CHOOSE BY THE REASON YOU ARE LEAVING.Every claim sourced · verified Jun 2026

Find the Hedy alternative that fixes your real constraint.

Hedy remains strong for live coaching, bot-free capture, and local processing. The better replacement depends on whether you need finished follow-ups, BYOK control, lower pricing, or simpler meeting notes.

What's pushing you to look? Pick one — the page reorders around it.

The evidence

What actually differs, claim by claim.

Each section opens with the takeaway. The table underneath is the receipt — every cell carries its source and the date we checked it.

Pricing

Hedy’s free plan is useful at 300 minutes per month, but Pro costs $99.99 per year and Lifetime costs $299. Vowen undercuts that with a $49 one-time Pro license, while QuickWhisper charges $59 once for advanced local transcription and meeting recording. Ottex is the flexible option: local and BYOK use can be free, provider usage costs $0.20 per hour, and Pro costs $14 per month.

See the evidence — 23 claims across 6 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Vowen	Granola	QuickWhisper	Hyprnote
Free tier	YesForever free with local models and BYOK providers.	PartialUp to 5 hours per month; Real-time AI insights (first 30 min/session)	PartialUnlimited voice dictation; 10 audio/video transcriptions; 5 hours total meeting notes recording; 5 Command Mode calls per day; 1 custom tone; 1 text expansion; 1 custom API integration.	Partial25 meetings/month	PartialTiny and Base Models; free transcription of audio and video files using the Tiny and Base models, with no limitations.	YesFree plan is described as open-source and free.
Subscription	$14/mo$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.	$12.99/moPro adds unlimited sessions, recording import, cross-session organization, Zapier, and API integrations.	NoNo subscription plan	$18/moBusiness is $18 per member/month or $14 per member/month billed annually.	NoNo subscription plan	$8/moPro costs $8/month or $59/year and includes HyprCloud and Pro models.
Pay-as-you-go / one-timeEscape the flat subscription	$0.2/hourHosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).	$299 one-timeAll future updates included	$49 one-timeLifetime updates	NoSubscription only	$59 one-timePay-once use forever.	NoSubscription only
Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman	YesOpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.	No public claim	YesCloud transcription and AI enhancement use user-provided provider keys.	No public claim	YesChangelog lists adding existing API keys for cloud transcription providers and AI models.	YesUsers can connect third-party APIs such as an OpenAI GPT API.
Education discount	NoSame pricing for everyone.	No public claim	No public claim	No public claim	No public claim	No public claim

Platforms

Hedy wins on breadth with a native Mac app plus Windows, iOS, Android, and browser access. Krisp also spans Mac, Windows, Android, and web, while Vowen has shipped Mac and Windows apps but only announced mobile versions. Ottex is limited to Mac and iOS, so it is not the answer for anyone who needs Windows or Android.

See the evidence — 10 claims across 6 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Vowen	Granola	QuickWhisper	Hyprnote
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Web	Mac, WindowsSome platforms in beta/waitlist	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android	Mac	MacSome platforms in beta/waitlist
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke	YesNative Swift app, ~50MB RAM.	YesVendor describes a native macOS application.	No public claim	No public claim	YesQuickWhisper is distributed as a macOS app through direct download, App Store, GitHub, and Homebrew.	YesDocs describe Hyprnote as a Tauri app.

Meetings & team memory

Hedy, Granola, and Hyprnote all provide bot-free capture rather than sending a participant into the call. Hedy captures mic and system audio across common meeting apps and supports in-person sessions, while Granola adds polished shared meeting memory. Hyprnote is the privacy surprise because its macOS app keeps recordings, transcripts, and notes on-device by default and still provides speaker identification, summaries, and action items.

See the evidence — 28 claims across 6 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Vowen	Granola	QuickWhisper	Hyprnote
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all	YesWith speaker separation.	YesHedy records live sessions and meeting conversations.	YesVowen captures meetings from Zoom, Teams, Meet, Slack Huddles, or any app that produces sound.	YesGranola records and transcribes meetings without joining as a bot.	YesVendor lists recording meetings in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and others.	YesHyprnote records meeting audio locally.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call	YesSystem-audio capture, no bot joins the call.	YesFeature page says no bot joins calls.	YesSilent meeting capture records without a bot or banner.	YesGranola does not send a bot to meetings.	YesVendor says meetings are recorded without bots joining calls.	YesDocs state Hyprnote transcribes and summarizes locally with no bots.
Speaker separation	Yes	No public claim	PartialSpeaker identification is a Pro feature.	No public claim	YesVendor lists global speakers and speaker filtering across history.	YesCore functionality includes speaker identification.
Calendar detection	YesCalendar-based meeting detection.	YesGoogle Calendar is listed in the help center and news page.	PartialAuto-detect meetings is a Pro feature.	YesGranola surfaces calendar events and can start notes from upcoming meetings.	No public claim	No public claim
Cross-meeting search	Yes	YesPro users can group sessions and ask questions across conversations weeks ago.	No public claim	YesAsk Granola can answer across past meetings.	YesChangelog lists related transcriptions and semantic search across History.	YesSearch can find notes by title or content across the app.
Shared team memory	PartialPublic share links, not a full team workspace.	YesSharing sessions and topics is listed in the help center.	No public claim	YesBusiness workspaces include shared notes and folders for teams.	No public claim	No public claim

From meeting to finished work

Hedy is strongest during the conversation, with live questions, blind-spot alerts, talking points, summaries, decisions, and cross-meeting search. Ottex wins when the conversation must become finished work because it drafts follow-up emails, CRM updates, tickets, PRDs, and docs. Granola sits between them with reusable meeting prompts, follow-up emails, action items, and shared team memory, but it is not a general dictation tool.

See the evidence — 18 claims across 6 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Vowen	Granola	Hyprnote	Krisp
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear	YesDecisions with owners extracted.	YesGoogle Play listing says Hedy can find decisions across past conversations.	YesChat with meetings can surface decisions.	YesGranola can extract decisions from meetings through templates and AI notes.	YesCore functionality includes action items.	YesKrisp AI Chat can highlight decisions from meeting content.
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized	YesDrafted from templates or your own.	YesAuto-recap emails are listed for sharing insights.	YesMeeting chat can surface follow-ups.	YesRecipes can generate follow-up emails from meetings.	YesAI Chat examples include drafting a follow-up email for a meeting.	No public claim
CRM update / ticket draft	YesStructured for the target app.	No public claim	No public claim	YesGranola lists Attio as an integration for sending meeting notes to CRM records.	No public claim	No public claim
Your rough notes steer the result	YesRough notes and instructions steer the result.	YesHedy 3 added in-meeting note-taking that powers AI suggestions.	PartialCustom note instructions are Pro-only.	YesUser notes are used to guide the generated meeting notes.	YesHyprnote crafts summaries by enhancing the user's quick notes.	No public claim

Dictation & transcription AI

Hedy offers two local and two cloud speech-recognition providers, offline local processing, custom vocabulary, and 30+ languages, but it cannot insert dictated text system-wide. Ottex adds system-wide output, local or BYOK processing, model choice, mixed-language speech, per-app rules, and 100+ languages. Vowen is the Windows-friendly local alternative with Whisper or Parakeet engines and 99-language support, although its mobile apps have not shipped.

See the evidence — 21 claims across 6 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Vowen	Granola	QuickWhisper	Hyprnote
Engines	Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.	Two local and two cloud speech recognition providersUsers can choose between private on-device transcription and cloud-based speech recognition.	Local Whisper and Parakeet; cloud models from Groq, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, ElevenLabs, Mistral, Soniox, and moreThe docs say users can choose from 10+ engines.	No public claim	Whisper, Qwen 3 ASR, Nvidia Parakeet 110M, Nvidia Nemotron, Mistral Voxtral Mini, cloud providers OpenAI, Google, DeepGram, ElevenLabs, and GroqVendor changelog lists local voice model additions and cloud transcription providers.	Whisper, HyprLLM, Llama 3B, Argmax SDK for Pro realtime STTDocs name Whisper for speech-to-text and Pro realtime STT through Argmax SDK.
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine	YesWhisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.	YesLocal speech recognition and local AI processing can run on-device and offline.	YesLocal Whisper and Parakeet run offline on the device.	NoGranola states it requires an internet connection to transcribe and generate notes.	YesVendor says all transcriptions are processed and stored locally on the machine.	YesDocs state Hyprnote works 100% offline by default.
Model selection per task	YesChoose the model per task and per provider.	YesSpeech recognition provider can be changed in Settings > Speech & AI.	YesUsers can pick and switch transcription engines.	No public claim	YesVendor lists Whisper settings, custom GGML model import, and selectable local/cloud models.	YesUsers can use local models or bring their own models.
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence	Yes100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.	Yes30+ languages · App Store listing says Hedy supports multilingual conversations while returning insights in the preferred language.	No public claim	No public claim	No public claim	No public claim
Per-app output rules	YesPer-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.	No public claim	YesPer-app writing styles are listed in the docs.	NoNot supported	No public claim	No public claim

The short answer

OttexMac, iOS · Free tier · $14/mo · PAYG

Try Ottex for free

Ottex is unusually broad for a young Mac/iOS-first tool: it turns dictation and meetings into emails, tickets, CRM updates, notes, and docs, but it is not the pick if you need Windows, Android, web, browser extension, or compliance paperwork.

Choose Ottex if

You want one tool for system-wide dictation, meeting recording, and finished written outcomes like follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs
You want a real free path: unlimited local dictation, file transcription, and meetings on Mac with Whisper/Parakeet, or BYOK instead of a forced subscription
You need multilingual dictation with 100+ languages, auto-detection, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules

Look elsewhere if

You need Windows, Android, Linux, web access, or a browser extension
You need mature team infrastructure such as a shared workspace, API/webhooks, third-party note destinations, or assistant chat over transcripts today.

Cost

What a year actually costs at your volume.

Personal or team — switch tabs. Subscriptions are flat; usage-based pricing depends on how much you speak and meet.

You dictate about 3 h a week≈ 23,400 words at ~130 wpm

0 h5 h10 h

and sit in 4 h of meetings a weekhours you'd want captured and turned into follow-ups

0 h7.5 h15 h

Fill the gaps with:

Dictation appadded to meetings-only toolsMeetings appadded to dictation-only tools

OttexOttex Provider — PAYG$135/yrHosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).

OttexSubscription - Pro$168/yr$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.

KrispPro$240/yr$96 + $144Pro is priced at $16 monthly or $8/month billed yearly. · Unlimited noise cancellation; unlimited meetings to take notes; 1200 min/month transcription; 60 min/day accent conversion

GranolaBusiness$312/yr$168 + $144Business is $18 per member/month or $14 per member/month billed annually. · Unlimited meetings

KrispBusiness$324/yr$180 + $144Business is priced at $30 per user monthly or $15/user/month billed yearly. · Unlimited noise cancellation; unlimited meetings to take notes; unlimited transcription; 60 min/day accent conversion

Estimates, not quotes. Striped bar segments are the cost of the second app you picked above to cover the gap — rankings use that combined total. PAYG uses hosted at-cost estimates ($0.2/h dictation, $0.5/h meetings); BYOK is estimated at about a third of that because you pay the model provider directly. Bring-your-own-key plans still pay the model provider per use. One-time licenses are amortized over 2 years. Subscriptions use published pricing, checked Jun 2026.

The field

All 7 tools, one line each.

The honest one-liner we'd give a friend for each. Select 2–4 and compare them side by side.

Ottex

Mac, iOS

Free tier · $14/mo · PAYG

Best when: You want one tool for system-wide dictation, meeting recording, and finished written outcomes like follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs

Hedy

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Web

Limited free · $12.99/mo · $299 one-time

Best when: You want real-time coaching during meetings, with questions, blind-spot alerts, talking points, summaries, to-dos, and follow-up recaps after the session.

Vowen

Mac, Windows

Limited free · $49 one-time

Best when: You want offline-capable dictation and transcription on Mac or Windows with local Whisper/Parakeet plus optional cloud engines.

Granola

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android

Limited free · $18/mo

Best when: You want bot-free meeting capture that records from your mic and computer audio without joining calls.

QuickWhisper

Mac

Limited free · $59 one-time

Best when: You want local-first dictation, file transcription, and bot-free meeting recording on macOS 14.6+ with Apple Silicon.

Hyprnote

Mac

Free tier · $8/mo

Best when: You want a macOS meeting recorder that keeps recordings, transcripts, and notes on device by default.

Krisp

Mac, Windows, Android, Web

Limited free · $16/mo

Best when: You want bot-free meeting recording and transcription on macOS or Windows, with noise cancellation as a core part of the workflow.

Pick 2–4 tools, then compare.

Switching

Move from Hedy in about 10 minutes.

Nothing breaks: both apps can run side by side while you decide.

1
Download Ottex and dictate right away2 min
Free out of the box: local models or the included starter credits, no card. Press the hotkey and speak — the default experience is deliberately close to Hedy. Keep Hedy installed; they coexist fine.
2
Move your hotkey — or run both1 min
Set Ottex to the key you already press by muscle memory, or give it its own shortcut while you compare output side by side.
3
Bring your dictionary3 min
If Hedy keeps a custom dictionary or replacement rules, copy those words into Ottex's personal dictionary and glossaries — names and jargon survive the move.
4
Pick where AI runs2 min
Defaults just work on starter credits. When you care, switch per task: local Whisper or Parakeet v3 for on-device privacy, your own key for control, or hosted routing at cost.
5
Add per-app rules and meetings when ready5 min
Set exact text for AI chats, polished email, structured tickets. Then record one low-stakes call and check the follow-up, CRM update, and ticket drafts.

FAQ

Questions people actually ask.

What is Hedy?

Hedy is a bot-free meeting assistant that records conversations, provides live coaching, and creates searchable transcripts, summaries, decisions, and to-dos. It fits people who value help during a meeting as much as the notes afterward.

Is Hedy free?

Yes. Hedy’s free plan includes up to 300 minutes, or five hours, of meetings per month, with real-time AI insights limited to the first 30 minutes of each session. No separate free trial is published beyond that plan.

How much does Hedy cost?

Hedy Pro costs $12.99 per month or $99.99 per year, while Lifetime costs $299 once and includes future updates. Cheaper alternatives include Vowen at $49 once, QuickWhisper at $59 once, and Ottex at $0.20 per hour or free with local processing or your own API key.

What is the best free alternative to Hedy?

Hyprnote is the strongest genuinely free path for private, local macOS meeting notes, while Granola includes 25 meetings per month for bot-free notes and team memory. Ottex is free for local or BYOK meetings and dictation on Mac when you also want follow-ups, tickets, CRM updates, and docs.

Is Hedy safe and private?

Hedy uses local speech recognition by default, can run local AI analysis, and stores conversation data on the device unless cloud sync is enabled. It also publishes GDPR compliance, SOC 2 Type I status, and a completed HIPAA assessment with BAAs available; Hyprnote is the stronger open-source alternative when keeping meeting data on-device is the overriding concern.

Does Hedy use a bot to record meetings?

No. Hedy records locally from your device’s microphone and system audio without adding a bot to the call, and it instructs users to inform participants and obtain consent. Granola, Hyprnote, Krisp, Ottex, and Vowen also offer bot-free meeting capture.

Download Ottex and dictate right away2 min

Move your hotkey — or run both1 min

Bring your dictionary3 min

Pick where AI runs2 min

Add per-app rules and meetings when ready5 min