# Handy

> Handy (v0.10.0, Nov 2026, ~37k stars) is a desktop dictation app. Hold or tap a shortcut, speak, and it pastes the text into whatever app you are using. Transcription runs on your own computer with Whisper models (GPU when available) or CPU-friendly Parakeet, and its privacy page says it has no tracking telemetry. MIT, free, with installers for all three systems. Linux has more rough edges: Wayland shortcuts and paste can need extra setup. It does dictation only, so it is not linked to a paid product here.

- Repository: https://github.com/cjpais/Handy
- Official docs: https://github.com/cjpais/Handy#readme
- Checked: 2026-11-02

## What it replaces
Nothing people pay for: a free tool, listed because people search for it.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Confirmed | Yes; a desktop app that transcribes on your own computer | https://github.com/cjpais/Handy#readme | 2026-11-02 |
| Code licence | Confirmed | MIT | https://github.com/cjpais/Handy/blob/main/LICENSE | 2026-11-02 |
| Model weights licence | Partial | Depends on the model you pick; Whisper is MIT and NVIDIA's Parakeet V3 is CC-BY-4.0. Other download options not checked | https://huggingface.co/nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | 2026-11-02 |
| Commercial use | Confirmed | The app is MIT; Whisper's MIT and Parakeet's CC-BY-4.0 terms both allow commercial use, with credit for Parakeet | https://github.com/cjpais/Handy/blob/main/LICENSE | 2026-11-02 |
| Paid services needed? | Confirmed | None required; the app is free | https://github.com/cjpais/Handy#why-handy | 2026-11-02 |
| Hardware | Partial | No minimum figures stated; Parakeet V3 is built for CPUs and Whisper uses a GPU when available | https://github.com/cjpais/Handy#how-it-works | 2026-11-02 |
| Operating systems | Confirmed | Windows, macOS and Linux, with installers for x64 and ARM | https://github.com/cjpais/Handy#how-it-works | 2026-11-02 |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Easy; download an installer, grant microphone and accessibility permissions, set a shortcut | https://github.com/cjpais/Handy#quick-start | 2026-11-02 |

GitHub: 37159 stars, 3494 forks, last push 2026-11-02, archived: no.

## Alternatives to Handy
- [VoiceStudio](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/voicestudio.md): Local desktop app for voice cloning, voice design, video dubbing, dictation, transcription and audiobooks, built on OmniVoice and other engines.
- [whisper.cpp](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/whisper-cpp.md): Dependency-free C/C++ port of OpenAI's Whisper speech recognition, running on CPU or GPU across desktop, mobile and the browser.
- [Meetily](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/meetily.md): Local AI meeting assistant that records mic and system audio, transcribes live with Whisper or Parakeet and summarises with an LLM.
- [Voicebox](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/voicebox.md): Local desktop voice studio that clones voices, generates speech with 8 TTS engines, transcribes with Whisper and adds system-wide dictation.
- [faster-whisper](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/faster-whisper.md): Reimplementation of OpenAI Whisper on CTranslate2, up to 4x faster with less memory, with int8 on CPU or GPU.
- [Whisper](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/whisper.md): OpenAI's general-purpose speech recognition model for multilingual transcription, translation to English and language ID.
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Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/handy). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.