Anarlog vs Scriberr
Both are alternatives to Otter.ai. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Scriberr vs Anarlog — same comparison, one verdict.
Anarlog and Scriberr are closely matched on ownership (94 vs 92) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Anarlog
Local-first AI meeting notepad that takes notes without a bot joining the call.
Anarlog is an MIT-licensed desktop notepad, built by Fastrepl, that listens to your device audio rather than joining your meeting as a participant. Sessions, notes and transcripts live in a local SQLite database with recordings as ordinary files on disk, and you choose where the intelligence comes from: an on-device model, your own API key, or an OpenAI-compatible local server such as Ollama or LM Studio. Hosted transcription, encrypted sync and sharing exist as a paid tier, but nothing depends on them. It was called Hyprnote until the project renamed itself in 2026, which is worth knowing when you search for guides.
Scriberr
Self-hosted transcription server with an API, for a household or a small team.
Scriberr is an MIT-licensed, offline transcription application built for self-hosters: you run it on your own server, upload audio, and it transcribes with NVIDIA Parakeet, Canary or Whisper models and word-level timing. Because it is a server rather than a desktop app, several people and devices can share one install, and it exposes an API for automation. It is the right shape if transcription is a service in your infrastructure rather than something on one laptop — with a maintenance caveat worth reading before you commit.
Side by side
6 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Anarlog | Scriberr | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 94 | 92 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Pricing | Free tier: unlimited on-device transcription, local recordings, bring your own speech and LLM keys, notes/folders/templates, exports, and a local API with CLI, MCP and webhooks. Pro is $15/month or $150/year and adds hosted transcription and LLM, system-wide dictation, better speaker identification, end-to-end encrypted sync across 3 devices and note sharing. Team is $20/person/month or $200/person/year; Enterprise is custom with SSO and SCIM. Verified on anarlog.so/pricing 2026-09-25. | Free and open source; you supply the hardware. The project takes donations through Ko-fi and has no paid tier. |
Anarlog edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Anarlog
Strengths
- +Ships macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux builds in the same release — desktop_v1.4.27 was published 2026-09-25
- +Nothing joins your call and nothing appears in the participant list; it also stays hidden while you share your screen
- +Your data is readable without the app: local SQLite plus plain recording files, with Markdown export
- +Bring your own AI — hosted provider, your own key, or a local OpenAI-compatible server; cloud sync is off unless you turn it on
- +Very active development, with releases landing almost daily
Trade-offs
- −The rename from Hyprnote means older bookmarks, tutorials and blog posts point at a name and repository that now redirect
- −Its README states the team is now building a separate product, char, while the community app stays MIT-licensed and maintained — worth watching if you are betting a workflow on it
- −Enterprise components are source-visible and commercially licensed, not MIT — the free, MIT part is the community desktop app
- −Built-in on-device transcription models are described as available on supported Macs, so Windows and Linux users may need their own keys or a local server
- −Like every device-audio notetaker, it only covers meetings you attend on that computer
Scriberr
Strengths
- +Runs entirely on infrastructure you control, with no third-party cloud in the path
- +Modern model choice — NVIDIA Parakeet and Canary as well as Whisper — with word-level timing
- +One install serves several people and devices, which a desktop app cannot do
- +Has an API, so transcription can be wired into other tools you run
Trade-offs
- −Development was openly paused for much of 2026 while the maintainer changed jobs and moved; the last tagged release is v1.2.0 from December 2025, though commits have resumed (repository last pushed 2026-09-20)
- −The documentation links published on its own site (scriberr.app/docs) returned 404 when we checked on 2026-09-25, so setup currently means reading the repository
- −A single-maintainer project, as the maintainer states plainly himself
- −It transcribes uploaded audio rather than sitting in your meetings — no live meeting capture and no action items
- −Self-hosting is real work: a machine, storage, updates, and enough CPU or GPU to be worth using
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Anarlog
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and ships macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux builds in the same release — desktop_v1.4.27 was published 2026-09-25.
Choose Scriberr
if runs entirely on infrastructure you control, with no third-party cloud in the path.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — the rename from Hyprnote means older bookmarks, tutorials and blog posts point at a name and repository that now redirect, and development was openly paused for much of 2026 while the maintainer changed jobs and moved; the last tagged release is v1.2.0 from December 2025, though commits have resumed (repository last pushed 2026-09-20). If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
Anarlog vs Scriberr — common questions
Is Anarlog a better fit than Scriberr for speech recognition & transcription?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Anarlog scores 94 to Scriberr's 92 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. Scriberr earns its place on a different axis — runs entirely on infrastructure you control, with no third-party cloud in the path. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Anarlog keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. Scriberr is still self-hostable, so the files stay on your server either way — but it is not local-first by design, so check what its export produces before you rely on it.
Can I self-host Anarlog or Scriberr?
Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.
Are Anarlog and Scriberr both alternatives to Otter.ai?
Yes — both appear in our Otter.ai comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Otter.ai and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
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Facts verified 2026-09-25. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.