MacWhisper alternative for Windows: free local transcription

Local transcription, not only on a Mac

MacWhisper is a good transcription app, but it runs only on Apple devices, and speaker separation and live captions are in Pro for €59. Dictator transcribes on your own machine on Windows, macOS and Android, splits speakers and adds timestamps on the free plan, and nothing leaves the computer.

BOZEX, developer of Dictator · checked October 2, 2026

Free, no sign-up Runs locally Windows · macOS · Android · iPhone

Side by side

	MacWhisper	Dictator
Platforms	macOS 14 and newer, plus an iPhone and iPad app	Windows, macOS, Android
Price	Free version; Pro €59 once for one licence	Free; cloud extras from $5.99 a month
Speaker separation	Pro	Free, computed on your machine
Live captions with translation	Pro	Free, over any window
Batch transcription	Pro	Any number of files; each up to 30 minutes on the free plan
Export	SRT, VTT, CSV, DOCX, PDF, Markdown, HTML	TXT and Markdown for transcripts, SRT and VTT for live subtitles
Dictation into any app	Yes, system-wide on Mac	Yes, on Windows and Mac, and through the keyboard on Android
Runs locally	Yes	Yes

MacWhisper prices and features are taken from its Gumroad page on October 1, 2026. Dictator prices are from its own price list.

What Dictator adds on Windows

Your GPU does the work

A Windows graphics card runs the same class of local models a Mac runs on Apple Silicon. No upload, no minutes to count.

Speakers and timestamps

"Speaker 1 · 12:34" before every line, on every plan. Handy for interviews and meetings you need to quote later.

Translate what you hear

Live subtitles with the translation underneath, over a call or a film. 198 languages through AI, 45 offline.

When MacWhisper is the better choice

If you live on a Mac and want a polished file transcriber, MacWhisper does more around the file: batch jobs, watch folders, DOCX and PDF export, a video player synced to subtitles and integrations with Notion or Zapier. Pay once and it is yours. Dictator is the better fit when you work on Windows, need Android too, or want dictation and live subtitles in the same free app.

Frequent questions

Is there a MacWhisper for Windows?

MacWhisper itself runs only on Apple devices. Dictator gives Windows the same idea: local transcription on your own GPU, with speakers and timestamps, free.

Is the quality the same?

Both run local neural speech models, so on clean speech the result is comparable. Model size is a setting in either app: lighter and faster, or heavier and more accurate.

How long can a file be?

Up to 30 minutes per file on Dictator's free plan, 90 minutes on Basic, 4 hours on Pro and no limit on Premium. The number of files is not limited.

Do I need an account?

No, the free plan works without sign-up.