Free alternatives to Notta

Offline file and live transcription with speaker labels, search, exports and an optional summary plugin.

Versus paying: It transcribes files and live audio very well, but lacks Notta's hosted multi-device archive, mobile/web collaboration, meeting integrations and turnkey sharing.

Setup: macOS DMG or Windows installer from SourceForge; Flatpak/Snap on Linux; PyPI is an alternative

Watch for: The Windows installer is unsigned and triggers a warning; the first model download can be large, and the PyPI route additionally needs Python 3.12 and ffmpeg

20,800 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

Local live transcription, imported recordings and summaries for Mac and Windows.

Versus paying: It keeps meetings local but is not a full Notta-style web/mobile workspace; collaboration, broad import automation, translation workflow and several advanced outputs are weaker or Pro-only.

Setup: Signed Windows x64 installer or Apple-silicon macOS DMG; Linux currently requires a source build

Watch for: Windows and Apple-silicon macOS install cleanly but still need audio permissions and model downloads; Linux requires Rust/Node source-build tooling, and several advanced summary/export/diarization workflows are Pro-only

28,357 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

Live meeting capture and file import with local transcription, notes and history; Mac only.

Versus paying: It is Mac-only and local-first, giving up Notta's broad web/mobile access, team spaces, managed sharing, integrations and cross-device archive.

Setup: Signed macOS DMG or Homebrew cask

Watch for: Requires Apple Silicon and macOS 14.2+, microphone/accessibility/system-audio permissions, and a first model download; cloud summaries need an account or API key unless you configure Ollama or LM Studio

890 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

Records meetings or imports audio, labels speakers, summarizes it and keeps a searchable archive.

Versus paying: It offers local recording and notes, but Notta has a more mature hosted archive, mobile/web collaboration, import connectors and translation workflow; some OpenWhispr sync and meeting features are paid.

Setup: Native DMG, EXE, AppImage, DEB or RPM; optional OpenWhispr Cloud account

Watch for: The installer is straightforward, but meeting capture needs microphone/accessibility and sometimes system-audio permissions plus model downloads; cloud processing, sharing and sync require an account or provider key and some meeting features are paid

5,223 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

A self-hosted archive for recordings, transcripts, summaries and search; bring a server and preferably a GPU.

Versus paying: It can become a capable private archive, but requires server and model administration and is less turnkey than Notta's hosted upload, live transcription, collaboration and mobile access.

Setup: Docker Compose with an environment file, plus a speech-to-text and text-model endpoint

Watch for: You need Docker, API keys or a separately deployed ASR/LLM service, and a virtual audio device such as BlackHole or VB-Cable to capture both sides of some meetings; the strongest diarization path benefits from a GPU

3,600 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

A desktop transcriber with file batches, live capture, translation and optional local summaries; collaboration is now a folder.

Versus paying: It is an excellent local desktop transcriber, but its 'archive' is ordinary files rather than Notta's searchable, synchronized web/mobile workspace with sharing and team collaboration.

Setup: Native desktop download for macOS, Windows or Linux

Watch for: Expect a sizeable first model download and local CPU/GPU/RAM demands; Claude summaries need an API key and local summaries require a running Ollama model

7,000 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)