nowfound

AI · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to I built Halo, a private AI assistant for your Mac (free)

A private, on-device AI assistant for Mac. It finishes your sentences, transcribes your calls, remembers what you

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier.

  1. 1
    Limitlessfree tier▲416

    Personalized AI powered by what you’ve seen, said, or heard

    2024 · limitless.ai · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Free & Private AI meeting notes for you Mac

    May 2026 · snaply.ai · its alternatives →

  3. 3
    OwnClip▲104

    Native macOS screen recorder with local-first AI privacy

    Jun 2026 · ownclip.io · its alternatives →

  4. 4
    Convo▲133

    I made a macOS app called Convo that listens to your conversation and shows a live summary + suggested actions on your screen. Just launched in public beta!

    2025 · itsconvo.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    Halo▲115

    A little bot that tries to take care of you on Mac

    2019 · gethalo.app · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    The Al assistant from Microsoft

    2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7
    Aurely▲93

    Private voice reminders for Mac with no cloud or accounts

    Oct 2025 · aurely.app · its alternatives →

  8. 8
    Snap AI▲115

    Experience Apple Intelligence on every mac

    2024 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Local transcripts with speaker labels, timestamps, + export

    Dec 2025 · whispersnapper.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Real-time AI meeting overlay with no bots, 100% private

    Aug 2026 · tryassistly.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Free Private AI App for Mac - Image Gen, AI Agents & Chat

    2025 · claraverse.netlify.app · its alternatives →

  12. 12
    MiniAi▲85

    Select text, hit (⌥ space), get AI explanations

    Apr 2026 · miniai.dev · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Easy audio transcription from your macOS desktop

    2024 · aiaudiokit.pages.dev · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Secure & local AI chatbot for iOS and macOS

    2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    I've built an AI dictation tool (like many others), but this time I have taken the time to benchmark all of the 34 models that we provide, so users can actually make a qualified choice on what model should be the daily driver. The best is that it's open source, so if you think we can improve something, please come and help out.

    Apr 2026 · codictate.app · its alternatives →

  16. 16
    Sayline▲83

    I built a voice dictation app for macOS mostly because I was tired of how awful Siri is and I didn't want to pay a subscription for cloud tools. The app uses NVIDIA's Parakeet v3 (TDT) as the primary engine. Inference is handled by the FluidAudio library. It's insanely fast on M-series chips. For Intel users, I added local Whisper support ranging from Tiny up to Large v3 Turbo (quantized to save space). The interesting part was the AI integration. I originally tried to pipeline the ASR output into Apple's Intelligence Foundation Model. It was a nightmare, because the content moderation…

    Jan 2026 · sayline.app · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Private by architecture, not by promise.

    Mar 2026 · solovoice.eu · its alternatives →

  18. 18
    Lekh AI▲80

    Run powerful AI models on your Mac:fully offline and private

    Jan 2026 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19
    Thoth ▲64

    Private, local AI transcription for your Mac

    Apr 2026 · thoth-app.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20
    Zumbo▲66

    Open source local AI voice-to-text for Mac for private STT

    26d ago · zumbo.app · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    I was laid off recently and, instead of looking for another job right away, I decided to build something I always wanted: a transcription tool that respects user privacy. Existing transcription tools often require internet connectivity, send your private audio to cloud servers, or lock you into monthly subscriptions. I wanted something different—so I built WhisperBuddy, a privacy-first AI transcription app that runs entirely on your machine. WhisperBuddy uses OpenAI’s Whisper model (see: https://github.com/openai/whisper). While the model may not always deliver the…

    2025 · whisperbuddy.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22
    Silica▲5

    Your private local AI workspace for Mac

    Jun 2026 · silicaai.tech · its alternatives →

  23. 23
  24. 24
    Vox ▲27

    On-device AI dictation for Mac and Windows. Press, speak, paste — no cloud round-trip, no app account, no waiting.

    Jun 2026 · vox.rizenhq.com · its alternatives →

Also compare

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →