A Superwhisper alternative for meetings, and what each one costs

Superwhisper started as a dictation app and is still very good at it: hold a key, talk, and polished text appears in whatever app you are using. It can also record a meeting. TranscribeX started from the other end, as a transcription app for recordings and meetings, and added dictation later. Both run Whisper on your Mac. Which one is the better buy depends mostly on whether you talk to your computer or record calls with it.

TranscribeX vs Superwhisper at a glance

Superwhisper details from superwhisper.com and its documentation (plans, voice models, built-in modes, speaker-separated meetings), checked October 2026. “Not found” means we could not confirm the feature from Superwhisper’s public pages, which is different from saying it is missing. Tell us at support@transcribex.io if anything here is out of date.

Superwhisper pricing, and what $39 once buys instead

Superwhisper Pro has one feature set and three ways to pay: $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 once. Students get 40% off, and every plan has a 30-day refund. One license covers all your devices, which is good value if you dictate on a Windows PC and an Android phone as well as a Mac.

If you only use a Mac, the math is simple. Two years of the annual plan costs about $170, and the lifetime license costs more than six TranscribeX licenses. TranscribeX Pro is $39 once with free updates, and it includes the meeting features Superwhisper also puts behind Pro: system audio recording, speaker labels and AI summaries.

Cheapest paid individual plan at list price (USD unless marked). Prices checked October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page (Superwhisper). TranscribeX Pro is a one-time purchase with free updates; the free version has no time limit.

Is Superwhisper free?

Partly. The free tier gives you dictation with every local Whisper model, from Tiny up to Large v3 Turbo, custom vocabulary, text replacements and up to two modes without AI processing. New accounts also get 3,000 words of Pro to try. File transcription, Parakeet, AI modes, realtime transcription, system audio and speaker separation are Pro.

TranscribeX splits things differently. The free version only has Whisper Tiny and Apple’s on-device model, so Superwhisper’s free tier wins on model choice. But TranscribeX Free includes unlimited file transcription, dictation, YouTube downloads and TXT export, with no word count. If you want free dictation with large Whisper models, Superwhisper Free is the better deal. If you want to drop in a recording and get a transcript for free, TranscribeX is.

Where TranscribeX goes further: meetings that run themselves

In Superwhisper, a meeting is a mode you start: pick the mode, switch on “Record from System Audio”, and press record. That works if you remember. TranscribeX watches for the meeting instead:

1. It detects the call in Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack, Discord, Webex, a browser or any app you add.
2. It matches the call to your calendar event, so the file has the meeting’s name and participants.
3. It records audio, and video if you want the slides too, without a bot joining the call.
4. It transcribes and names speakers on your Mac, with no limit on how many people talk.
5. It summarizes into key points, decisions and action items, with speaker names kept in the summary.
6. It exports and emails the recap, or waits for you to check it and send it with one click.

Every step is optional. More on how TranscribeX handles meetings.

Recording etiquette: TranscribeX does not announce itself in the call, so letting people know is up to you. Recording-consent laws differ by country and state — some require everyone’s permission — so tell participants and get consent before you record. More in the FAQ.

Speakers stay local

Superwhisper’s own documentation says its Nova models give the most accurate speaker labels. Nova is a cloud model, so the most accurate setup sends audio off your Mac. TranscribeX runs speaker diarization with the open pyannote community-1 pipeline on the Neural Engine, fully offline, and Voice Profiles let it recognise the same colleagues every week. How speaker recognition works in TranscribeX.

Where Superwhisper is the better choice

• Dictation depth. Superwhisper’s modes (Message, Mail, Note, Super with app context) and custom shortcuts go well beyond TranscribeX’s dictation, which is push-to-talk or toggle with an optional AI polish.
• Other platforms. It runs on Windows, iOS and Android, and one license covers them all. TranscribeX is Mac only.
• Fast cloud voice models such as Nova 3 and ElevenLabs Scribe for realtime dictation.
• Enterprise. Superwhisper offers an Enterprise plan with SOC 2 Type II. TranscribeX has no enterprise plan or certification.
• A generous free tier for dictation with every Whisper size.

Using both, or switching

Plenty of people keep a dictation app and a meeting app side by side. TranscribeX doesn’t need an account, so you can try it next to Superwhisper on the same Mac:

• Download TranscribeX and turn on meeting detection.
• Join a short test call and look at the transcript, speakers and summary it produces.
• Try its dictation (hold Fn, speak, release) and compare it with Superwhisper for your own writing.
• If you keep TranscribeX for meetings only, Pro is $39 once. The free version keeps working forever.

Also comparing other local apps? See TranscribeX vs MacWhisper, VoiceInk and Aiko, or the speech models each app uses.