COMPARISONEvery claim sourced · verified Jun 2026

Aqua Voice vs Krisp: the honest comparison.

Aqua Voice is for writing by voice across apps. Krisp is for cleaner calls, meeting notes, and transcripts. Ottex sits between them: we make it, and it combines dictation, meetings, and finished work on Mac and iOS.

Ottex

Mac, iOS · Free tier · $14/mo · PAYG

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 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.

Aqua Voice

Mac, Windows, iOS · Limited free · $8/mo

Aqua Voice is a polished system-wide dictation app for Mac, Windows, and iOS, with 49 languages and strong formatting controls, but it is not a meeting recorder or file transcription tool and dictation is processed server-side.

Choose if

You want fast, system-wide voice dictation across Mac, Windows, or iOS for everyday writing.
You want dictated text cleaned up automatically with punctuation, paragraphs, filler-word removal, snippets, custom vocabulary, and tone rules.
You are comfortable paying $10/month or $96/year after the 1,000-word trial, which is only about 8 minutes of speech.

Look elsewhere if

You need meeting recording, summaries, action items, speaker identification, or calendar-based meeting workflows.
You need audio or video file transcription with timestamps, speaker labels, exports, batch processing, or watch folders.

Krisp

Mac, Windows, Android, Web · Limited free · $16/mo

Krisp is strongest as a noise-cancelling meeting assistant with solid notes, summaries, and compliance signals, but it is not a live dictation tool for writing across apps.

Choose if

You want bot-free meeting recording and transcription on macOS or Windows, with noise cancellation as a core part of the workflow.
You spend a lot of time in calls and want summaries, action items, speaker identification, decisions, and chat across past meetings.
You need team or enterprise controls such as SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, encryption at rest, and SSO/SCIM on Enterprise.

Look elsewhere if

You need system-wide live dictation, hotkey-triggered insertion, voice commands, snippets, or per-app writing rules.
You want a local/offline transcription setup; Krisp’s noise cancellation is on-device, but meeting recordings and notes use cloud services broadly speaking.

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

Ottex has the strongest real free path: unlimited local AI or your own key, plus $0.2/hour PAYG and a $14/month Pro plan. Aqua Voice gives only 1,000 free words, about 8 minutes of speech, then costs $10/month or $96/year. Krisp's free plan is more usable for calls, with 60 min/day noise cancellation, 2 meetings/day for notes, 60 min/day transcription, and 10 min/day accent conversion, but Pro jumps to $16/month and

See the evidence — 14 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Aqua Voice	Krisp
Free tier	YesWhisper & Parakeet run on your Mac. Dictation and meetings, $0.	Partial1,000 free words, no card required	Partial60 min/day noise cancellation; 2 meetings/day to take notes; 60 min/day transcription; 10 min/day accent conversion
Subscription	$14/mo$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.	$8/moFAQ says Pro is $8/month billed annually after the free words.	$16/moPro is priced at $16 monthly or $8/month billed yearly.
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).	NoSubscription only	NoSubscription only
Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman	YesOpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.	No public claim	NoNo bring-your-own-model-key support is published.
Education discount	NoSame pricing for everyone.	YesStudents with a .edu email get 70% off annual plans.	YesStudents, teachers, faculty, and staff can apply for a 50% education discount.

Platforms

Krisp has the broadest coverage with Mac, Windows, Android, and Web. Aqua Voice covers Mac, Windows, and iOS, which makes it the better choice than Krisp for iPhone dictation. Ottex is Mac and iOS only, so it loses outright if you need Windows, Android, Linux, web, or a browser extension.

See the evidence — 4 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Aqua Voice	Krisp
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Mac, Windows, iOS	Mac, Windows, Android, Web
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke	YesNative Swift app, ~50MB RAM.	No public claim	No public claim

Meetings & team memory

Krisp wins meeting capture because it is built for bot-free meeting recording and transcription on macOS and Windows, with speaker identification and past-meeting chat. Ottex also records meetings and handles file transcription, but its listed platform coverage is Mac and iOS. Aqua Voice does not record meetings, summarize calls, identify speakers, or run calendar-based workflows.

See the evidence — 18 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Aqua Voice	Krisp
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all	YesWith speaker separation.	NoNot supported.	YesKrisp can record and transcribe online and in-person meetings.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call	YesSystem-audio capture, no bot joins the call.	NoNot supported.	YesThe desktop app can record and transcribe meetings without adding a bot to the call.
Speaker separation	Yes	NoNot supported.	YesKrisp supports speaker identification for meeting transcripts.
Calendar detection	YesCalendar-based meeting detection.	NoNot supported.	YesKrisp detects meetings from the desktop app and prompts to record or transcribe.
Cross-meeting search	Yes	NoNot supported.	YesKrisp AI Chat can answer questions across Krisp meetings.
Shared team memory	PartialPublic share links, not a full team workspace.	NoNot supported.	PartialMeeting notes can be shared, but no persistent team memory model is publicly described.

From meeting to finished work

Ottex wins when the desired output is finished work: follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, docs, and notes. Krisp wins if you want conventional meeting intelligence with summaries, action items, decisions, speaker identification, and chat across past meetings. Aqua Voice is not in this category because it has no meeting recording or action-item workflow.

See the evidence — 9 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Aqua Voice	Krisp
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear	YesDecisions with owners extracted.	NoNot supported.	YesKrisp AI Chat can highlight decisions from meeting content.
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized	YesDrafted from templates or your own.	NoNot supported.	No public claim
CRM update / ticket draft	YesStructured for the target app.	NoNot supported.	No public claim
Your rough notes steer the result	YesRough notes and instructions steer the result.	NoNot supported.	No public claim

Dictation & transcription AI

Ottex wins dictation depth with 100 languages, local models, BYOK, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules. Aqua Voice is still the better pick if you need polished system-wide dictation on Windows, with 49 languages and formatting controls for punctuation, paragraphs, snippets, vocabulary, and tone. Krisp does not offer live dictation, hotkey insertion, voice commands, snippets, or per-

See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Aqua Voice	Krisp
Engines	Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.	Avalon proprietary speech modelAqua says it runs on its own Avalon speech model.	No public claim
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine	YesWhisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.	NoAqua requires an internet connection and processes audio server-side.	NoLive system-wide dictation is not a supported feature.
Model selection per task	YesChoose the model per task and per provider.	No public claim	NoNo user-selectable speech recognition model is published for live dictation.
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence	Yes100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.	Yes49+ languages · Language guide says Aqua supports multilingual speakers.	No public claim
Per-app output rules	YesPer-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.	PartialAqua formats for the destination app, but no per-app rule editor is documented.	NoNot supported

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

KrispPro$96/yr$96 + $0Pro 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

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

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

KrispBusiness$180/yr$180 + $0Business 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

Aqua VoicePro Annual$264/yr$96 + $168FAQ says Pro is $8/month billed annually after the free words. · Unlimited use

Aqua VoicePro Monthly$288/yr$120 + $168A vendor comparison page lists Pro at $10/month. · Unlimited use

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 and BYOK usage are estimated at provider at-cost rates ($0.2/h dictation, $0.5/h meetings) — 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.

FAQ

Questions people actually ask.

Aqua Voice vs Krisp: which should I pick?

Pick Aqua Voice if you want live dictation for everyday writing on Mac, Windows, or iOS. Pick Krisp if you want noise cancellation, bot-free meeting recording, transcripts, summaries, action items, speaker identification, and decisions. Pick Ottex if you want one Mac/iOS tool for dictation, meetings, file transcription, and finished outputs like emails, tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs.

Is Aqua Voice free?

Aqua Voice has a free trial of 1,000 words, which is only about 8 minutes of speech at 130 words per minute. After that, the listed paid options are $10/month or $96/year for unlimited use. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex — unlimited with local AI or your own key.

Is Krisp free?

Krisp has a limited free plan with 60 min/day noise cancellation, 2 meetings/day for notes, 60 min/day transcription, and 10 min/day accent conversion. That can work for occasional meetings, but Pro is $16/month and Business is $30/seat/month. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex — unlimited with local AI or your own key.

How much does Aqua Voice cost compared with Krisp?

Aqua Voice is cheaper for paid individual dictation at $10/month or $96/year. Krisp starts higher at $16/month for Pro, with 1200 min/month transcription, while Business is $30/seat/month with unlimited transcription. Ottex sits between them at $14/month Pro, with a lower-cost PAYG path at $0.2/hour.

Is Aqua Voice safe?

Aqua Voice dictation is processed server-side, so it is not the best choice if local-only audio processing is the main requirement. Krisp has on-device noise cancellation, but meeting recordings and notes use cloud services broadly speaking. If privacy means local transcription or BYOK, Ottex is the stronger fit because it offers local AI and your own key.

Is Krisp better than Aqua Voice for meetings?

Yes. Krisp is the better meeting tool because it supports bot-free meeting recording, transcription, summaries, action items, speaker identification, decisions, and chat across past meetings. Aqua Voice is not a meeting recorder and does not provide summaries, speaker identification, or calendar-based workflows.

Does Aqua Voice or Krisp work on Windows and Android?

Aqua Voice works on Windows, Mac, and iOS, but not Android in the provided platform list. Krisp works on Windows, Mac, Android, and Web, so it has broader device coverage. Ottex is Mac and iOS only.

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