The short answer
MacWhisper is a Mac app from Jordi Bruin and Good Snooze that turns audio and video files, recordings and online meetings into text on your own Mac. At the time of checking, its pricing page shows Free at 0 euros, free forever, and Pro at 64 euros for one license, paid once, with lifetime updates. Its privacy policy says no data leaves your device beyond anonymous license checks, and its docs list the optional cloud features that do send data out.
Fraze is a much smaller app: live captions with a translation under each line, both steps running on your computer. Fraze does not run Whisper, and it cannot open a file or a recording. MacWhisper Pro lists realtime captions with live translation too, so the two overlap there, and most of what MacWhisper does, Fraze does not.
What MacWhisper does
- Drag in a file and get a transcript. Its pages list mp3, wav, m4a, ogg, opus, mov and mp4, and 100 transcription languages.
- Record from the Mac microphone and transcribe it.
- System wide dictation into any text field, in the direct download version.
- Pro records and transcribes system audio, and can spot a meeting in Zoom, Teams, Webex, Skype or Discord and offer to record it. The site says no bots join. The docs call automatic meeting recording a beta.
- Pro adds speaker recognition, batch jobs, YouTube URLs, translated subtitles, watched folders, a command line tool and webhooks.
- Pro lists realtime captions and subtitles with live translation, from the microphone or system audio, and realtime meeting transcription with speaker recognition on some models.
The models run on the Mac by default. The Gumroad listing names Whisper, NVIDIA Parakeet v2 and v3 and Qwen3-ASR. It asks for macOS 14 or later, recommends M-series Macs and says the app also works on Intel Macs. Parakeet needs an M-series Mac, and Qwen3-ASR needs macOS 26 as well. For the Medium and Large models it says your Mac should have more than 8 GB of RAM. It adds that performance on older Intel Macs can be bad, and that the developer has not been able to test this properly.
For reviews, the Gumroad listing shows 4.5 out of 5 from about 2,600 ratings at the time of checking, and the US App Store listing shows 3.9 from 160.
MacWhisper pricing at the time of checking
The pricing page lists two tiers. Free is 0 euros, free forever: file transcription, microphone recording, 100 languages, system wide dictation, and export to .txt, .srt and .vtt. Pro is 64 euros for one license, paid once, with lifetime updates. On the same day the Gumroad checkout, where you buy it, listed the single Pro license at 65 euros.
The Gumroad listing adds volume packs, from 54 euros a license for 5 down to 44 for 50, 25 percent off for students, journalists and non-profits on request, and a refund if you write within 7 days. Whisper Transcription, the App Store version, is free to download and sells Pro as in-app purchases: the docs mention weekly, monthly and yearly subscriptions, and the listing also shows a Pro Lifetime purchase. A Gumroad license key does not work in it. Prices change, so check before buying.
Is MacWhisper safe?
Here is what its own documents say. It comes from a named developer in the Netherlands. The privacy policy, last updated on February 14, 2024, says MacWhisper does its work on your device, that no data leaves it, and that the anonymous events it can send are for checking licenses. The site also warns that scam sites pretend to be MacWhisper and may carry malware, and that purchases only go through Gumroad or the App Store.
Their support article on keeping transcriptions private spells out the exceptions. Transcription and speaker identification run on your Mac by default. But pick a cloud transcription provider and the audio goes there; use DeepL translation or a non-local AI prompt and the transcript goes to that service. So what leaves the Mac depends on which features you switch on. And in some places you have to tell people before you transcribe a conversation.
MacWhisper vs superwhisper
They overlap more than the names suggest, but they start from opposite ends. Superwhisper's own site describes it as AI voice to text for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, built around dictation: hold a shortcut, speak, and the edited text is pasted into the app you are using. Its plans also list meeting recording and, in Pro, transcribing audio and video files, and it is sold monthly, yearly or as a lifetime plan. MacWhisper starts from files, recordings and meetings, with dictation as one feature among many, and runs on the Mac, iPhone and iPad.
MacWhisper and Fraze side by side
| Main job | Live captions | Runs on | Price at the time of checking | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MacWhisper | Files, recordings, meetings, dictation | In Pro, with live translation, mic or system audio | Mac; iPhone and iPad as Whisper Transcription | Free tier, Pro 64 euros once (65 on Gumroad) |
| Fraze | Live captions and translated subtitles | The whole app, translation under each line | Apple silicon Macs, Windows 11 PCs | 30 free minutes, then $29.99 once or $2.99 a month |
Being live only is the whole design of Fraze. It listens to system audio, a single app on macOS or the microphone, and floats a caption window over your call or video. Both steps run on your computer, so after the first language download it works with Wi-Fi off. Fraze transcribes 25 European languages, more on macOS 26 and later, against the 100 MacWhisper lists.
MacWhisper's pages do not say which languages its live translation covers or where that translation runs, and the Live Captions part of its docs held no articles at the time of checking. So this page does not compare the two on that.
Pick MacWhisper when
- You have files or recordings to transcribe. Fraze is live only and cannot open a file.
- You want to know who said what. Fraze has no speaker labels.
- You want a summary or a chat about the transcript. MacWhisper's site shows both, through an AI service you connect. Fraze has neither.
- You want to dictate into any app on your Mac. Fraze is not a dictation tool.
- You want subtitle files, batch jobs, watched folders or a command line tool.
- You have an Intel Mac, need a phone app, or need one of the 100 languages MacWhisper lists.
Fraze is worth a look when the only job is reading speech as it happens: a call in any app, a stream, or someone in the room. The first 30 minutes are free, no card, then $29.99 once or $2.99 a month, both unlimited. Since MacWhisper Pro lists live captions with translation too, the fair test is to try both on your own calls.
Questions
Is MacWhisper free?
Yes. The pricing page lists Free at 0 euros, free forever, with file transcription, microphone recording, 100 languages, dictation and subtitle export. System audio, meeting recording, speaker recognition, batch jobs, YouTube and translation need Pro.
How much does MacWhisper cost?
At the time of checking, the pricing page shows Pro at 64 euros for one license, paid once, with lifetime updates, and the Gumroad checkout listed 65 euros. The App Store version sells Pro as in-app purchases instead.
Is MacWhisper safe to use?
Its privacy policy says the app works on your device and that no data leaves it beyond anonymous license checks. Its docs name the optional features that do send data out: cloud transcription, DeepL translation and AI prompts.
MacWhisper vs superwhisper, which do I need?
Superwhisper's site presents it as voice to text for writing in any app, on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. MacWhisper is built around files, recordings and meetings on Apple devices. Each also lists some of what the other does, so pick by the job you do most.
What is a MacWhisper alternative for live translated subtitles?
MacWhisper Pro lists realtime captions with live translation itself, so check that first. Fraze is an option if live subtitles are all you need: it captions anything your computer plays, or the microphone, and translates about 50 languages to or from English under each line, on your computer.