OpenWhispr vs Speechmatics

OpenWhispr is an open-source voice-to-text assistant for dictation, transcription, and notes. Dictation works in apps that accept text, including ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Google Docs, Gmail, Slack, and Teams. It supports more than 100 languages with automatic language detection. For meetings, it can capture computer audio without joining a call as a bot, then create structured notes with decisions and action items. The note taker works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Discord, Webex, and other apps that play computer audio, without plugins or integrations. Audio can be processed on the device with local speech models or through OpenWhispr Cloud, which says it discards audio without retaining it. The company says user content is not used to train AI models. Free includes 2,000 transcription words per week and five meeting-recording hours per month. Pro costs $6.67/user/mo (annual). OpenWhispr runs on iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Speechmatics provides APIs for speech-to-text, voice agents, and text-to-speech, processing recorded files or live audio. Speech-to-text supports more than 55 languages, including conversations that switch languages mid-sentence. The company says real-time transcription can return results in less than one second; speaker diarization and custom vocabulary support speaker identification and specialized terms. Listed uses include healthcare, voice agents, live captioning, contact center analytics, legal transcription, and meeting platforms. Deployment options include SaaS, multi-region cloud, on-premises containers and virtual appliances, on-device, and hybrid cloud with on-premises; availability varies by plan. The service is available through API and on Linux, macOS, Windows, web, and self-hosted platforms. The free plan provides $100 in credits, requires no credit card, and allows two concurrent real-time sessions. Usage-based options include text-to-speech at $0.01 per once and transcription plans priced per hour. Speechmatics states it is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 accredited, GDPR compliant, HIPAA compliant, and SOC 2 Type II certified. It says data is encrypted at rest with AES 256 and in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher.