whisper-ctranslate2
by Softcatalà
Command-line Whisper using CTranslate2 — closest match to openai/whisper CLI.
TL;DR
Command-line Whisper using CTranslate2 — closest match to openai/whisper CLI.
Best for drop-in replacement for the official Whisper CLI with 4x throughput. Pricing: free.
Category
Open source
License
—
Stars
—
Last push
—
Pricing
free
Platforms
Linux, macOS, Windows
What it is
The Catalan-language nonprofit's CLI keeps the original openai/whisper command-line surface but routes inference through CTranslate2. Adds diarization via pyannote and VAD filters. MIT.
Best for: Drop-in replacement for the official Whisper CLI with 4x throughput.
Watch out for: Same model family as faster-whisper; no Mac MPS acceleration.
Watch out for: Same model family as faster-whisper; no Mac MPS acceleration.
Install / use
pip install whisper-ctranslate2
Features
| Speaker diarization | Yes |
| Word-level timestamps | Yes |
| Streaming / real-time | No |
| Languages supported | 99 |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
whisper-ctranslate2 vs Whipscribe
| Feature | whisper-ctranslate2 | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Open source | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | free | free beta |
| Speaker diarization | Yes | Yes |
| Word timestamps | Yes | Yes |
| Streaming | No | No |
| Languages | 99 | 99 |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS, Windows | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to whisper-ctranslate2
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.