Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. 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. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Cleft Notes when capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice 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.
AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes.
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.
Cleft Notes is an AI-powered voice-note app that captures spoken thoughts, meeting recaps, and other audio and converts them into structured, readable notes. Users record by speaking, and the app transcribes the audio and reshapes it into organized output, offering formats such as bulleted and headed notes, flowing paragraphs without bullets, or a cleaned-up verbatim transcript. It performs transcription on-device, which allows it to work offline and supports a privacy-focused approach, with encrypted cloud sync and local file storage that users control. Cleft integrates with a range of productivity tools, including Notion, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Todoist, and automation via Zapier, so notes can flow into existing workflows. The app is available across the Apple ecosystem, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay, making it convenient to capture thoughts hands-free. While it is broadly a voice-to-notes tool, it is commonly used to capture meeting summaries and post-meeting recaps, and it is aimed at professionals and individuals who think out loud and want spoken input turned into well-formatted notes rather than raw recordings. 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
Cleft Notes 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 | Cleft Notes | Handy |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | On-device transcription that works offline | Push-to-talk and toggle dictation modes with a configurable global keyboard shortcut |
| Standout feature | Multiple output formats: organized, no-bullets, or verbatim | Fully offline, on-device transcription with no cloud uploads |
| Team usage | Encrypted cloud sync with user-controlled local storage | Multiple local speech models including Whisper (GPU-accelerated) and Parakeet V3 (CPU, auto language detection) |
| Integrations | Integrations with Notion, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Todoist, and Zapier | Silero Voice Activity Detection to filter silence and process only speech |
| Languages & capture | Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay | Automatically pastes transcribed text into any active application text field |
| Best-fit workflow | Hands-free voice capture of thoughts and meeting recaps | Cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) built with Tauri |
Cleft Notes
Choose Cleft Notes if you need capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice — strengths include on-device transcription enables offline use and 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.
Cleft Notes
Handy
It depends on your workflow. Cleft Notes is strong for capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice, while Handy is strong for hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Cleft Notes 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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