Handy is a cross-platform desktop speech-to-text application that lets you dictate directly into any text field using configurable keyboard shortcuts.
It’s designed for privacy-focused local transcription, runs entirely on your own computer rather than sending audio to the cloud, and supports a range of speech recognition models so you can balance speed, language coverage, and accuracy to suit your system.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Performs speech transcription entirely offline, keeping audio processing on your own machine.
- Lets you start and stop recording with configurable keyboard shortcuts, with both push-to-talk and toggle modes available.
- Supports multiple local recognition models, including Whisper, Parakeet, Moonshine, Canary, SenseVoice, and GigaAM, along with support for custom Whisper-compatible models.
- Stores transcription history with timestamps, audio playback, copy and delete actions, starring, and automatic cleanup options for recordings.
- Includes advanced output controls such as auto-submit after insertion, clipboard handling, trailing spaces, and custom word correction for commonly misheard terms.
- Offers an experimental post-processing feature that can refine grammar, reformat text, or translate output using local or external AI providers.
Website: github.com/cjpais/handy
Support:
Developer: CJ Pais
License: MIT License
Handy is written in Python. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Speech Recognition Tools | |
|---|---|
| Whisper | Automatic speech recognition (system trained on 680,000 hours of data |
| whisper.cpp | Run Whisper locally with fast, efficient C/C++ speech recognition |
| Flashlight | Fast, flexible machine learning library written entirely in C++. |
| sherpa-onnx | Offline speech recognition for many platforms and languages |
| Kaldi | C++ toolkit designed for speech recognition researchers. |
| FunASR | Versatile speech recognition toolkit for real-world audio |
| faster-whisper | Faster Whisper transcription with reduced memory use |
| SpeechBrain | All-in-one conversational AI toolkit based on PyTorch |
| Handy | Offline speech-to-text application |
| ESPnet | End-to-End speech processing toolkit |
| PocketSphinx | Lightweight speech recognition for embedded and mobile use |
| deepspeech.pytorch | Implementation of DeepSpeech2 using Baidu Warp-CTC. |
| Epicenter | Transcription application with global speech-to-text functionality |
| Julius | Two-pass large vocabulary continuous speech recognition engine |
| Speech Note | Write notes, transcribe speech, translate text and read content aloud |
| aTrain | Private local transcription of recorded speech through a polished GUI |
| hyprwhspr | Native speech-to-text designed for Arch / Omarchy |
| Vocalinux | Local voice dictation through a clean desktop interface |
| ostt | Open Speech-to-Text |
| Simon | Flexible speech recognition software |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category.The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.