overcaption / compare / macwhisper
Looking for a MacWhisper alternative?
MacWhisper is the best way to get a transcript on a Mac. If what you actually need is subtitles on a video, keep reading.
First, respect
MacWhisper made on-device transcription normal on the Mac. It is fast, polished, indie-built, and it keeps getting better: meeting recording, system-wide dictation, watched folders, AI prompts, a one-time Pro license with lifetime updates. If you transcribe calls, dictate, or turn recordings into notes, it is the right tool and we are happy to say so.
Overcaption exists for the step after the transcript, when the words have to sit on a video. Subtitling is mostly editing: fixing timing, breaking lines, cleaning text, choosing a look, burning it in. MacWhisper hands you a transcript and an SRT file; that work then happens somewhere else. Overcaption is the somewhere else, and it also does the transcription.
Where Overcaption is different
- A subtitle editor, not a transcript viewer. A fast subtitle list with inline editing, a waveform with draggable subtitle regions, a frame filmstrip, and live quality checks (reading speed, line length, overlaps) while you type.
- Subtitle export is free. SRT, VTT and plain text, on-device transcription with the full range of local models, word-level timing. The pieces MacWhisper keeps for Pro are in Overcaption's free tier.
- Grammar-aware line breaks in 30+ languages. Subtitles are built from the transcript where sentence structure says they should break, not at a fixed character count. Change your limits and re-segment the whole file in one click.
- Translation built in. Three local models download with one click, free, no API keys, and stay on your machine, from a fast draft to higher quality. Pro adds glossaries with term enforcement and cloud translation with frontier models. Each language is its own track, edited next to the original.
- Burn-in that matches the preview. Pick a look, see it on the video, render it pixel for pixel with your machine's hardware encoder. MacWhisper does not burn subtitles in.
- Windows too. The same app on macOS and Windows, so a mixed team is not a problem.
- A finishing suite when you need it. Dynamic word-by-word captions, the full title suite, speaker detection, 4K, batch processing and video rough cut are Overcaption Pro, free to try for 14 days. Details on the pricing page.
Worth knowing: MacWhisper Pro is a one-time purchase, Overcaption Pro is a subscription. What we did instead is put the subtitling essentials in the free tier, with no time limit.
Side by side
| MacWhisper | Overcaption | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free tier; Pro is a one-time license with lifetime updates (the App Store edition is sold as a subscription) | Free core with no time limit; optional Pro finishing suite as a yearly or monthly subscription, see the pricing page |
| Platforms | macOS only | macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows |
| Built for | Transcripts: files, meetings, dictation, notes | Subtitles on video, start to finish |
| Offline transcription | Yes; smaller models free, the larger, more accurate ones in Pro | Yes; every local model free, word-level timing, silence-aware cleanup |
| Subtitle export | SRT and VTT in Pro; free exports plain text | SRT, VTT and plain text, free |
| Subtitle editor | Transcript segments with an inline video player (Pro); no waveform timing, split or merge tools | Waveform and filmstrip timeline, keyboard-first, split, merge, retime, live quality checks |
| Line breaking | Transcript segments as generated | Grammar-aware in 30+ languages, plus proper Chinese, Japanese and Korean word segmentation |
| Translation | Pro, through AI services with your own keys or an add-on subscription | One-click local models from Mozilla, Google and Tencent, free, side by side; glossaries and cloud translation with frontier models in Pro |
| Burn-in | No | Yes, pixel-identical to the preview, hardware accelerated; free up to 1080p, 4K in Pro |
| Batch processing | Yes: batch transcription and watch folders, in Pro | Yes, in Pro: one run takes many files through transcription, translation, exports and burned-in videos |
| Dynamic word-by-word captions | No | Yes, timed from the transcription, with keyword emphasis (Pro) |
| Speaker detection | Yes, free | Yes, with speaker-labeled exports (Pro) |
| Dictation and meeting recording | Yes, a core strength | No |
| Audio-only files | Yes | Yes: podcasts and recordings transcribe the same way, and export as subtitles or plain text |
| Behind it | An indie developer with a strong track record | Developers working on it full time, with years of professional subtitling tools behind them |
When to stick with MacWhisper
- You transcribe meetings, dictate, or turn recordings into notes and summaries. That is its home turf, not ours.
- You want AI cleanup, summaries and workflow hooks (Notion, Obsidian, webhooks) on your transcripts.
- You want to pay once and be done.
- You are on an Intel Mac.
Also compare: Subtitle Edit · Aegisub · CapCut · Submagic