Alternatives to Aiko

A Mac, iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro app that transcribes audio on-device with OpenAI's Whisper. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

  • Aiko

    A Mac, iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro app that transcribes audio on-device with OpenAI's Whisper.

    PaidProprietarymacOSiOS

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Aiko.

  • MacWhisper

    A Mac app that transcribes audio and video files to text on your own machine.

    FreemiumProprietarymacOS

    MacWhisper also transcribes locally but runs only on macOS, uses a freemium model, and adds a choice of Whisper, Qwen and Parakeet models plus speaker recognition.

  • Buzz

    Turn speech recordings into text with a desktop transcription app.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Buzz is a free MIT-licensed desktop transcription app for Windows, macOS and Linux, with microphone transcription and subtitle exports, but it has no iPhone or iPad version.

  • Vibe

    Transcribe audio and video files on your own computer.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Vibe transcribes files locally on Windows, macOS and Linux for free under MIT, adds batch jobs and subtitle formats, and its optional cloud summarization sends requests to an external provider.

  • noScribe

    Transcribes recorded audio to text on your own computer, with speaker separation.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    noScribe is free GPL-3.0 software for Windows, macOS and Linux that adds local speaker separation, though transcription is slow without a capable GPU and there is no mobile app.

  • whisper.cpp

    C/C++ port of OpenAI's Whisper for fast offline speech-to-text on your own hardware.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    whisper.cpp is a free MIT-licensed command-line port of Whisper for Windows, macOS and Linux, with no graphical interface and models downloaded separately.

  • Whisper

    An open-source speech recognition model from OpenAI for transcribing and translating audio on your own machine.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    Whisper is OpenAI's free open-source model run through the command line or Python, so moving means losing a graphical app and managing models on your own machine.

  • aTrain

    Transcribe recorded interviews on your own computer.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsLinux

    aTrain is a free AGPL-3.0 interview transcription tool for Windows and Linux with local speaker detection, but it does not run on Mac or iPhone.

Also worth comparing

These listings name Aiko as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • Voicenotes

    An AI notetaker that records meetings and voice notes, then produces summaries and action items.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOSAndroidiOSWeb

    Aiko transcribes on-device with Whisper on Mac, iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro for a single purchase, keeping audio off the cloud but offering no summaries.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.