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A free Otter.ai alternative on the Mac, for recordings you already have

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YapToText is a free Otter.ai alternative on the Mac for two jobs: turning recordings you already have into text, on your Mac, and dictating into any app. It is not a meeting assistant. It does not join calls, label speakers or add timestamps, and Otter does all three, so if your work is live meetings with several people, Otter is built for that and YapToText is not. I built YapToText, so read this with that in mind. Every Otter fact here comes from otter.ai and Otter's help center, read on October 5, 2026.

My hands make typing difficult, so I dictate every day, and file transcription grew out of the same need: a recording is a dictation that happened somewhere else. I wanted both to stay on my own machine, with no minutes to count.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 10 sections
  1. Steps
  2. What Otter is, in its own words
  3. Side by side
  4. What you keep, and what changes
  5. Transcribe a recording without Otter
    1. Step 1: Install YapToText
    2. Step 2: Put the recording on your Mac
    3. Step 3: Choose the mode, then drop the file
    4. Step 4: Take the text
  6. Dictate your notes instead of recording them
    1. Step 1: Let it type into other apps
    2. Step 2: Click, tap, talk, tap
  7. Which one I would pick
  8. What each one cannot do
  9. The short version
  10. Questions

Steps

  1. Install YapToText from the Mac App Store and open it.
  2. Save the recording as a file on your Mac; drag a Voice Memos recording to a Finder window.
  3. Open the Utility page and, in the Transcribe a file card's mode menu, pick Raw Transcription or Note.
  4. Drop the file on the card, or click Choose File.
  5. Click Copy, or Insert to type the text into the app you were last using.

What Otter is, in its own words

Otter calls itself a meeting agent. Its Otter Notetaker joins your Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings, automatically if you connect your calendar, and records, transcribes and captures them in real time. Around the transcript come summaries, action items and Otter AI Chat, which answers questions about a meeting during or after it.

  • Desktop. The Otter desktop app for Mac and Windows records meetings without a bot joining. Otter's help center lists macOS 12.3 or later and Windows 10 or later.
  • Phone. The iOS and Android apps record a conversation in the room and transcribe it as you go.
  • Files. You can import audio and video files of up to 5 GB each, from MP3 and M4A, Voice Memos included, to MP4 and MOV.
  • Speakers. You tag who is talking, and Otter's help center says each speaker you tag is one it can recognize in future conversations. Exports can show speaker names and timestamps.

YapToText is a different kind of app. It is a dictation app for the Mac that also transcribes files: one key types what you say at your cursor in any app, and the Utility page turns an audio or video file into plain text. Otter is built around meetings with other people; YapToText is built around your own words and the recordings you already have.

Side by side

Checked October 5, 2026, on Otter's own pages, otter.ai and help.otter.ai. Prices and limits change, so check before you switch.

YapToTextOtter.ai
PriceFree, no paid tierBasic free; Pro $8.33 per user a month billed annually, or $16.99 month to month, with 1,200 minutes a month; Business and Enterprise for teams
The free versionEverything, with no minute cap300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, and 3 file imports per account, not per month
Where speech is processedOn the MacIn Otter's cloud, with data stored on AWS in the US West region
Without an internet connectionWorks, in the App Store buildKeeps recording on the device; the transcript comes after it reconnects
Joins Zoom, Meet and TeamsNoYes, Otter Notetaker
Live transcript of a meetingNoYes
Speaker labelsNoYes, learned from speakers you tag
ExportsCopy or Insert plain textTXT on Basic; DOCX, PDF and SRT on paid plans, with speaker names and timestamps as options
Transcribes a file you haveYes, any audio or video file macOS can decodeYes, up to 5 GB a file
Dictation into any appYes, from one keyNot described on the pages I read
Languages29 plus auto-detectEnglish, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Simplified Chinese
PlatformsMac onlyWeb, Mac and Windows desktop apps, iOS and Android
Mac requirementmacOS 14 or later, Apple siliconmacOS 12.3 or later for the desktop app
Open sourceYes, GPL-3.0Not stated

Otter's help center counts the 3 free imports per account, not per month, and on Basic you see up to 30 minutes of each conversation's transcript. For recordings you already have, the limit that matters is Otter's 3 free imports, and YapToText has no limit at all.

What you keep, and what changes

Here is the switch job by job: what Otter does first, then what YapToText does instead.

  • Transcribing a recording you already have. Otter imports the file and transcribes it in its cloud. YapToText's Transcribe a file card, on the Utility page, takes any audio or video file macOS can decode, recognized by its content rather than its extension, and transcribes it on your Mac with Whisper Large v3 Turbo (Q5). A recording over 4 minutes is cut at quiet moments into pieces of about 2 minutes. The guide to transcribing an audio file on a Mac lists the formats.
  • Who said what. Otter labels speakers and learns the ones you tag. YapToText gives you the words, with no speaker labels and no timestamps. For an interview where you only need what was said, that is enough; for minutes that must say who said it, it is not.
  • Summaries. Otter writes summaries and action items and answers questions in AI Chat. In YapToText, pick Note in the card's mode menu before you drop the file, and the text comes back as short headings and bullets, with action items pulled into a list and nothing added that you did not say. Send below hands a plain transcript to the Transform text card, and the AI action card can run Summarize on it.
  • Your own writing. The Otter pages I read describe recording and transcribing conversations, not typing at your cursor in other apps. That is YapToText's main job: tap Right Command, talk, tap again, and the words land in Mail, Slack, Docs or wherever you were typing. The guide to dictating into any app goes app by app.
  • Where your audio goes. Otter's help center says it stores data on AWS in the US West region, encrypted with AES-256, and that live transcription needs an internet connection; if the connection drops, Otter keeps recording on the device and uploads when it reconnects. To be fair to Otter, it says it trains its models only on de-identified data, has a person review a recording only with your explicit permission, and keeps a SOC 2 Type 2 report. In YapToText your audio never leaves the Mac, and the only network use is a model download you start yourself. The offline dictation guide shows how to test that with Wi-Fi off.
  • Price. Otter's Basic plan is free with 300 minutes a month, and Pro is $8.33 per user a month billed annually. YapToText is free with no paid tier, and the optional tips buy no features.
App Store poster headed Nothing leaves your Mac, over YapToText's AI Models page with both models marked Included.
Figure 1. No cloud to upload to: both models show as Included on the AI Models page, so a recording is transcribed on the Mac it is already on.

You give up live meetings, speaker labels and exports, and your recordings stop leaving the Mac.

Transcribe a recording without Otter

Four steps, and none of them needs an account or an upload. Pick the mode, drop the file, take the text.

Step 1: Install YapToText

  • You: Get YapToText from the Mac App Store and open it.
  • YapToText: Walks you through a short setup. Both models are already inside the App Store version, so there is nothing else to download.
  • Check: The capybara is sitting in your menu bar.

Step 2: Put the recording on your Mac

  • You: For a Voice Memos recording, drag it from Voice Memos to a Finder window. For anything else, save the file to a folder you can find.
  • macOS: Saves the file to that folder.
  • Check: The file is in the folder you chose.

Step 3: Choose the mode, then drop the file

  • You: Open the Utility page. In the Transcribe a file card's mode menu, pick Raw Transcription for the words exactly as spoken, or Note for headings and bullets. Then drop the file on the card, or click Choose File.
  • YapToText: Reads the file by its content, transcribes it on your Mac and runs the mode you picked.
  • Check: The text appears in the card. A file with no speech in it says so instead.

Step 4: Take the text

  • You: Click Copy, or Insert to type the text into the app you were last using.
  • YapToText: Hands over plain text. Send below passes it to the next card, where you can run it through another mode.
  • Check: The words are where you wanted them.

Before a recording full of names, add them on the Dictionaries page: a dictionary shapes what the app hears, not just what it types, and the Dictionaries guide shows how. Transcribe file is also one click from the menu bar panel, and that route files the transcript in History under the file's name, which the Utility card does not. The Utility page guide covers the difference.

YapToText's menu bar panel: Start Dictation, mode and microphone pickers, Transcribe file, Regenerate and Insert last.
Figure 2. The other route: Transcribe file in the menu bar panel uses your current mode, copies the text and files it in History under the file's name.

Dictate your notes instead of recording them

A lot of what people record is one person thinking out loud: a memo to self, a draft, notes after a meeting. If the words are yours, you can skip the recording and dictate them straight into the app they belong in. A note you dictate is already text, so there is nothing to transcribe later.

Step 1: Let it type into other apps

  • You: On the YapToText Home page, in the Get set up card, press Continue next to Microphone, then Grant next to Accessibility.
  • macOS: Asks once for the microphone, then opens System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility, where you switch YapToText on yourself. An app cannot do that part for you.
  • Check: The Get set up card leaves the Home page. Without Accessibility, every dictation goes to the clipboard instead of your cursor.

Step 2: Click, tap, talk, tap

  • You: Click into a note, an email or a document, tap Right Command, say what you want to write, and tap it again.
  • YapToText: Shows your voice as a wave and your words as they form, then types the finished text at your cursor.
  • Check: The words land where your cursor was. If the wave stays flat, the app is not hearing your microphone yet.

Say: At the end of your notes after a meeting, while Auto mode is on.

as a bullet list

What happens: The phrase is not typed. Auto mode turns what you said into a bulleted list. On its own, Auto never makes a list.

There is no word cap and no silence timeout by default, so a pause to think does not end the dictation. The first dictation guide covers the floating panel and the keys that work while you talk, and the Auto mode guide lists the other phrases it follows.

Which one I would pick

Pick by the job, not the app. Climb this ladder, smallest commitment first:

  1. A recording of one person, or a conversation you only need the words from. YapToText's Transcribe a file card, free, on your Mac, with no minute cap.
  2. Your own notes, drafts and messages. Dictate them with YapToText into the app they belong in, and skip the recording.
  3. Something you are recording right now, on your own Mac. Apple's Notes records audio into a note with a live transcript on a Mac with M1 or later, and Voice Memos shows a transcript on macOS 15 or later with Apple silicon. The guide to transcribing Voice Memos on a Mac has the steps.
  4. Subtitles, or speakers on a file you already have. MacWhisper's free version exports .srt and .vtt subtitles, and MacWhisper Pro adds speaker recognition and records Zoom, Teams and other calls, for €64 once. The MacWhisper comparison has the details.
  5. Live meetings with speaker names, summaries and a shared transcript. Otter. That is the job it is built for, and its free plan covers 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes at a time, which is enough to try it.

Nothing stops you from using both: Otter for the meetings, YapToText for everything you write and every file you would rather not upload. Use Otter for meetings with other people, and YapToText for your own words and the recordings you already have.

What each one cannot do

  • YapToText. It does not join or record calls, record the Mac's system audio, label speakers, add timestamps or export subtitles, and it takes one file at a time. It does not summarize a meeting the way Otter does, though Note mode shapes a transcript into headings and bullets. It runs only on the Mac, needs Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later, and nothing is claimed for Intel Macs. The Homebrew build ships without models, so download a speech model on the AI Models page before the first file.
  • Otter. It transcribes in its cloud, so a live transcript needs a connection. Its free plan stops at 300 minutes a month, shows up to 30 minutes of each conversation, allows 3 imports per account and exports only TXT. It transcribes six languages. The pages I read describe no way to dictate into other apps.

If you need any of Otter's meeting features, Otter is the better choice, and it is good software. YapToText gives you the words, not who said them or when.

The short version

  • Who should switch. Anyone who uses Otter mostly for recordings they already have, or for their own notes, and wants that free, on device and without a minute count.
  • Who should stay. Anyone who needs live meeting transcripts, speaker labels, summaries or exports, or works on Windows or a phone.
  • What it costs. YapToText is free. Otter's Basic plan is free with 300 minutes a month, and Pro is $8.33 per user a month billed annually, checked October 5, 2026.
  • What it takes. Install, drop a file on the Transcribe a file card, take the text. No account and no upload.

Otter for meetings, YapToText for your own words and the recordings you already have. If something here no longer matches Otter's site, tell me on GitHub. Every issue gets read.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Sources

Questions

Is there a free alternative to Otter.ai for Mac?

For recordings you already have and for dictation, yes. YapToText is free on Apple silicon Macs, transcribes audio and video files on the Mac with no minute cap, and types what you say into any app. It does not record meetings or label speakers, which Otter does.

What are the limits of Otter's free plan?

Otter's help center says the Basic free plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, and 3 audio or video file imports per account, not per month. Basic exports only TXT. Checked October 5, 2026.

Does Otter.ai work offline?

Not for transcription. Otter's help center says live transcription needs an internet connection; without one, Otter keeps recording on the device and uploads when it reconnects. YapToText transcribes on the Mac and works with Wi-Fi off.

How can I transcribe audio on a Mac without Otter?

Open YapToText's Utility page, pick Raw Transcription or Note in the Transcribe a file card, and drop the file on it. The text appears in the card, transcribed on your Mac, with Copy and Insert below. On macOS 15 or later with Apple silicon, Voice Memos also shows a transcript of its own recordings.

Can YapToText record meetings or label speakers like Otter?

No. YapToText does not join calls, record system audio, label speakers or add timestamps. A file transcript is plain text. For live meetings with speaker names, Otter is the better tool.

How much is Otter Pro?

Otter's pricing page lists Pro at $8.33 per user a month billed annually, or $16.99 month to month, with 1,200 transcription minutes a month. Checked October 5, 2026; prices change, so check its site.