Stays on your device. WebGPU (or WebAssembly fallback) runs Whisper in your browser. No upload, no signup, unlimited use.
Why people replace Otter.ai with an on-device transcriber
Otter.ai is a meeting assistant, and a good one, but its free plan is built to run out: as of August 2026 it caps you at 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, and 3 file imports for the lifetime of the account. Every recording is also processed on Otter's servers, which is a problem the moment the audio is an interview under embargo, a legal or medical conversation, or an unreleased track.
The tool above takes the opposite approach. It downloads OpenAI's open source Whisper model into your browser once, then transcribes everything on your own hardware. Nothing is uploaded, so there is nothing for us to cap, log, or charge for. Unlimited minutes, files up to 500 MB, timestamped output, live dictation, and export to TXT, SRT, VTT, or JSON. No account at any point.
Otter.ai free plan vs this tool
| Otter.ai (free plan) | PocketWebTools | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly limit | 300 minutes | None |
| Per-recording limit | 30 minutes per conversation | None (files up to 500 MB) |
| File imports | 3 for the account lifetime | Unlimited |
| Account required | Yes | No |
| Where audio is processed | Otter's cloud servers | On your device (WebGPU or WASM) |
| Works offline | No | Yes, once the model is cached |
| Free exports | Varies by plan | TXT, SRT, VTT, JSON |
| Languages | English plus a small set | 99, with translate to English |
| Meeting bot and speaker ID | Yes | No |
Otter.ai plan details as of August 2026; check their pricing page for current caps.
The honest trade-off
If your team lives in back-to-back Zoom calls and needs a bot that joins automatically, tags who said what, and files a summary into a shared workspace, Otter earns its subscription and this page will not talk you out of it. But most transcription jobs are simpler than that: a recording you already have, that needs to become accurate text, ideally without joining a queue, burning plan minutes, or handing the audio to a third party. That job is what this tool does, and it does it without an account.
Privacy here is a mechanism, not a policy. A cloud service asks you to trust its data handling; an on-device model gives you nothing to trust because there is no server in the loop. Load the page, cache the model, switch off your wifi, and transcribe. That test takes thirty seconds and no transcription SaaS can pass it.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this really free with no minute limits?
- Yes. Transcription runs on your own device, so there is no server bill for us to recover and nothing to meter. No monthly minutes, no per-conversation cap, no import quota, no account. The only cost you pay is the one-time model download, which your browser caches.
- How is this different from Otter.ai's free plan?
- As of August 2026, Otter's free plan is capped at 300 transcription minutes per month, 30 minutes per conversation, and 3 lifetime file imports, and it requires an account. This tool has none of those caps: files up to 500 MB with no duration limit, unlimited use, and no signup. The trade is that Otter is a meeting assistant with collaboration features, while this is a focused transcription tool.
- Does my audio get uploaded like it does with cloud transcription services?
- No. OpenAI's Whisper model runs inside your browser with WebGPU, or WebAssembly on devices without it. The audio never leaves your machine. You can verify this yourself: load the page, start one transcription so the model caches, then disconnect from the internet. It keeps working.
- What does Otter have that this tool does not?
- Real meeting-assistant features: a bot that auto-joins Zoom, Meet, and Teams calls, speaker identification, shared team workspaces, and AI meeting summaries. If you need those, Otter or a similar service is the right category. If you need accurate transcripts of audio you already have, without caps or uploads, this tool covers it.
- What can I export?
- Plain text, SRT and VTT subtitle files, and JSON with timestamps, all free. SRT and VTT drop straight into YouTube, video editors, and players.
- Which languages are supported?
- Whisper recognizes 99 languages with auto-detect, and can also translate any of them into an English transcript. Otter is built around English-language meetings with a small set of additional languages.