vs
Amical vs Otter.ai
Otter.ai is a live meeting transcription service with speaker labels and AI summaries. Amical is for live dictation while you write. Different products solving different problems, and many people use both.
The short version
Pick Amical if…
Pick Amical if your need is talking into apps while you write code, email, chat, or documents, with text appearing instantly at the cursor on macOS, Windows, Android, or iOS under a local-first, open-source pipeline.
Pick Otter.ai if…
Pick Otter if your need is capturing meetings, calls, and interviews with speaker-labelled transcripts, AI summaries, and shareable notes afterwards.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Amical | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Live dictation into apps | Meeting and call transcription |
| Live meeting transcription | No, not the focus | |
| Speaker diarisation | ||
| AI meeting summaries | ||
| Push-to-talk into any app | ||
| Local-first by default | No, cloud-based | |
| Open source | Yes, MIT licensed | No, closed source |
| Price | Free | Free tier · paid plans |
| Platforms | macOS · Windows · Android · iOS | Web · macOS · Windows · mobile |
| Data leaves your machine | Yes, stored in cloud |
Where Amical wins
Live dictation, not meeting capture
Amical is built for the moment you are writing in your editor, chat, or email and want to talk instead of typing. It is not trying to replace your meeting notetaker. The two tools sit naturally side by side: Amical for typing by voice, Otter for capturing conversations and turning them into shareable notes afterwards.
Local-first by default, cloud optional
Amical processes microphone audio on-device by default and the code is MIT licensed on GitHub. Cloud transcription or rewrites are an explicit opt-in when you want them. Otter is a hosted service that always uploads audio to its cloud and is closed source — a different posture you should weigh up against your own privacy needs.
Free and community-built
Amical is free with no paid tier and no usage cap, built in the open by the people who use it. Otter has a free tier with limits and several paid plans for individuals and teams. For pure dictation while you work, you get Amical without ever needing to sign up for a Pro plan or hand over a credit card to anyone.
Experience the future of dictation
Local and Cloud Models
Choose from powerful cloud-based AI models or run everything locally for maximum privacy and control. Switch seamlessly between providers to find the perfect balance of speed, accuracy, and security.
Custom Vocabulary
Customize the AI to recognize your specific terminology, jargon, and proper nouns for industry-specific accuracy and personalized transcription results.
Project PhoenixMcConaughey
CI/CD pipelinek8s
SOC2PostgreSQL
JiraROI metrics
⌘Space
⌥⌘A
CtrlAltSpace
Custom Shortcuts
Create personalized voice commands and shortcuts to streamline your workflow and boost productivity with hands-free operation.
Multi Language Support
Transcribe and dictate in 100+ languages with native-level accuracy. Switch between languages seamlessly or use mixed-language dictation.
Frequently asked questions
Other Amical comparisons
Built for the way you work
Loved by builders
From San Francisco to Tokyo — what real users are saying about Amical.
ごめん、勝間さん。
ScribesよりAmicalだわ
This is really an amazing app, and I'm super impressed with how smooth it works, and their amazing support. It's just fast and accurate, and it formats the text depending on what application I'm using. This is really my go-to blathering app, and it makes my day so sweet and easy. Read on AppSumo →
【音声入力】
現状Windowsでも使えるおすすめはこの3つ。
・Amical
・Aqua Voice
・Typeless
個人的には慣れもあるけどAqua Voiceが好き。Typelessは整形キツめなのが難点だけどUIUXが良い。Amicalはローカル完結で無料なのがデカい。
音声入力は移り変わりが激しいので年払いはしない方がいいです。
[Free] Amical for voice input is way too convenient. Reviewing the good and bad of Amical — and walking through installation too.
Translated
有益なアプリをありがとうございます☺️
r/LocalLLMu/todokanai_koi
There's also github.com/amicalhq/amical
Switched to it a couple of weeks back, sleek UI and decent feature set. Works offline and on both windows and mac.
Amical - Open-source AI dictation app (@amical_app)
Cossmology Profile: dub.sh/Vk7tPkn
Key People: Haritabh Singh, Naomi Chopra (@NaomiChopra)
#SpeechRecognition #OpenSource #OSS #COSS
ごめん、勝間さん。
ScribesよりAmicalだわ
This is really an amazing app, and I'm super impressed with how smooth it works, and their amazing support. It's just fast and accurate, and it formats the text depending on what application I'm using. This is really my go-to blathering app, and it makes my day so sweet and easy. Read on AppSumo →
【音声入力】
現状Windowsでも使えるおすすめはこの3つ。
・Amical
・Aqua Voice
・Typeless
個人的には慣れもあるけどAqua Voiceが好き。Typelessは整形キツめなのが難点だけどUIUXが良い。Amicalはローカル完結で無料なのがデカい。
音声入力は移り変わりが激しいので年払いはしない方がいいです。
[Free] Amical for voice input is way too convenient. Reviewing the good and bad of Amical — and walking through installation too.
Translated
有益なアプリをありがとうございます☺️
r/LocalLLMu/todokanai_koi
There's also github.com/amicalhq/amical
Switched to it a couple of weeks back, sleek UI and decent feature set. Works offline and on both windows and mac.
Amical - Open-source AI dictation app (@amical_app)
Cossmology Profile: dub.sh/Vk7tPkn
Key People: Haritabh Singh, Naomi Chopra (@NaomiChopra)
#SpeechRecognition #OpenSource #OSS #COSS
ごめん、勝間さん。
ScribesよりAmicalだわ
This is really an amazing app, and I'm super impressed with how smooth it works, and their amazing support. It's just fast and accurate, and it formats the text depending on what application I'm using. This is really my go-to blathering app, and it makes my day so sweet and easy. Read on AppSumo →
【音声入力】
現状Windowsでも使えるおすすめはこの3つ。
・Amical
・Aqua Voice
・Typeless
個人的には慣れもあるけどAqua Voiceが好き。Typelessは整形キツめなのが難点だけどUIUXが良い。Amicalはローカル完結で無料なのがデカい。
音声入力は移り変わりが激しいので年払いはしない方がいいです。
[Free] Amical for voice input is way too convenient. Reviewing the good and bad of Amical — and walking through installation too.
Translated
有益なアプリをありがとうございます☺️
r/LocalLLMu/todokanai_koi
There's also github.com/amicalhq/amical
Switched to it a couple of weeks back, sleek UI and decent feature set. Works offline and on both windows and mac.
Amical - Open-source AI dictation app (@amical_app)
Cossmology Profile: dub.sh/Vk7tPkn
Key People: Haritabh Singh, Naomi Chopra (@NaomiChopra)
#SpeechRecognition #OpenSource #OSS #COSS
ごめん、勝間さん。
ScribesよりAmicalだわ
This is really an amazing app, and I'm super impressed with how smooth it works, and their amazing support. It's just fast and accurate, and it formats the text depending on what application I'm using. This is really my go-to blathering app, and it makes my day so sweet and easy. Read on AppSumo →
【音声入力】
現状Windowsでも使えるおすすめはこの3つ。
・Amical
・Aqua Voice
・Typeless
個人的には慣れもあるけどAqua Voiceが好き。Typelessは整形キツめなのが難点だけどUIUXが良い。Amicalはローカル完結で無料なのがデカい。
音声入力は移り変わりが激しいので年払いはしない方がいいです。
[Free] Amical for voice input is way too convenient. Reviewing the good and bad of Amical — and walking through installation too.
Translated
有益なアプリをありがとうございます☺️
r/LocalLLMu/todokanai_koi
There's also github.com/amicalhq/amical
Switched to it a couple of weeks back, sleek UI and decent feature set. Works offline and on both windows and mac.
Amical - Open-source AI dictation app (@amical_app)
Cossmology Profile: dub.sh/Vk7tPkn
Key People: Haritabh Singh, Naomi Chopra (@NaomiChopra)
#SpeechRecognition #OpenSource #OSS #COSS
Not sure why nobody's talking about it, but there's a free AI voice input app that's incredibly usable. It's called Amical — I use it daily.
Translated
tried amical (free & open source) alternative to whispr flow, aquavoice because they both charged me over $10
and the fact that it lets me run everything locally so nothing leaves my machine is crazyyy🤯
r/macappsu/IAM-rooted
nice comparison. been using amical lately and surprised it's not mentioned more. it's open source, runs locally or with cloud models, and actually formats stuff based on what app you're in. feels way more usable than just whisper or vosk on their own.
I was using VoiceDash, currently I'm using Blip AI, and now I'm testing Amical. So far, Amical is really, really good in recognizing my language and fantastic in recognizing the English language. I'm really impressed in this short period of time of using it. Read on AppSumo →
Amical for voice input is great — runs locally so it's super fast. I was on Aqua Voice but the 0.5s lag between speaking and seeing text was stressful every time. Local model accuracy is slightly lower but well within acceptable.
Translated
🎊 Big news! Amical @amical_app reached 1,000 stars on GitHub! High five! 🙌
Type 10x faster with AI-powered voice dictation
openalternative.co/amical
Not sure why nobody's talking about it, but there's a free AI voice input app that's incredibly usable. It's called Amical — I use it daily.
Translated
tried amical (free & open source) alternative to whispr flow, aquavoice because they both charged me over $10
and the fact that it lets me run everything locally so nothing leaves my machine is crazyyy🤯
r/macappsu/IAM-rooted
nice comparison. been using amical lately and surprised it's not mentioned more. it's open source, runs locally or with cloud models, and actually formats stuff based on what app you're in. feels way more usable than just whisper or vosk on their own.
I was using VoiceDash, currently I'm using Blip AI, and now I'm testing Amical. So far, Amical is really, really good in recognizing my language and fantastic in recognizing the English language. I'm really impressed in this short period of time of using it. Read on AppSumo →
Amical for voice input is great — runs locally so it's super fast. I was on Aqua Voice but the 0.5s lag between speaking and seeing text was stressful every time. Local model accuracy is slightly lower but well within acceptable.
Translated
🎊 Big news! Amical @amical_app reached 1,000 stars on GitHub! High five! 🙌
Type 10x faster with AI-powered voice dictation
openalternative.co/amical
Not sure why nobody's talking about it, but there's a free AI voice input app that's incredibly usable. It's called Amical — I use it daily.
Translated
tried amical (free & open source) alternative to whispr flow, aquavoice because they both charged me over $10
and the fact that it lets me run everything locally so nothing leaves my machine is crazyyy🤯
r/macappsu/IAM-rooted
nice comparison. been using amical lately and surprised it's not mentioned more. it's open source, runs locally or with cloud models, and actually formats stuff based on what app you're in. feels way more usable than just whisper or vosk on their own.
I was using VoiceDash, currently I'm using Blip AI, and now I'm testing Amical. So far, Amical is really, really good in recognizing my language and fantastic in recognizing the English language. I'm really impressed in this short period of time of using it. Read on AppSumo →
Amical for voice input is great — runs locally so it's super fast. I was on Aqua Voice but the 0.5s lag between speaking and seeing text was stressful every time. Local model accuracy is slightly lower but well within acceptable.
Translated
🎊 Big news! Amical @amical_app reached 1,000 stars on GitHub! High five! 🙌
Type 10x faster with AI-powered voice dictation
openalternative.co/amical
Not sure why nobody's talking about it, but there's a free AI voice input app that's incredibly usable. It's called Amical — I use it daily.
Translated
tried amical (free & open source) alternative to whispr flow, aquavoice because they both charged me over $10
and the fact that it lets me run everything locally so nothing leaves my machine is crazyyy🤯
r/macappsu/IAM-rooted
nice comparison. been using amical lately and surprised it's not mentioned more. it's open source, runs locally or with cloud models, and actually formats stuff based on what app you're in. feels way more usable than just whisper or vosk on their own.
I was using VoiceDash, currently I'm using Blip AI, and now I'm testing Amical. So far, Amical is really, really good in recognizing my language and fantastic in recognizing the English language. I'm really impressed in this short period of time of using it. Read on AppSumo →
Amical for voice input is great — runs locally so it's super fast. I was on Aqua Voice but the 0.5s lag between speaking and seeing text was stressful every time. Local model accuracy is slightly lower but well within acceptable.
Translated
🎊 Big news! Amical @amical_app reached 1,000 stars on GitHub! High five! 🙌
Type 10x faster with AI-powered voice dictation
openalternative.co/amical