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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to I made an open source and local translation app

A few years ago, right after high school, I decided to try to make a simultaneous translation app for Android as a side project, it took longer than expected (about 2 years) and I had to make a lot of compromises (I had to use Google's API and therefore make users use a developer key because at the time there were no free solutions for speech recognition and translation that had good quality). At the end of university, I decided to pick it up again and finally, using OpenAi's Whisper for speech recognition and Meta's NLLB for translation (with both running locally on the phone), I managed to…

This open-source Android app provides simultaneous translation using speech recognition and machine translation. It runs Whisper for speech-to-text and Meta's NLLB for translation entirely on the device, requiring no… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. I made an open source and local translation app launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Hey HN! Braden here, creator of Whispering, an open-source speech-to-text app. I really like dictation. For years, I relied on transcription tools that were almost good, but they were all closed-source. Even a lot of them that claimed to be “local” or “on-device” were still black boxes that left me wondering where my audio really went. So I built Whispering. It’s open-source, local-first, and most importantly, transparent with your data. Your data is stored locally on your device, and your audio goes directly from your machine to a local provider (Whisper C++, Speaches, etc.) or your chosen…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Open-source and offline simultaneous translator for Android

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Free AI transcription: convert video and audio to text, translate into 120 languages, download SRT, VTT, ASS or TXT, or export the video with subtitles on it.

    2022 · freesubtitles.ai · its alternatives →

  4. 4
    Anytalk▲316

    Real-time video and audio translation app

    2024 · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Greetings! YakGPT is a simple, frontend-only, ChatGPT UI you can use to either chat normally, or, more excitingly, use your mic + OpenAI's Whisper API to chat hands-free. Some features: * A few fun characters pre-installed * No tracking or analytics, OpenAI is the only thing it calls out to * Optimized for mobile use via hands-free mode and cross-platform compressed audio recording * Your API key and chat history are stored in browser local storage only * Open-source, you can either use the deployed version at Vercel, or run it locally Planned features: * Integrate Eleven Labs & other TTS…

    2023 · yakgpt.vercel.app · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    Translate any video to 30+ languages with latest AI

    Jan 2026 · translator.tools · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Open-source, local-first dictation you can trust

    2025 · epicenter.so · its alternatives →

  8. 8
    OpenWispr▲190

    100% local open source AI speech-to-text model

    2025 · openwhispr.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Welcome to Project S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y. This is a project that allows anyone to easily build their own self-hosted J.A.R.V.I.S-like voice assistant. In my mind vocal computing is the future of human-computer interaction and by open sourcing this code I hope to expedite us on that path. I have had a blast working on this so far and I'm excited to continue to build with it. It uses whisper.cpp [1], Coqui TTS [2] and OpenAI [3] to do speech-to-text, text-to-text and text-to-speech inference all 100% locally (except for text-to-text). In the future I plan to swap out OpenAI for llama.cpp [4]. It is…

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    World's first open-source simultaneous translation app.

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    My girlfriend relocated to Bangalore from Pune and was struggling to talk to cab drivers. So I built this simple app to instantly translate voice. The app even auto-detects the other person's language; ideal for when you have set the language to "Tamil" when the other person was actually speaking in "Kannada" and you didn't realize it. I used OpenAI's Whisper and TTS for this.

    2025 · whisperglot.ai · its alternatives →

  12. 12
    WhisperUI▲120

    Most affordable text-to-speech and speech-to-text service

    2024 · whisperui.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    An open-source language translation system for 200 languages

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Generate English subtitles for videos in any language

    2022 · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    A realtime, live transcription and translation app that works locally using a browser. Built with Huggingface Transformer.js and Supabase Realtime. Realtime in-browser speech-to-text with OpenAI Whisper! Broadcast to subscribed clients with Supabase Realtime. Translate to 200 languages with Meta's NLLB-200! Demo & source code https://supabase.link/realtime-ai-yt Shoutout to @xenovacom for building Transformers.js and providing plenty of examples at https://huggingface.co/docs/transformers.js/en/index#example...

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    Offline AI Speech to Text Transcription for iOS & macOS

    2025 · whispernotes.app · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Hello ! David from Spain here :) I built TransLite because I was tired of breaking my flow every time I needed to translate something before sending it. The usual workflow was: copy → open a browser tab → paste → translate → copy again → paste back. I've created a small macOS menubar app that lets you translate the current clipboard instantly using a keyboard shortcut, in any app. It works locally and supports using your own OpenAI / Claude API key. It’s intentionally simple — no accounts, no tracking, no subscriptions. Happy to answer any questions. Best regards, David

    Feb 2026 · translite.app · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    I built Open WhisperScribe after struggling with the complexity, paywalls, or limitations of most speech-to-text tools for macOS and elsewhere. My main requirements were: Simple, <5-min setup Runs fully offline, locally (no data leaves your machine) Works seamlessly in any app — just press a hotkey, speak, and your words appear where your cursor is (code editors, terminal, you name it) Fast and distraction-free It uses OpenAI’s Whisper model under the hood, but wraps it in a lightweight CLI tool that sits quietly in the background. The project is open source (Apache 2.0). Setup is a single…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19IB

    Hey HN, I built an alternative to Google translate that's fast, accurate, and 1&#x2F;30th the price. 20+ supported languages, not billed until 100k tokens, and already used thousands of times with real language learning users. The landing page has a demo for you to test performance yourself for free with no card required. (Also landing page says 1&#x2F;13 the price because had to account for all 3 big names, with varying prices each). I built this as a workaround for my language learning startup, and it was perfect at a fraction of the cost. Hopefully it can help other devs in accessibility…

    2023 · translateapi.web.app · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    I wanted a voice-to-text app but didn't trust any of the proprietary ones with my privacy. So I decided to see if I could vibe code it with 0 macOS app & Swift experience. It uses a local binary of whisper.cpp (a fast implementation of OpenAI's Whisper voice-to-text model in C++). Github: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;richardwu&#x2F;openwhisper I also decided to take this as an opportunity to compare 3 agentic coding harnesses: Cursor w&#x2F; Opus 4.6: - Best one-shot UI by far - Didn't get permissioning correct - Had issues making the "Cancel recording" hotkey being turned on all the…

    Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21TP
  22. 22

    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:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;openai&#x2F;whisper). While the model may not always deliver the…

    2025 · whisperbuddy.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Hello all, I made a small transcription app for your Mac based on OpenAI’s Whisper. Would love some feedback. My plan is to make it easy to load weights from any fine-tuned whisper model to enable specialized dictation for any subfield. It’s still early in development. Thanks!

    2023 · twitter.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Forever free, offline AI transcription tool for everyone.

    Feb 2026 · free-voice-to-text.web.app · its alternatives →

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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 →