whisper.cpp works well on Mac and runs locally, though fine-tuning vocabulary is desired
noScribe is a good FOSS option
MacWhisper is a highly effective macOS desktop app that processes local files and remote URLs, exporting to various formats
whisperfile is suitable for batch transcription and can run on an M4 mini with an HTTP API
carelesswhisper.app is a local, whisper.cpp wrapper that offers fast transcription for longer audio, noise profiling, and one-time payment, working well on M1
Faster-Whisper-XXL standalone on Windows offers fantastic accuracy due to vocal extraction preprocessing
VoiceInk is an open-source solution that runs a small local model with optional remote/local LLM enhancements
Vibe is an open-source alternative to SuperWhisper
Cloud options:
OpenAI speech-to-text and AssemblyAI are considered high quality, with AssemblyAI being cheap and having robust SDK support
TurboScribe offers a generous free tier for web-based transcription
Hosting OpenAI Whisper large v3 on Modal.com provides a fast, cheap solution with no rate limits
AssemblyAI's Universal ASR has impressive WER, future textual prompting, and PII redaction capabilities
borgcloud.org offers competitive pricing and fast real-time transcription
GCP's Chirp & chirp2 are used for large-scale meeting minute transcription
Microsoft Word 365 (online) Transcribe is a surprisingly effective out-of-the-box solution for English, offering labeled speakers and timestamps
Uploading audio to YouTube can be a 'cheap hack' for transcription
looks like there isn't much to take away from this, here's a few bullet points:
Apple Intelligence models primarily run on-device, potentially reducing app bundle sizes and the need for trivial API calls.
Apple's new containerization framework is based on virtual machines (VMs) and not a true 'native' kernel-level integration like WSL1.
Spotlight on macOS is widely perceived as slow, unreliable, and in significant need of improvement for basic search functionalities.
iPadOS and macOS are converging in terms of user experience and features (e.g., windowing), but a complete merger is unlikely due to Apple's business model, particularly App Store control and sales strategies.
The new 'Liquid Glass' UI design evokes older aesthetics like Windows Aero and earlier Aqua/skeuomorphism, indicating a shift away from flat design.
App Store control is something that EU is challenging, including on iPads. So while there’s no macOS APIs on ipadOS, I can totally see 3rd party solutions running macOS apps (and Linux or Windows, too) in a VM and outputting the result as now regular iPad windowed apps.
here's the list of alternatives, extracted from this thread:
Instapaper is a good alternative.
Readwise Reader is a strong paid alternative, especially for heavy users and those wanting integration with tools like Obsidian.
Raindrop.io is a useful alternative, including its free tier and permanent copy feature.
Matter is another alternative that has been tried.
Self-hosted options like Wallabag, Linkding, Linkwarden, Karakeep, Omnivore, and Shiori exist.
Obsidian Web Clipper can save articles as markdown locally.
Other less common or custom solutions include Feedly, Histre, Walden Pond (defunct print service), Lighthouse, Full Sort, DoubleMemory (Apple ecosystem), Ulry.app, WordPress plugins, simple text files/spreadsheets, or custom scripts.
https://extraakt.com/extraakts/openai-s-gpt-5-performance-co...