Native Mac app that transcribes audio and video files locally with Whisper. Free tier included; Pro is a one-time €59 with batch processing and speaker labels.
MacWhisper is the app most Mac users land on when they have a recording and need a transcript. It wraps OpenAI's Whisper models in a native Mac interface, runs entirely on your machine, and charges once rather than monthly. Understand what it is before you buy: this is a transcription app for files, not a dictation app for typing into your editor. It has a system-wide dictation feature, but that's a side dish.
At a glance
Platforms
macOS only
Pricing
Free tier; Pro €59 one-time on Gumroad. App Store build ("Whisper Transcription") is $29.99/year or $99.99 lifetime
Free tier
Tiny and base Whisper models, single-file transcription
Processing
On-device
Languages
100+, plus translation on Pro
Offline
Yes, fully
Integrations
Watch folders, YouTube URLs, system audio capture, subtitle and transcript export formats
Accuracy on files. Whisper Large v3 running locally is roughly twice as accurate as Apple's built-in transcription, and MacWhisper exposes the model choice rather than hiding it.
Batch and watch folders. Point it at a directory of recordings and walk away. For anyone processing interviews or lecture recordings in volume, this is the feature that justifies the licence.
Speaker diarisation. Pro labels who said what, which most cheap transcription tools don't do locally.
One-time price. €59 buys it outright with lifetime updates. Against per-minute cloud transcription services, it pays for itself in a couple of long recordings.
Export formats. SRT, VTT, plain text, and more, which matters if you're subtitling rather than just reading.
Where it falls short
It is not a dictation app. The system-wide dictation exists, but there's a perceptible wait — reviewers measure roughly two and a half seconds per utterance — because it transcribes on release rather than streaming. If you want to press a key and watch words appear, this is the wrong tool.
Mac only. No Windows, no Linux, no mobile.
Two products, confusingly. The Gumroad build and the App Store build ("Whisper Transcription") have different names, different pricing models, and the sandboxed App Store version is more limited.
Local means slow on old hardware. Large v3 on an Intel Mac is a long wait. Apple Silicon is effectively required for the good models.
The free tier's models are weak. Tiny and base will mangle anything technical.
Pricing
Free covers occasional single files on the small models. Pro at €59 (about $69) is a one-time Gumroad purchase that unlocks Large v3, Turbo, and Medium, plus batch transcription, speaker recognition, system audio recording, watch folders, translation, YouTube URL transcription, and AI summaries. The separate App Store edition sells as $29.99/year or $99.99 lifetime.
Who it's for
Anyone on a Mac with a pile of recordings to turn into text, especially if privacy or volume rules out per-minute cloud services. Journalists, researchers, and podcasters are the core audience. If what you actually want is to talk instead of typing, get superwhisper or VoiceInk instead — or run both, which is a common setup.
Last verified: 9 August 2026.
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