MacWhisper vs Hearsy: File Transcription vs Real-Time Dictation

MacWhisper gets around 5,400 brand searches per month. Most of those people are looking to transcribe a recording — a podcast, interview, or meeting. Some want live dictation. The apps built for each workflow are different, and so is the right choice.

One disclosure: Hearsy is my product. I've written this honestly, including where MacWhisper is the better fit.

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What MacWhisper is#

MacWhisper, by developer Jordi Bruin, is primarily an audio file transcription app for Mac. The core workflow: drop in an audio file, get a timestamped transcript. It runs Whisper locally on your device — nothing leaves your machine.

Built around batch transcription, MacWhisper handles podcasts, interview recordings, meeting audio, and video files. Notable features include 50+ export formats, speaker diarization (labeling who said what in a multi-speaker recording), batch processing queues, watch folders that automatically transcribe any new audio dropped into a directory, and translation pipelines via Whisper or the DeepL API.

MacWhisper has a secondary dictation mode — a hotkey that lets you speak and paste text at your cursor system-wide. But dictation is an add-on. The core design is built around processing files.

The free tier uses smaller Whisper models (Tiny and Base). Pro adds Large V2 and V3 for better accuracy, batch processing, and speaker identification. Pro is a one-time purchase with no subscription.

What MacWhisper is: A local audio file transcription app. Drag in a recording, get a transcript. On-device, no cloud.

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What Hearsy is#

Hearsy is a real-time dictation app. Press a global hotkey from any Mac app, speak, and text is pasted at your cursor when you release the key. The workflow is built around live voice input during writing — not processing recordings after the fact.

Two engines handle transcription:

• Parakeet TDT (English) — under 50ms latency on Apple Silicon, 1.2 GB RAM
• Whisper Large V3 (99 languages) — 4.2% word error rate on LibriSpeech benchmarks, ~3.1 GB RAM

Optional AI cleanup templates — Clean & Format, Email, Code Comment, Summary — run locally via Qwen 2.5 by default, with no API call required. If you want more capable formatting, Claude or OpenAI can handle the cleanup step, but transcription stays local either way.

Hearsy doesn't process audio files. There's no drag-and-drop transcription, no batch mode, no speaker identification for recordings.

What Hearsy is: A local Mac dictation app. Press a hotkey, speak, get text. One-time purchase, no subscription.

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At a glance#

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The core difference: two different jobs#

This comparison is unusual because MacWhisper and Hearsy mostly don't compete. They're built for different workflows.

MacWhisper's workflow: You have a recording. A podcast you want to publish with a transcript. An interview you want to quote from. A meeting you recorded and need action items from. You drop the file in, MacWhisper runs Whisper on it, and you get a timestamped transcript you can search, edit, and export. This can run in the background while you work on something else.

Hearsy's workflow: You're working in a text editor, email client, Notion, Slack, or any other Mac app. Instead of typing, you press a hotkey, say what you want, and the words appear at your cursor. The cycle is a few seconds: press, speak, release, write. You dictate content as you work, rather than transcribing something you've already recorded.

The workflows don't overlap much. You can't use Hearsy to process a podcast recording. You can use MacWhisper's dictation mode for live input, but it's a secondary feature added to a tool built for batch processing.

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MacWhisper's dictation mode#

MacWhisper includes a dictation feature that works similarly to Hearsy: assign a hotkey, speak, get text at your cursor system-wide. It's only available in the direct download version of MacWhisper — not the Mac App Store version, due to Apple's restrictions on synthetic keyboard events.

If you're already using MacWhisper for file transcription and occasionally need to dictate, this mode is reasonable. You don't need a second app for light dictation use.

For high-volume dictation, two differences matter.

First, latency. MacWhisper's dictation mode runs Whisper, which takes about 1–2 seconds per burst on Apple Silicon. Hearsy's Parakeet engine processes English in under 50ms. For a few quick sentences that's negligible. For hours of daily dictation, a 1–2 second pause after every sentence accumulates noticeably into your writing rhythm.

Second, AI cleanup. After transcribing, Hearsy can run Qwen 2.5 locally to strip filler words, fix punctuation, or format text as an email or code comment — depending on which template you selected before speaking. MacWhisper's dictation mode returns raw transcription, no post-processing.

For occasional dictation, MacWhisper's built-in mode is fine. For daily high-volume dictation, the latency and cleanup gap is real.

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Privacy#

Both apps are local. Neither sends audio to cloud servers during transcription.

MacWhisper processes everything on-device — audio files, dictation, batch queues. You can verify this with any network monitor: no outbound audio connections during transcription. This applies to both workflows.

Hearsy works the same way. Both the Parakeet and Whisper engines run in local RAM. Nothing is transmitted. The only time Hearsy makes a network call is if you've explicitly configured Claude or OpenAI for the text cleanup step — and even then, the request is text, not audio.

If you're evaluating local Whisper apps on privacy grounds, MacWhisper and Hearsy are equivalent. Both are sound choices for sensitive environments: healthcare, legal, finance, or anyone who doesn't want dictation data leaving their machine.

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Speed#

For file transcription:

MacWhisper with Whisper Large V3 processes audio well above real-time speed on Apple Silicon. According to MacWhisper's documentation, M4 chips achieve roughly a 1:12 transcription ratio — a one-hour recording finishes in about five minutes. For batch workflows, this speed is mostly invisible: drop files in, come back to finished transcripts.

For live dictation:

MacWhisper's dictation mode: ~1–2 seconds between releasing the hotkey and text appearing at your cursor.

Hearsy with Parakeet: under 50ms. Text appears essentially the moment you release the key.

Hearsy with Whisper Large V3: ~1–2 seconds, same as MacWhisper's dictation mode.

The 50ms response changes the feel of dictation. At 1–2 seconds, you speak, pause, check the screen, continue — a stutter rhythm. Under 50ms, text appears before the pause registers consciously. For users who dictate heavily, that difference shows up quickly.

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Pricing#

MacWhisper:

The free tier covers basic transcription with Tiny and Base models — faster, smaller, and less accurate than Large models. Usable for clear speech in controlled environments; struggles with technical vocabulary, names, and accented speech.

MacWhisper Pro is a one-time purchase (no subscription) that unlocks Whisper Large V2 and V3, batch processing, speaker diarization, and the full set of export formats. The free tier lets you evaluate the app before committing.

Hearsy:

One-time purchase. No tiers, no word limits, no feature gating. Both engines and all templates are included.

Neither app charges by the minute, word, or month. If you need both file transcription and live dictation, the combined cost of running both apps is still a pair of one-time payments.

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Which to choose#

Choose MacWhisper if:

• Your primary need is transcribing audio files — podcast recordings, interview audio, meeting recordings, video
• You need speaker diarization to identify and label different speakers in a recording
• You want batch processing of multiple files in a queue
• You want a free tier to evaluate accuracy before purchasing
• Occasional live dictation is a secondary need — MacWhisper's dictation mode handles that

Choose Hearsy if:

• Your primary workflow is live dictation — voice replacing typing while you write
• You dictate in English at high volume and want under-50ms response
• You want AI cleanup (filler word removal, email formatting, grammar cleanup) as part of the dictation flow
• One-time pricing with no free trial is acceptable
• macOS is your only platform

Consider both if:

• You transcribe recordings regularly and also want to dictate live text
• Neither workflow is optional for how you work

The cleaner framing: if you're deciding between MacWhisper and Hearsy, the question is whether you need to process recordings you already have or generate text by speaking in real time. Those are different problems. If you're in the first camp, MacWhisper is the right tool. If you're in the second — or both — Hearsy covers live dictation and MacWhisper covers file transcription without any overlap.

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For more on Whisper-based Mac apps, see the OpenAI Whisper guide. For how local and cloud transcription compare, see AI transcription: local vs cloud. For a comparison with other local dictation apps, see SuperWhisper vs Hearsy and best dictation software for Mac.

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Frequently asked questions#

What is MacWhisper used for?#

MacWhisper is primarily an audio file transcription app. Drop in a recording — podcast, interview, meeting audio — and it runs Whisper locally to produce a timestamped transcript you can search, edit, and export in 50+ formats. It also includes a dictation mode for live voice input. All processing is on-device with no cloud dependency.

What is the difference between MacWhisper and SuperWhisper?#

MacWhisper is file-based transcription: import an audio file, get a transcript. SuperWhisper is real-time dictation: press a hotkey, speak, and text appears at your cursor in whatever app you're using. Both run Whisper on-device. They solve different problems — MacWhisper for transcribing recordings, SuperWhisper for live writing input.

Is MacWhisper free?#

MacWhisper has a free tier with the Tiny and Base Whisper models — fast but less accurate than Large models, usable for clear speech in quiet environments. Pro is a one-time purchase that adds Whisper Large V3, batch transcription, speaker diarization, and expanded export formats. No subscription required.

What is the best MacWhisper alternative for real-time dictation?#

For real-time dictation on Mac, Hearsy and SuperWhisper are the closest alternatives. Both run Whisper locally with no audio sent to servers. Hearsy adds the Parakeet engine (under 50ms English latency) and pre-built AI cleanup templates. SuperWhisper has a free tier and custom mode configuration. MacWhisper has a built-in dictation mode, but live dictation is a secondary feature in an app built for file transcription.

Does MacWhisper work offline?#

Yes. MacWhisper runs Whisper on-device and requires no internet for transcription or file processing. The DeepL translation integration and any cloud AI features require internet. Core transcription — both file processing and the dictation mode — works fully offline.