Julius

by Julius project

Lightweight Japanese-focused open ASR with WFST decoding.

TL;DR

Lightweight Japanese-focused open ASR with WFST decoding.

Best for japanese ASR research and dictation. Pricing: free.

Category
Open source
License
Stars
Last push
Pricing
free
Platforms
Linux, macOS, Windows

What it is

A long-running Japanese-language ASR engine. BSD-3-Clause.

Best for: Japanese ASR research and dictation.
Watch out for: HMM/GMM era performance; community small.

Install / use

Features

Speaker diarizationNo
Word-level timestampsYes
Streaming / real-timeYes
Languages supported2
HIPAA eligibleNo

Julius vs Whipscribe

FeatureJuliusWhipscribe
CategoryOpen sourceTranscription APIs
Pricingfreefree beta
Speaker diarizationNoYes
Word timestampsYesYes
StreamingYesNo
Languages299
PlatformsLinux, macOS, WindowsWeb, API, MCP

Alternatives to Julius

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.