COMPARISONEvery claim sourced · verified Jun 2026

Hedy vs QuickWhisper: the honest comparison.

Hedy is the broader meeting coach: bot-free capture, real-time prompts, and apps across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and web. QuickWhisper is the better Mac transcription workhorse, with local dictation, diarization, batch files, and a $59 one-time Pro plan. Ottex sits between them for Mac and iOS users who want dictation, meetings, and finished written output in one tool.

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.

Hedy

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Web · Limited free · $12.99/mo · $299 one-time

Hedy is strongest as a bot-free live meeting coach and searchable conversation memory, with local/offline options and broad platform support, but it is not a system-wide dictation tool and lacks proven speaker labels, hotkeys, snippets, or

Choose if

You want real-time coaching during meetings, with questions, blind-spot alerts, talking points, summaries, to-dos, and follow-up recaps after the session.
You need bot-free capture for Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, in-person conversations, or imported audio/video, with apps across iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and web
You value privacy controls: local speech recognition by default, optional local AI, optional cloud sync, GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 Type I claims.

Look elsewhere if

You need system-wide dictation that inserts polished text into any app; Hedy explicitly does not support system-wide insertion or context-aware dictation.
You need meeting transcripts with publicly claimed speaker identification, timestamp exports, or speaker labels; those claims are not present here.

QuickWhisper

Mac · Limited free · $59 one-time

QuickWhisper is a strong Mac-first, local transcription workhorse with a generous free tier and a $59 pay-once Pro plan, but it is not a polished team meeting assistant with cross-platform apps, shared workspace, calendar automation, or CRM

Choose if

You want local-first dictation, file transcription, and bot-free meeting recording on macOS 14.6+ with Apple Silicon.
You prefer a pay-once tool: Pro is $59 for advanced models, diarization, batch transcription, meeting recording, exports, integrations, API access, and watch/fd
You handle lots of audio/video files and need batch transcription, speaker labels, timestamps, and exports like TXT, PDF, MD, CSV, JSON, SRT, VTT, and more.

Look elsewhere if

You need Windows, Android, Linux, web app, or clearly supported mobile-first workflows.
You need a team meeting workspace with shared memory, calendar detection, action items, decisions, owners, follow-up emails, or CRM/task drafts from meetings.

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

QuickWhisper wins price for Mac users who want local transcription: Standard is free for Tiny and Base models with no stated limits, and Pro is $59 one-time. Hedy costs $12.99/mo for unlimited meetings or $299 one-time, with a Free plan capped at 5 hours per month and real-time insights only for the first 30 minutes per session. Ottex has the strongest flexible free path with local AI or your own key, plus $0.2/hour,

See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	QuickWhisper
Free tier	YesForever free with local models and BYOK providers.	PartialUp to 5 hours per month; Real-time AI insights (first 30 min/session)	PartialTiny and Base Models; free transcription of audio and video files using the Tiny and Base models, with no limitations.
Subscription	$14/mo$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.	$12.99/moPro adds unlimited sessions, recording import, cross-session organization, Zapier, and API integrations.	NoNo subscription plan
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).	$299 one-timeAll future updates included	$59 one-timePay-once use forever.
Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman	YesOpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.	No public claim	YesChangelog lists adding existing API keys for cloud transcription providers and AI models.
Education discount	NoSame pricing for everyone.	No public claim	No public claim

Platforms

Hedy wins platform coverage because it supports Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and web. QuickWhisper is Mac-only, which is fine for Apple Silicon transcription workflows but a hard stop for Windows, Android, Linux, and web buyers. Ottex is narrower than Hedy but broader than QuickWhisper for mobile, with Mac and iOS support.

See the evidence — 6 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	QuickWhisper
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Web	Mac
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke	YesNative Swift app, ~50MB RAM.	YesVendor describes a native macOS application.	YesQuickWhisper is distributed as a macOS app through direct download, App Store, GitHub, and Homebrew.

Meetings & team memory

Hedy wins live meeting capture for most teams because it supports bot-free capture for Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, in-person conversations, and imports across 5 platforms. QuickWhisper can record online meetings on Mac and adds speaker diarization in its $59 Pro plan, but it does not offer the same team meeting workspace or cross-platform capture. Ottex also records meetings on Mac and iOS, but its main edge is pairing

See the evidence — 15 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	QuickWhisper
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all	YesWith speaker separation.	YesHedy records live sessions and meeting conversations.	YesVendor lists recording meetings in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and others.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call	YesSystem-audio capture, no bot joins the call.	YesFeature page says no bot joins calls.	YesVendor says meetings are recorded without bots joining calls.
Speaker separation	Yes	No public claim	YesVendor lists global speakers and speaker filtering across history.
Calendar detection	YesCalendar-based meeting detection.	YesGoogle Calendar is listed in the help center and news page.	No public claim
Cross-meeting search	Yes	YesPro users can group sessions and ask questions across conversations weeks ago.	YesChangelog lists related transcriptions and semantic search across History.
Shared team memory	PartialPublic share links, not a full team workspace.	YesSharing sessions and topics is listed in the help center.	No public claim

From meeting to finished work

Hedy is better than QuickWhisper for in-meeting intelligence because it provides real-time questions, blind-spot alerts, talking points, summaries, to-dos, and follow-up recaps. QuickWhisper is stronger after the fact for transcripts, diarization, exports, batch files, watch folders, and a local REST API, but it does not claim action items, decisions, owners, follow-up emails, CRM updates, or tickets. Ottex wins when

See the evidence — 7 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	QuickWhisper
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear	YesDecisions with owners extracted.	YesGoogle Play listing says Hedy can find decisions across past conversations.	No public claim
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized	YesDrafted from templates or your own.	YesAuto-recap emails are listed for sharing insights.	No public claim
CRM update / ticket draft	YesStructured for the target app.	No public claim	No public claim
Your rough notes steer the result	YesRough notes and instructions steer the result.	YesHedy 3 added in-meeting note-taking that powers AI suggestions.	No public claim

Dictation & transcription AI

QuickWhisper beats Hedy for dictation because Hedy is not a system-wide dictation tool, while QuickWhisper offers local Mac dictation, file transcription, 100 languages, BYOK, and local models. Ottex is the broader dictation layer for Mac and iOS, with 100+ languages, local AI, BYOK, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules. Hedy still matters if dictation is secondary to meetings: it has

See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	QuickWhisper
Engines	Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.	Two local and two cloud speech recognition providersUsers can choose between private on-device transcription and cloud-based speech recognition.	Whisper, Qwen 3 ASR, Nvidia Parakeet 110M, Nvidia Nemotron, Mistral Voxtral Mini, cloud providers OpenAI, Google, DeepGram, ElevenLabs, and GroqVendor changelog lists local voice model additions and cloud transcription providers.
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine	YesWhisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.	YesLocal speech recognition and local AI processing can run on-device and offline.	YesVendor says all transcriptions are processed and stored locally on the machine.
Model selection per task	YesChoose the model per task and per provider.	YesSpeech recognition provider can be changed in Settings > Speech & AI.	YesVendor lists Whisper settings, custom GGML model import, and selectable local/cloud models.
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence	Yes100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.	Yes30+ languages · App Store listing says Hedy supports multilingual conversations while returning insights in the preferred language.	No public claim
Per-app output rules	YesPer-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.	No public claim	No public claim

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

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

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

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 uses hosted at-cost estimates ($0.2/h dictation, $0.5/h meetings); BYOK is estimated at about a third of that because you pay the model provider directly. 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.

Hedy vs QuickWhisper: which should I pick?

Pick Hedy if you want live meeting coaching across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and web. Pick QuickWhisper if you are on Mac and want local dictation, diarization, batch transcription, exports, and a $59 one-time Pro plan. Pick Ottex if you want one Mac/iOS tool for dictation, meetings, and finished outputs like emails, tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs.

Is Hedy free?

Hedy has a Free plan, but it is capped at 5 hours per month and real-time AI insights are limited to the first 30 minutes per session. That is a useful trial or occasional-use tier, not the same thing as unlimited meeting work.

Is QuickWhisper free?

QuickWhisper has a free Standard plan for Tiny and Base models, with free audio and video file transcription and no stated limits. The $59 one-time Pro plan unlocks the advanced models, speaker diarization, batch transcription, meeting recording, exports, integrations, API access, and watch folders.

How much does Hedy cost compared with QuickWhisper?

Hedy is $12.99/mo for Pro or $299 one-time for Lifetime, after its 5-hours-per-month Free plan. QuickWhisper is cheaper if you are Mac-only because Pro is $59 one-time. Ottex is free with local AI or your own key, $0.2/hour on Ottex Provider, or $14/mo for Pro.

Is Hedy safer or is QuickWhisper more private?

Hedy has stronger stated privacy controls for meetings: local speech recognition by default, optional local AI, optional cloud sync, and GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 Type I claims. QuickWhisper is local-first on Mac and supports BYOK, which is compelling if your main privacy concern is keeping transcription local. Ottex also supports local AI and BYOK for Mac/iOS users who want privacy-oriented dictation and meetings.

Is it worth switching from Hedy to QuickWhisper?

Switch from Hedy to QuickWhisper if you mostly transcribe files, need Mac dictation, speaker diarization, batch processing, watch folders, or want to pay $59 once. Stay with Hedy if you rely on live coaching, cross-platform access, and meeting recaps across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and web.

Does Hedy or QuickWhisper work on Windows or Android?

Hedy works on Windows and Android, as well as Mac, iOS, and web. QuickWhisper is Mac-only, so it is not the right pick for Windows, Android, Linux, or web workflows.

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