Speech To Markdown vs Yansu: Features, Pricing & Which Is Better (2026)
A side-by-side comparison of Speech To Markdown and Yansu — features, pricing, and ideal use cases — to help you decide which AI tool fits your workflow.
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.
Yansu
Isoform
A proactive desktop agent that observes your work and turns it into reusable knowledge, handoffs, and automations without prompting.
Key features
- Proactive Observation: Continuously observes user activity (desktop, messaging, file interactions) and converts recurring patterns into structured knowledge without explicit prompting.
- Crystallized Context: Transforms raw activity into concise, reusable knowledge entries that can be surfaced to agents as a single relevant sentence instead of full transcripts.
- Bundled CLI Interface: Ships with a bundled yansu CLI that is the primary interface for integrations and handoffs, providing commands like status, login, and activity summary for continuity across sessions.
- Agent Skill Handoff: Provides a yansu.skill integration that hands a targeted slice of personal context to other AI agents on demand, enabling those agents to start 'warm' and avoid repeated re-introductions.
- Local Runtime & Bundles: Desktop app includes runtime bundles (bun, ffmpeg, sherpa-onnx, etc.) and runs locally; the CLI and binaries must be present for the skill and integrations to work.
- Background Operation & Auto-Update: Runs in the background and checks for updates shortly after launch and periodically (~every 30 minutes), applying new versions in-place and restarting the app automatically.
- Cross-Platform Desktop Client: Native installers and archives for macOS (.dmg), Windows (.zip) and Linux (.tar.gz) with checksums for download verification and platform-specific installation guidance.
- Native desktop clients for macOS, Windows, and Linux (distributions: .dmg for macOS, .zip for Windows, .tar.gz for Linux)
- Bundled absolute-path CLI as primary interface (examples: /Applications/Yansu.app/Contents/Resources/yansu-cli-bundle/bin/yansu status)
- Yansu.skill (SKILL.md) to integrate and hand off concise, relevant context slices to other AI agents
- Yansu Agent releases for syncing project knowledge with the Yansu cloud (optional component)
- Local observation that crystallizes user activity into structured knowledge usable for handoffs and automations
- Strict dependency on the bundled CLI — skill will error if the desktop app/CLI is not installed or running
- Auto-update mechanism: checks ~3 seconds after launch and every ~30 minutes; applies updates in-place and restarts the app
- Release artifacts include checksums.txt with SHA-256 hashes for verification
- Windows-specific bundling requires extraction (sherpa-onnx DLL and helper binaries must sit next to Yansu.exe); Linux binary expects sibling runtime bundles (bun-bundle, ffmpeg-bundle, etc.)
- Common CLI commands referenced: status, login, activity summary (used to verify running/signed-in state and request activity data)
Best for
- Continuity Across Sessions: Maintain context across days for long-running tasks so you don't need to re-explain project decisions when returning to work.
- Agent-Assisted Handoffs: Hand off an in-progress job to another team member or automated agent by providing the crystallized knowledge entry and required state through the CLI/skill.
- Contextual Agent Queries: When using conversational or task agents, surface only the single most relevant sentence of personal context so the agent can answer with knowledge about your preferences and prior decisions.
- Automating Repetitive Workflows: Detect repeatable sequences of actions and convert them into automations or documented handoffs to reduce manual repetition.
- Project Knowledge Syncing: Use the Yansu Agent releases/component to sync a project's local knowledge base with a central store for team onboarding and reduced ramp time.
- Local-First Privacy Workflows: Capture and use personal context locally via the bundled runtime and CLI to enable personalized assistance while minimizing unnecessary external exposure.
- Maintain continuity across days by capturing decisions and context so other agents start with relevant history
- Handoff entire jobs to teammates or agents without reintroducing context
- Surface concise, privacy-minded context snippets to chat agents when they need personal context
- Sync project knowledge bases locally and with cloud (via Yansu Agent) for developer workflows
- Enable automations and repeatable workflows based on observed user patterns