Jamie alternatives: 5 free & open-source picks
Curated, verified, and actually free. No trials, no crippled tiers. Star counts and last-activity dates checked by hand, not scraped and forgotten.
A local recorder and summarizer for Mac and Windows; no account, no meeting bot.
licenseMIT
runson your machine
installSigned Windows x64 installer or Apple-silicon macOS DMG; Linux currently requires a source build
enginesLocal Whisper or NVIDIA Parakeet for transcription; local Ollama or the built-in summarizer, with Claude, OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter and custom OpenAI-compatible summary providers depending on edition
dataTranscription models, recordings, transcripts and application data stay on the local machine; the Community Edition has no cloud sync
the catch vs JamieIt avoids a bot and keeps data local, but the free Community Edition omits several advanced templates, exports and speaker workflows and has less seamless cross-device history than Jamie.
setupWindows and Apple-silicon macOS install cleanly but still need audio permissions and model downloads; Linux requires Rust/Node source-build tooling, and several advanced summary/export/diarization workflows are Pro-only
facts verified 2026-08-11
A Mac meeting notepad with local transcripts, local files and bring-your-own summaries.
licenseMIT
runsyour machine or their cloud
installNative desktop download; building and self-hosting from source are also supported
enginesOn-device transcription on supported Apple Silicon Macs; BYOK or hosted speech-to-text; OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio, or another OpenAI-compatible LLM for summaries and chat
dataCanonical meetings, notes and transcripts live in a local SQLite database and recordings/attachments are local files; Markdown export is available, with optional end-to-end-encrypted CloudSync and a separate opt-in server-readable Cloud API copy
the catch vs JamieIt can keep transcripts local, but local transcription is Apple-silicon-only and its younger product lacks Jamie's polished cross-platform managed meeting history and integrations.
setupLocal transcription is limited to supported Apple Silicon Macs; other systems need hosted/BYOK transcription, while fully local summaries require installing and configuring Ollama or LM Studio
facts verified 2026-08-11
Bot-free meeting capture, speaker labels and searchable notes in one cross-platform installer.
licenseMIT
runsyour machine or their cloud
installNative DMG, EXE, AppImage, DEB or RPM; optional OpenWhispr Cloud account
enginesLocal Whisper/whisper.cpp or NVIDIA Parakeet via sherpa-onnx; local llama.cpp models or cloud/BYOK providers including OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Groq, Tinfoil and OpenRouter
dataTranscriptions and notes live in a local SQLite database; optional retained audio stays on-device, and optional Cloud Sync stores notes and agent conversations in Neon while raw audio and standalone transcriptions do not sync
the catch vs JamieIt handles bot-free capture across desktop platforms, but its meeting sharing, sync and richer workflows partly depend on a cloud account or paid features and are less focused than Jamie.
setupThe installer is straightforward, but meeting capture needs microphone/accessibility and sometimes system-audio permissions plus model downloads; cloud processing, sharing and sync require an account or provider key and some meeting features are paid
facts verified 2026-08-11
Local mic-and-system capture, live transcription, summaries and action items in a signed Mac app.
licenseMIT
runson your machine
installSigned macOS DMG or Homebrew cask
enginesParakeet TDT, Nemotron 3.5, Cohere Transcribe, Qwen3 ASR, SenseVoice, IndicConformer, experimental Gemma ASR, or WhisperKit locally; Silero VAD and FluidAudio/pyannote diarization; OpenAI, OpenRouter, ChatGPT OAuth, Ollama, LM Studio, or a custom LLM for notes
dataMeeting history, transcripts, notes and settings live in a local SQLite database at ~/Library/Application Support/Muesli/muesli.db; captured audio and app-support files remain on the Mac, with optional text-only iCloud/CloudKit sync
the catch vs JamieIt is a strong signed Mac app, but Apple-silicon-only and less suitable than Jamie for mixed-device teams, managed synchronization and shared administrative workflows.
setupRequires Apple Silicon and macOS 14.2+, microphone/accessibility/system-audio permissions, and a first model download; cloud summaries need an account or API key unless you configure Ollama or LM Studio
facts verified 2026-08-11
A Mac menu-bar app that captures the call and emits decisions, tasks and a transcript as Markdown.
licenseMIT
runson your machine
installThird-party Homebrew cask on macOS; source build is also supported
enginesWhisperKit or NVIDIA Parakeet TDT v3 for local ASR; FluidAudio/CoreML for diarization, Silero v6 for VAD; Claude Code CLI or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as Ollama, LM Studio, or llama.cpp for notes
dataLocal dual-track audio and optional JSON metadata in the configured output folder; raw transcripts as TXT and structured protocols as Markdown under ~/Library/Application Support/MeetingTranscriber/protocols by default, with voice embeddings and settings kept locally
the catch vs JamieIt is Mac-only and writes files rather than providing Jamie's managed cross-platform archive, integrations and frictionless meeting follow-up.
setupRequires macOS 14.2+, a third-party Homebrew tap trust step, microphone/accessibility permissions, first-run model downloads, and a Claude CLI login or local/API LLM if you want generated notes
facts verified 2026-08-11
last updated 2026-08-11 · no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
| tool | license | running it | platforms | stars | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meetily | MIT | one-click install | macos, windows | 28,357 | 2026-06 |
| Anarlog | MIT | one-click install | macos | 8,961 | 2026-08 |
| OpenWhispr | MIT | one-click install | macos, windows, linux | 5,223 | 2026-08 |
| Muesli | MIT | one-click install | macos | 890 | 2026-08 |
| Meeting Transcriber | MIT | one-click install | macos | 97 | 2026-08 |
Jamie: Customers pay for automatic capture, dependable speaker handling, search across calls, and notes arriving without manual file wrangling.
Is there a free alternative to Jamie?
Yes: Meetily, Anarlog, OpenWhispr and 2 more. Every tool on this page is either open source or genuinely free to use long-term: no trials, no crippled tiers.
Should I just build my own Jamie?
Our verdict is PARCIAL. The visible bot-free meeting notes loop is buildable, but a credible replacement needs more than the first screen. Jamie earns its keep through capture, integrations, reliability, so expect a weekend or multi-day build and a narrower personal scope. If you'd rather build, the exact one-shot prompt is free at puedovibecodearlo.app/jamie.
