Cheetah CaptionMaker (legacy)

Name: Cheetah CaptionMaker (legacy)
Author: Cheetah International (legacy)

by Cheetah International (legacy)

Original Cheetah Systems caption authoring tool — name now used by Telestream.

TL;DR

Original Cheetah Systems caption authoring tool — name now used by Telestream.

Best for reference only — Cheetah's pre-Telestream caption authoring tooling. Pricing: service · contact sales.

What it is

Cheetah Systems shipped one of the first commercial caption authoring tools in the 1990s. The product line was eventually folded into Telestream CaptionMaker; the Cheetah brand today survives in Cheetah's CART captioning service.

Best for: Reference only — Cheetah's pre-Telestream caption authoring tooling.
Watch out for: Brand mostly absorbed into Telestream CaptionMaker; legacy users only.

Install / use

cheetah.net — legacy

Features

Speaker diarization	No
Word-level timestamps	Yes
Streaming / real-time	No
Languages supported	None
HIPAA eligible	No

Cheetah CaptionMaker (legacy) vs Whipscribe

Feature	Cheetah CaptionMaker (legacy)	Whipscribe
Category	Desktop apps	Transcription APIs
Pricing	service · contact sales	free beta
Speaker diarization	—	Yes
Word timestamps	Yes	Yes
Streaming	—	No
Languages	—	99
Platforms	Windows	Web, API, MCP

Alternatives to Cheetah CaptionMaker (legacy)

MacWhisper

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Polished Mac app for Whisper — the default pick if you're on macOS.

freemium

SuperWhisper

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Always-on system-wide dictation for macOS and iOS, powered by local Whisper.

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Aiko

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Free Mac App Store Whisper app — drag, drop, done.

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Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.