as upcoming, and the website lists dedicated use cases for lawyers and students alongside general business meetings. Its bot-free, device-only approach makes it relevant for professionals handling sensitive conversations, such as legal client meetings and consultations, where a visible third-party recorder may be undesirable. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
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
CallBro 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 | CallBro | Handy |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Bot-free capture from system audio and microphone, no participant bot | Push-to-talk and toggle dictation modes with a configurable global keyboard shortcut |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription with speaker-aware formatting | Fully offline, on-device transcription with no cloud uploads |
| Team usage | Structured notes combining the transcript with the user's own notes | Multiple local speech models including Whisper (GPU-accelerated) and Parakeet V3 (CPU, auto language detection) |
| Integrations | In-meeting and post-meeting AI chat for recall and follow-up drafting | Silero Voice Activity Detection to filter silence and process only speech |
| Languages & capture | Works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or in-person meetings | Automatically pastes transcribed text into any active application text field |
| Best-fit workflow | Downloadable apps for macOS and Windows | Cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) built with Tauri |
CallBro
Choose CallBro if you need transcribing legal client meetings, consultations, and intake calls without a visible recorder — strengths include no bot joins the call, which suits sensitive or private meetings.
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.
CallBro
Handy
It depends on your workflow. CallBro is strong for transcribing legal client meetings, consultations, and intake calls without a visible recorder, while Handy is strong for hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
CallBro 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.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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