Mycroft AI
Open-source voice assistant — community-forked after the original company wound down.
Drop your audio. Transcript in seconds. First transcript free, then $4 = 300 min
Upstream is archived. Mycroft AI’s repository has been set read-only by its owner, so there are no further releases, fixes, or security patches. The last commit landed 2024-09-08. It can still be cloned and run, and forks may be maintained elsewhere. See the repository.
Best for hackers and privacy-focused users building a fully self-hosted voice assistant on a Raspberry Pi. Pricing: free.
What it is
Mycroft was the original open-source voice assistant — runs on Linux desktops and Raspberry Pi ("Mark I/II" hardware). After the company wound down, OpenVoiceOS picked up active development of the core.
Watch out for: Original Mycroft AI Inc. shut down in 2023; project continued under OpenVoiceOS fork; smaller skill ecosystem than Alexa.
Install / use
github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-core — Linux install scripts
Features
| Speaker diarization | No |
| Word-level timestamps | No |
| Streaming / real-time | Yes |
| Languages supported | 6 |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
Links
Mycroft AI vs Whipscribe
| Feature | Mycroft AI | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Open source | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | free | $4–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · $2 single unlock · 60 min free on signup |
| Speaker diarization | — | Yes |
| Word timestamps | — | Yes |
| Streaming | Yes | No |
| Languages | 6 | 99 |
| Platforms | Linux, Hardware | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to Mycroft AI
Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.