Whisperstream: Whisperstream is a privacy-focused Windows dictation app that turns speech into text entirely on-device, with no cloud upload. aTrain: Open-source offline transcription tool from the University of Graz that turns recorded meetings and interviews into text using Whisper and speaker detection. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Whisperstream when dictating emails, messages, and documents faster than typing matters most, and aTrain when universities and public bodies needing gdpr-friendly local transcription matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
Whisperstream is a privacy-focused Windows dictation app that turns speech into text entirely on-device, with no cloud upload.
Open-source offline transcription tool from the University of Graz that turns recorded meetings and interviews into text using Whisper and speaker detection.
Whisperstream is a downloadable Windows desktop application from Lanreal Technologies Inc. that converts speech to text using push-to-talk dictation. Transcription runs entirely locally on the user's PC via the NVIDIA Parakeet model, so audio is never uploaded to the cloud and no account is tied to the user's voice. It works across any application without add-ins or setup, inserting dictated text directly into tools such as Outlook, Gmail, Slack, VS Code, browsers, and Claude Code. Beyond live dictation, it can import and transcribe existing audio recordings, and it keeps a searchable transcript history with audio replay, encrypted on the device. Additional features include AI cleanup that tidies spoken input, a custom vocabulary for names, jargon, and acronyms, per-app custom AI prompts, support for 25 languages, global keyboard shortcuts, and full offline operation. It requires Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) with at least 8GB RAM. It targets professionals and privacy-conscious knowledge workers who want fast, local voice input rather than typing.
Best suited for
aTrain is a free, open-source desktop application for offline speech transcription, developed by researchers at the Business Analytics and Data Science Center of the University of Graz in Austria. It provides a graphical interface around OpenAI's Whisper model (via the faster-whisper implementation) so users with no programming experience can transcribe recorded meetings, interviews, lectures, and other audio. Because all processing happens locally on the user's own computer, no audio or text is uploaded to any server, which makes it well suited to privacy-sensitive and GDPR-conscious environments such as universities, public institutions, and research teams. aTrain supports a wide range of languages and adds speaker detection through pyannote.audio so contributions from different participants can be separated. Transcripts can be exported in formats compatible with qualitative-analysis software such as MAXQDA, ATLAS.ti, and NVivo. It runs on Windows (including a Microsoft Store distribution) with GPU acceleration on NVIDIA hardware, and is distributed under the AGPL-3.0 license. It is best for researchers, academics, and organizations that need accurate, local, no-cloud transcription of recorded conversations. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Whisperstream is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid); aTrain is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Whisperstream | aTrain |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Local, on-device speech-to-text using the NVIDIA Parakeet model (no cloud upload) | Offline, fully local transcription with no data leaving the device |
| Standout feature | Push-to-talk dictation that inserts text into any application | Built on OpenAI Whisper via the faster-whisper engine |
| Team usage | Audio file import for transcribing existing recordings | Speaker detection/diarization using pyannote.audio |
| Integrations | Searchable, encrypted transcript history with audio replay | Exports compatible with MAXQDA, ATLAS.ti, and NVivo |
| Languages & capture | AI cleanup plus per-app custom AI prompts and custom vocabulary | Graphical interface requiring no programming skills |
| Best-fit workflow | 25-language support with full offline operation | NVIDIA GPU acceleration support |
Whisperstream
Choose Whisperstream if you need dictating emails, messages, and documents faster than typing — strengths include fully local processing keeps audio private and works offline.
aTrain
Choose aTrain if you need researchers transcribing recorded interviews for qualitative analysis — strengths include free and open source under agpl-3.0.
Whisperstream
aTrain
It depends on your workflow. Whisperstream is strong for dictating emails, messages, and documents faster than typing, while aTrain is strong for researchers transcribing recorded interviews for qualitative analysis. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Whisperstream is a free tier with paid upgrades and aTrain is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
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