Conan vs Speech To Markdown: Features, Pricing & Which Is Better (2026)
A side-by-side comparison of Conan and Speech To Markdown — features, pricing, and ideal use cases — to help you decide which AI tool fits your workflow.
Conan
Conan
Conan is a native macOS app that wraps Claude Code in a live HUD, surfacing every prompt, tool call, skill, and token in real time.
Key features
- Live Timeline: Every command, edit, and tool call streams onto a living timeline as it happens.
- Context Window Meter: Watch the context window fill across system, tools, memory, skills, and messages while tokens burn in real time.
- Session Pulse: A live throughput pulse that spikes when Claude works and calms when it waits.
- Skills & MCP Visibility: See every skill and MCP server in play, surfaced and observable as they fire.
- Native macOS App: A native HUD for Apple silicon Macs running macOS 13+, with no subscription required.
- Claude Radio: Built-in curated audio stations to score your coding sessions.
Best for
- Monitoring Claude Code Sessions: Watch every prompt, tool call, and skill execution in real time without scrolling logs.
- Token Budget Management: Track context window usage and token burn to avoid context rot and surprise costs.
- Debugging Agent Behavior: Observe which skills and MCP servers fire to understand and debug agentic workflows.
- Staying In Flow: Keep a glanceable HUD of session activity while focusing on the work itself.
Speech To Markdown
xajik
Free, 100% local macOS menu-bar app that turns speech into structured markdown using whisper.cpp and any local LLM.
Key features
- 100% Local Pipeline: Runs whisper.cpp for speech-to-text and any local LLM server for structuring — no cloud calls and no API keys required.
- Global Dictation Hotkey: Press ⌘⌥] in any app to have the transcript typed straight at your cursor, works in Terminal, browser, Slack, and more.
- Agent Mode Live Structuring: A floating capsule streams your voice through the LLM into a real-time Markdown, plain text, or HTML document.
- One-Line Install: A single curl-piped script installs xcodegen, whisper-cpp, and ffmpeg via Homebrew, then builds the app from source into /Applications.
- iOS Companion: A fully offline iPhone/iPad app that uses Apple Intelligence on iOS 26+ (iPhone 15 Pro and up).
- Multiple Output Formats: Format, edit, or append the LLM output as Markdown, plain text, or HTML from a single control panel.
- Send-Now Flush: The Send (⏎) control flushes the current buffer to the LLM immediately instead of waiting for the pause/word-count threshold.
- Model Picker: Download and swap Whisper models from Settings — Base (~150 MB) is a good starting point.
Best for
- Private Meeting Notes: Dictate meeting recaps on a Mac with sensitive content that must never leave the device.
- Voice-Driven Coding Comments: Speak function docstrings or PR descriptions into your editor at the cursor via Global Dictation.
- Structured Journaling: Use Agent Mode to ramble freely and get a clean, headed Markdown document out in real time.
- Offline Field Notes on iOS: Capture voice notes on an iPhone with no signal, structured into markdown using on-device Apple Intelligence.
- Slack / Email Long-Form: Dictate long replies straight into Slack or Mail without opening a separate transcription tool.