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Best free & open-source transcription (2026)

The best free and open-source transcription tools — Whisper, Buzz, Meetily and more. Run them locally at no cost, with full source available.

Ranked by Pricing / value · methodology v2026.06 · updated

  1. Buzz

    local-app Pricing / value: 10/10

    6.1

  2. OpenAI Whisper (open source)

    local-app Pricing / value: 10/10

    5.6

  3. Meetily

    on-prem Pricing / value: 9/10

    6.8

  4. NoParrot Featured

    on-prem Pricing / value: 6/10

    8.8

Free and open-source transcription has caught up with the paid cloud services for accuracy — they all build on Whisper-class models. The difference is packaging: a raw model, a desktop app, or a full self-hosted product. We rank this category by pricing / value, so the genuinely free tools lead.

Open source also means privacy by default: the code is auditable and everything runs locally. NoParrot appears here as an open-core option (MIT core) for teams that outgrow a single-user desktop app.