MacWhisper
on-device whisper transcription with lifetime updates
Perpetual
Transcription itself is local, but optional extras such as model-assisted cleanup or non-local models call external services, billed to you at the provider's rates. The larger and more accurate Whisper models are multi-gigabyte downloads and want Apple silicon with plenty of RAM. The licence is priced in euros, so VAT and the exchange rate move the final figure. Do not confuse it with "Whisper Transcription" on the Mac App Store, a separate listing whose lifetime unlock costs considerably more than the direct €64 licence.
MacWhisper is a window you drag a recording onto. It runs Whisper on your own machine, and a few minutes later you have a transcript you can search, correct and export as subtitles. The local part is not a detail: interview audio, client calls, anything under an NDA and anything with a patient or a case number in it never leaves the Mac, which removes the whole conversation about where a transcription service stores your files and what it trains on.
The free tier is real and will transcribe a file. Pro is €64, paid once, and the page says updates are included for the lifetime of the app; it adds the larger models, batch jobs, speaker labels, system-audio and meeting capture, and translation. The boundary sits at anything genuinely remote — optional cleanup or assistant features that call a cloud model run on your own API key and your own bill. Buy it from the developer's site: the separate Mac App Store listing is a different product with a much dearer lifetime unlock.
If you transcribe one thing a month, the free tier covers it. If what you really want is to edit the recording by editing the transcript, that is Descript's trick, not this one, and you will be happier paying them.
What it looks like
What it does
- Whisper models run entirely on-device and work offline
- Exports SRT, VTT, plain text and CSV for subtitling
- Batch transcription and speaker identification on Pro
- Records and transcribes system audio and meetings on Pro
- Free tier with no time limit for trying the workflow
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The facts
- Price
- €64
- Licence
- Buy once, own forever
- What you get
- One payment. Updates included, indefinitely.
- Details
- There is a free tier, described as free forever. MacWhisper Pro is €64 for one licence, paid once, and the page states it includes lifetime updates. Priced in euros, so the dollar total depends on the rate and on VAT. A separate app, "Whisper Transcription" on the Mac App Store, sells subscriptions alongside Pro Lifetime unlocks at $89.99 and $99.99 — it is not this purchase.
- Free trial
- Yes
- On Setapp
- No
- Minimum macOS
- not stated
- Developer
- Good Snooze
- Price checked
- 2026-09-22
Check it yourself - Compare with
- Otter.ai Pro, $100 a year; Descript Hobbyist, $192 a year. We do not convert currencies, so there is no break-even figure on this page.
- Price band
- priced in EUR, so it sits in no dollar band