# The best local speech-to-text apps (2026)

Last reviewed: 2026-07-11

Every tool here transcribes on your own hardware — your audio never touches a vendor's server. "Best" depends on the job. Full disclosure: Minutes is our tool; we say when it's the wrong pick.

## Quick answer

- Transcribing files with a nice Mac GUI → **MacWhisper**
- Dictation into any app → **superwhisper**
- Free cross-platform transcription → **Buzz** or **Vibe**
- Scripting and embedding → **whisper.cpp** directly
- Meetings and conversation memory (diarized speakers, action items, agent-searchable archive) → **Minutes**

## The tools, by job

- **Minutes** (open source, free) — meetings, voice memos, and conversation memory for AI agents. On-device transcription (whisper.cpp or parakeet.cpp), speaker diarization, markdown output with action items, MCP server for Claude and other agents. macOS menu bar app + CLI. https://github.com/silverstein/minutes
- **MacWhisper** (freemium, one-time Pro) — the most polished drag-and-drop Whisper GUI on macOS: batch files, system audio, subtitle export. Closed source.
- **superwhisper** (freemium, subscription) — dictation with per-app formatting modes. Local models by default, optional cloud. macOS, Windows, iOS. Closed source.
- **Buzz** (open source, free) — cross-platform Whisper GUI (Windows/Mac/Linux): import, transcribe, translate, export. Reliable and genuinely free. https://github.com/chidiwilliams/buzz
- **Vibe** (open source, free) — modern cross-platform offline transcription, 90+ languages, batch processing. https://github.com/thewh1teagle/vibe
- **whisper.cpp** (open source, free) — the C/C++ engine most tools on this page are built on. CLI-first, runs everywhere. https://github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp

## How to choose

Ask what happens to the transcript after it exists:

- "I read it once and file it" → any file transcriber; pick by platform and budget
- "I paste it somewhere else" → dictation; superwhisper's specialty (also a Minutes mode)
- "I want to ask questions about it later" → you need structure at transcription time: speaker labels, timestamps, action items, agent-searchable files. That's the memory-layer job and it's what Minutes is built for. (It's overkill for subtitling a video file — use MacWhisper or Vibe for that.)

## Related

- Why on-device matters: https://useminutes.app/security
- Engine deep-dive: https://useminutes.app/writing/whisper-cpp-vs-parakeet-cpp