The best transcription software for Mac

Voice Memos and Apple Notes: free and already on your Mac

On Apple silicon Macs with macOS 15 or later, Voice Memos shows a transcript while you record or afterwards, and Notes can record audio right inside a note and transcribe it. Notes supports English and several other languages, and with Apple Intelligence it can summarize the recording. On macOS Tahoe 26, calls made in the Mac's Phone app can be recorded into Notes with a transcript.

Pick these if you want a quick transcript of a lecture, memo or solo recording and don't need speaker labels. They don't separate speakers or capture audio from Zoom and other apps.

MacWhisper: the go-to local transcription app

MacWhisper runs Whisper and Parakeet models on your Mac, so files are transcribed without uploading them. It can record audio from any app (including Zoom, Teams and Webex calls), recognize speakers, and connect to AI models with your own API keys or local models. There's a free version, and Pro is a one-time €64 purchase as of October 2026. Its website doesn't spell out exactly which features are Pro-only, so check before you buy.

Pick it if you want a Mac-native app that records calls and transcribes in many languages. It's Mac only. See our MacWhisper alternatives if you also use Windows or Linux.

Hark: meetings and interviews with speaker names

Hark transcribes on your Mac (Apple Silicon or Intel) and works out who spoke by their voice. Name a voice once and Hark recognizes that person in every later recording, which is a big help if you interview the same people or meet the same team every week. The player highlights each word as it plays, can skip silences and speed up without chipmunk voices, and you can edit any line.

Be aware: on macOS, Hark records the microphone only, because capturing computer audio isn't built for Mac yet. It won't capture the other side of a Zoom or Teams call unless that sound plays through your speakers into the mic. Where Hark on a Mac shines:

• In-person meetings and interviews recorded with your Mac's microphone.
• Voice memos and existing recordings: drag in .m4a files from Voice Memos or QuickTime, or mp3, wav, mp4, mov and more.
• Call recordings you already have, such as a Zoom cloud recording you downloaded.

Transcription, speaker recognition and import are free with no limits. Hark is English only. With a subscription ($12/month, after a 2-day preview), Claude writes notes from the transcript text.

Aiko: simple, private and cheap

Aiko runs Whisper on your Mac for a one-time $24 (covering Mac, iPhone and iPad). You record elsewhere and import the file. No live transcription or speaker labels, but excellent for straightforward, private file transcription.

Superwhisper: dictation first

Superwhisper is mainly for dictating text anywhere on your Mac, with unlimited local dictation free. Pro ($8.49/month as of October 2026) adds file transcription, system-audio recording, speaker separation and cloud models.

Otter.ai and Descript: cloud options

Otter's Mac desktop app records meetings without a bot and gives live transcripts and AI summaries; the free plan has 300 minutes a month. Descript is a cloud editor for podcasts and video where you edit audio by editing text, with transcription in 25 languages; its free plan includes 1 media hour a month. Both upload your audio.