openWakeWord

by openWakeWord contributors

Open-source wake-word engine — community alternative to Porcupine and Snips.

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TL;DR

Best for dIY voice assistants and Home Assistant Voice setups needing a free wake-word engine. Pricing: free.

Category
Open source
License
Apache-2.0
Stars
★ 2.6k
Last push
2025-12-30
Pricing
free
Platforms
Linux, Docker, Hardware

What it is

openWakeWord is an Apache-2.0 wake-word detector that runs on Raspberry Pi and Linux. Reference engine in the Home Assistant voice pipeline and an OpenVoiceOS default.

Best for: DIY voice assistants and Home Assistant Voice setups needing a free wake-word engine.
Watch out for: Custom wake-word quality depends on training data; English-first; smaller language coverage than Porcupine.

Install / use

pip install openwakeword

Features

Speaker diarizationNo
Word-level timestampsNo
Streaming / real-timeYes
Languages supported1
HIPAA eligibleNo

Links

GitHub repo ↗

openWakeWord vs Whipscribe

FeatureopenWakeWordWhipscribe
CategoryOpen sourceTranscription APIs
Pricingfree$4–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · $2 single unlock · 60 min free on signup
Speaker diarization—Yes
Word timestamps—Yes
StreamingYesNo
Languages199
PlatformsLinux, Docker, HardwareWeb, API, MCP

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