MacWhisper is a popular app that transcribes audio locally with OpenAI's Whisper model. It runs on the Mac and has an iPhone and iPad app – there is no Windows version [1]. If you work on Windows and want the same idea – transcription on your own computer – these are the options.
What to look for
- Local or cloud? Local means your recordings stay on your PC; cloud services are convenient across devices, but the audio leaves your computer.
- Meetings: can the app record a call without a bot joining?
- Speakers and summary: do you need to know who said what, and a summary with decisions and tasks?
- Price model: one-time, subscription or free?
The comparison
| Feature | LautnoteWindows | MacWhisperMac | Otter.aiCloud | BuzzOpen Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Windows 11 | macOS, plus an iPhone/iPad app; no Windows version [1] | Cloud service with web and mobile apps [2] | Windows, macOS (Apple silicon), Linux [4] |
| Where speech becomes text | On your PC | On your Mac with local models; cloud AI providers optional [1] | In the cloud; Otter uses providers such as Amazon Web Services for compute and storage [3] | On your PC, offline with Whisper [4] |
| Price | €59 once, 15-day free trial | Free version; Pro €64 once [1] | Basic free (300 min/month); Pro $16.99 per user/month, or $8.33/month billed yearly [2] | Free, open source (MIT) [4] |
| Meetings | Sound of one app plus your microphone as separate tracks, live transcript, no bot | Records Zoom, Teams, Webex and more; no bot joins [1] | Otter joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet to take notes [2] | Live transcription from the microphone [5] |
| Export | TXT, Markdown, DOCX, SRT, VTT | SRT, VTT, TXT, Markdown, PDF, HTML, DOCX [1] | TXT; DOCX, PDF and SRT from Pro [2] | TXT, SRT, VTT [4] |
- MacWhisper – official website (features, Free and Pro prices)
- Otter.ai – pricing (plans, minutes, features, export)
- Otter.ai – privacy policy (cloud providers for compute and storage)
- Buzz – project page on GitHub (licence, platforms, features, export)
- Buzz – official website (Buzz Classic, live transcription)
Checked on 29 Oct 2026
Which one fits
- Buzz is free and open source and runs on Windows. Good if you just need text and subtitles from files and don't mind a more technical app [4].
- Otter suits teams that want everything in the cloud, shared across devices – with a monthly plan for more minutes [2].
- Lautnote is for Windows users who want MacWhisper's local approach plus meeting mode without a bot, speakers and a local summary – for €59 once.
If you work on a Mac, MacWhisper remains a good choice. Lautnote only exists for Windows.
Moving from MacWhisper
Lautnote imports the usual audio and video formats (MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, OGG, MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM) and exports TXT, Markdown, DOCX, SRT and VTT – so subtitle and text workflows carry over.