Kana as a superwhisper alternative
A Whisper dictation app that started on the Mac and now covers Windows and iOS too. It can run the model on your machine, which makes it the closest thing to Kana architecturally.
What superwhisper does better
superwhisper lets you choose among several Whisper model sizes and point it at cloud models with your own API keys, so you can trade speed for accuracy yourself. Kana ships one model per language and does not expose that choice. It also runs on Windows and iOS, records and summarises meetings, and works on Intel Macs through its cloud models. Kana does none of those things and is Apple Silicon only.
Where Kana is different
- Kana runs Parakeet on the Neural Engine rather than Whisper, which is faster for the same audio on Apple Silicon.
- File transcription with SRT and VTT export is in the $9.99 app, not behind a subscription.
- AI rewriting goes through a proxy that stores nothing, so there is no API key to bring.
Side by side
| Kana | superwhisper | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on your Mac | Yes | Yes |
| Choose your own model | No | Yes |
| Windows and iOS | No | Yes |
| Records meetings | No | Yes |
superwhisper pricing: Free tier, $8.49 a month, or a one-time lifetime licence.