Recommendations for private transcription tools?

Questions
1

Hi, I tried searching but only found Text-to-Speech alternatives.
I’m looking to record a lot of text and was wondering about the best way to achieve Speech-to-Text with privacy respecting software.

Thank you!

2

I haven’t checked but the proliferation of generated AI YouTube channels, you should be able to host your own LLM and generate TTS somehow…

3

I want to adopt a transcription tool, but unsure on what is the best one for ease of use + privacy. What are folks using these days / best when it comes to privacy guarantees?

4

On my self-hosted Open WebUI instance, it uses Faster Whisper locally:

5

thanks for sharing, what pushed you to use faster whisper? any problems with it so far?

6

It is simply the default STT option. I do not use it often, but it carries the same problems as other transcription software, you need a good microphone, clear pronounciation, controlled room ambiance, etc.

7

I’ll check it out, thanks for the tip!

8

how has it been so far?

9

Framasoft developed an apl for transcription called Lokas. lokas.app

10

For privacy, I’d keep the first filter simple: does the audio leave your device? Local Whisper options are usually the safer starting point than a polished cloud service, because raw voice recordings and transcripts can contain a lot more personal detail than people expect. If setup effort matters, I’d try a small local Whisper app first, then only move to something self-hosted like faster-whisper if you need batches or a web UI.