Descript
5 free alternatives
Best free option:Kdenlive(Strong)License: Open source
Saves $192 USD a year
Transcription
Turn speech in recordings and meetings into searchable text and subtitles.
Paid apps and their free alternatives
Open one to see every alternative, ranked.
Otter.ai
4 free alternatives
Top pick:BuzzLicense: Open source
Saves $100 USD a year
Free transcription tools
Every free tool in this category, by name.
Filter alternatives
5 alternatives
Buzz
Offline audio transcription and translation app built on OpenAI's Whisper, with live recording and subtitle export.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: ActiveMacWhisper
Mac app that transcribes audio and video files on your device with Whisper models, free with a paid Pro upgrade.
License: Free tier- macOS
Status: VerifiedThis replaces Otter.ai
Plover
Open-source stenography engine that turns steno machine or keyboard input into text in any application.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: ActiveThis replaces CATalyst Pro
Whisper
Open-source speech recognition model and command-line tool that transcribes and translates audio on your own machine.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- Command line
Status: Activewhisper.cpp
C and C++ port of OpenAI's Whisper speech recognition model that runs locally on CPUs and GPUs from the command line.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- Command line
Status: Active
Paid apps with no free alternative yet
No free tool ranks Strong for these yet. Each page says what a free version would need.
CATalyst Pro
License: Paid1 partial free option listed