Ottex
Mac, iOS
Choose if
You want dictated emails to follow your saved writing instructions.
Look elsewhere if
You need voice dictation on a Windows computer.
ComparisonEvery claim sourced · verified Oct 2026
Alter vs Willow Voice: the honest comparison.
Three tools. Different strengths. Find your fit.
Ottex
Alter
Willow VoiceAll comparisons
FAQ
At a glance
Which one fits your work?
Each tool takes a different approach. Here’s a quick side-by-side to help you choose based on your workflow, platforms, and goals.
Alter
—
Choose if
You want customizable automatic cleanup for dictation on your Mac.
Look elsewhere if
You need dictation on a Windows PC.
Willow Voice
Mac, Windows, iOS
Choose if
You want unlimited everyday dictation without a subscription.
Look elsewhere if
You need custom writing instructions applied automatically after dictation.
The evidence
Pricing
Alter Local+ is $29/yr and Pro is $240/yr; Willow Voice offers free dictation and $15/mo Pro. Ottex offers free app access through local models or your own API key (BYOK); provider API charges are separate.
See the evidence — 14 claims across 3 toolsverified Oct 2026Show tableHide table
| Feature | Ottex | Alter | Willow Voice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Forever free with local models and BYOK providers. | YesSource: alterhq.com/pricing — checked Oct 2026Core app access is uncapped with local models or separately billed BYOK inference; advanced local voice models and speaker identification require an upgrade. | PartialSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Oct 202620 Scribe uses per week |
| Subscription | $14/moSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included. | $3.5/moSource: alterhq.com/pricing — checked Oct 2026Adds advanced local voice models; AI cleanup and meeting reports use local generation or separately billed BYOK models. | $15/moSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Oct 2026Includes Frontier Pro dictation; annual billing is advertised at $12/user/month without a published annual total. |
| One-time payment | Not applicableSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Application is free | $720 one-timeSource: alterhq.com/pricing — checked Oct 2026Permanent access to Alter and future platform upgrades. | Not applicableSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Oct 2026Application is free |
| Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026OpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/how-to — checked Oct 2026Users add provider API keys in settings. | No public claim |
| Education discount | NoSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Same pricing for everyone. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/references — checked Oct 2026Students and academics can request a discount using a university email; discounted monthly and annual prices and percentage are not published. | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Verified students and educators can request 30% off Willow Pro with proof of affiliation; discounted monthly and annual dollar prices and billing applicability are not published. |
The evidence
Platforms
Willow Voice supports Mac, Windows and iOS; Ottex supports Mac and iOS. Alter is Mac-only, and its current beta requires macOS 15 or later.
See the evidence — 5 claims across 3 toolsverified Oct 2026Show tableHide table
| Feature | Ottex | Alter | Willow Voice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Mac, iOSSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026 | No public claim | Mac, Windows, iOSSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Some platforms in beta/waitlist |
| Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Native Swift app, ~50MB RAM. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/references — checked Oct 2026Alter is a native macOS application. | PartialSource: willowvoice.com/blog — checked Oct 2026The vendor explicitly identifies Windows as native; implementation details for the other applications are unverified. |
The evidence
Meetings & team memory
Alter and Ottex record without bots; Willow Voice meeting capture is unverified. Ottex has an experimental, opt-in macOS camera recording watermark; Alter has none, and chat/calendar recording notices are unverified for all three.
See the evidence — 14 claims across 3 toolsverified Oct 2026Show tableHide table
| Feature | Ottex | Alter | Willow Voice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026With speaker separation. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/getting-started — checked Oct 2026Meetings can be recorded manually or through configurable automatic capture. | No public claim |
| Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026System-audio capture, no bot joins the call. | YesSource: alterhq.com/meetings — checked Oct 2026Capture uses Mac audio without a bot joining the call. | No public claim |
| Camera recording watermarkShow recording in your camera video | PartialExperimental macOS virtual camera adds an Ottex icon to video; install/enable the extension, select it and turn video on. Guide covers Meet in Chrome and Zoom desktop; effects may obscure it. | NoSource: alterhq.com/meetings — checked Oct 2026Capture is documented as invisible to attendees, without visible meeting-platform indicators. | No public claim |
| Participant noticesRecording notices in chat or calendar | No public claim | No public claim | No public claim |
| Speaker separation | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026 | PartialSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Paid voice options identify speakers; saved local voiceprints recognize previously named voices. | No public claim |
| Calendar detection | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Calendar-based meeting detection. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Alter detects meetings in Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and other conferencing apps. | PartialSource: willowvoice.com/privacy-policy — checked Oct 2026The privacy policy describes optional read-only Google Calendar linking for meeting notifications and session association, but platform and rollout details are unverified. |
| Cross-meeting search | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026 | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Transcript search covers titles, content, speakers, and summaries across meetings. | No public claim |
| Shared team memory | PartialSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Public share links, not a full team workspace. | No public claim | No public claim |
The evidence
From meeting to finished work
Alter and Ottex draft follow-up emails; Ottex has document templates that structure transcript information and a separate transcript chat prompt library. Willow Voice meeting workflows are unverified.
See the evidence — 10 claims across 3 toolsverified Oct 2026Show tableHide table
| Feature | Ottex | Alter | Willow Voice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting template libraryTurn a transcript into a structured document | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Choose a ready-made document template to extract relevant information from a meeting transcript into a structured document, such as a product review or client-call report. | No public claim | No public claim |
| Transcript chat prompt libraryReady-made prompts for AI chat about meetings | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Use ready-made reusable prompts in AI chat to ask questions, analyze discussions and extract information from meeting transcripts. | No public claim | No public claim |
| Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Decisions with owners extracted. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/getting-started — checked Oct 2026Transcript prompts extract decisions and unresolved issues. | No public claim |
| Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Drafted from templates or your own. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/getting-started — checked Oct 2026Users can request a follow-up email draft from a meeting transcript. | No public claim |
| CRM update / ticket draft | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Structured for the target app. | PartialSource: alterhq.com/meetings — checked Oct 2026Configured meeting workflows push summaries to a CRM; a dedicated CRM draft review flow is unspecified. | No public claim |
| Your rough notes steer the result | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Rough notes and instructions steer the result. | YesSource: list.alterhq.com/p — checked Oct 2026Live Notepad content is combined with the meeting transcript to generate recaps. | No public claim |
The evidence
Dictation & transcription AI
All three support custom dictionaries and voice snippets. Alter customizes automatic dictation cleanup; Willow Voice formats dictation with tone presets; Ottex formats dictation with presets and saved writing rules.
See the evidence — 28 claims across 3 toolsverified Oct 2026Show tableHide table
| Feature | Ottex | Alter | Willow Voice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engines | Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Source: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local. | Apple Speech, Whisper, Whisper Pro, Parakeet, Soniox V5Source: docs.alterhq.com/how-to — checked Oct 2026Voice settings offer Apple, local, advanced local, and cloud processors. | Frontier Mini, Frontier ProSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Oct 2026These are the published dictation model names; underlying recognition providers are unspecified. |
| Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Whisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Apple and downloaded Whisper models support on-device recognition. | PartialSource: willowvoice.com/blog — checked Oct 2026Optional offline dictation is documented for Mac and iOS; Windows offline support is unverified. |
| Model selection per task | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Choose the model per task and per provider. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Users select the voice processor and downloaded local model. | No public claim |
| Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching. | No public claim | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Automatic detection supports switching languages during dictation. |
| Automatic formatting | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Dictation automatically fixes punctuation, groups ideas into paragraphs and formats enumerations as lists. Formatting toggles and profile rules customize output. | PartialSource: list.alterhq.com/p — checked Oct 2026App-aware dictation formatting is documented, but automatic punctuation, paragraphing, and list behavior are not individually specified. | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Automatically adds punctuation, paragraph breaks and lists, with optional spoken formatting commands. |
| Custom dictionary | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Add or delete names and specialist terms with preferred spellings; entries provide recognition context during transcription. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Settings → Voice → Dictionary accepts user-defined terms. | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Users can add, edit and delete dictionary terms for recognition during dictation. |
| Voice snippetsSay a saved phrase to insert a link or text | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Save a voice trigger and expansion text; saying the trigger while dictating inserts the saved URL or text in place. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Spoken-phrase replacements automatically insert saved text, including URLs and signatures, at the end of dictation. | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Saying a saved shortcut phrase followed by “shortcut” inserts its stored text. |
| Custom voice instructionsFree-form rules applied after dictation | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Saved profile instructions automatically process dictation before insertion; rules can include writing examples, personal phrasing and email signatures. | PartialSource: list.alterhq.com/p — checked Oct 2026Automatic dictation cleanup uses a customizable Alter Action; cleanup is disabled for speech-to-prompt. | No public claim |
| Tone presetsChoose a predefined writing style | YesSelect built-in Messaging or Email profiles for casual or professional dictation; assigning apps or websites enables automatic profile activation. | No public claim | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Selectable presets include Default, Casual Friendly, Excited and Hypercasual for supported writing contexts. |
| Text transforms / AI ShortcutsApply an AI action to existing text | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Select or copy existing text, open Omnibar and run an AI Shortcut to rewrite, translate, summarize or apply a custom prompt; the result is copied/pasted. | YesSource: docs.alterhq.com/workflows — checked Oct 2026Voice commands rewrite, translate, summarize, or format text selected anywhere on the Mac. | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Scribe rewrites selected text in place using spoken instructions for tone, translation, shortening and restructuring. |
| Per-app output rules | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Per-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email. | No public claim | YesSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Oct 2026Users choose presets for messaging, work messaging, email and note-taking contexts that apply automatically. |
Questions people actually ask.
Alter vs Willow Voice: which should I choose?
Choose Willow Voice for unlimited free dictation or Windows support, and Alter for customizable Mac dictation cleanup plus meeting capture. Choose Ottex for automatic formatting with saved writing instructions on Mac or iOS.
Is Willow Voice free?
Yes: Willow Voice offers unlimited free dictation and 20 Scribe text rewrites per week. Alter lists a free tier, while Ottex offers free app access through local models or your own API key, with provider API charges separate.
How much do Alter and Willow Voice cost?
Alter Local+ is $3.5/mo or $29/yr, Pro is $29/mo or $240/yr, and Lifetime is $720 one-time. Willow Voice offers free dictation or $15/mo Pro, with no annual price listed; Ottex Pro is $14/mo or $168/yr, with free app access through local models or BYOK and separate provider API charges.
Is Alter safe to use?
Alter and Ottex support on-device dictation; Willow Voice offers optional offline dictation on Mac and iOS, with Windows offline support unverified. For audio privacy, use an on-device mode; cloud audio retention is unspecified for all three.
Is it worth switching from Alter to Willow Voice?
Yes, for Windows or unlimited free dictation with tone presets in Willow Voice; stay with Alter for customizable automatic cleanup or bot-free meetings. All three can rewrite existing text, and Ottex also supports automatic formatting with saved dictation rules on Mac and iOS.
Does Alter or Willow Voice work on Windows or Android?
Willow Voice supports Windows; Alter requires macOS 15 or later, and Ottex supports Mac and iOS. Android support is unverified for all three.
Do Alter and Willow Voice work offline?
Alter supports on-device Apple and downloaded Whisper recognition; Willow Voice offers optional offline dictation on Mac and iOS; Ottex runs Whisper and Parakeet v3 on-device. Willow Voice offline dictation on Windows is unverified.