Willow
Don’t want to install Willow? Drop the file here.
The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free: a recording up to 20 minutes transcribes in full, a longer one is previewed, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export, and credits never expire.
Open-source privacy-respecting voice assistant for home automation.
Best for self-hosters replacing Alexa or Google Home with a local-first voice assistant. Pricing: free.
What it is
Willow is an open-source voice assistant project from Tovera designed for ESP32-S3 BOX hardware. It pairs with Willow Inference Server (local Whisper + LLM) or cloud backends to run a private, low-latency home voice assistant. Included here as a reference for OSS voice-agent designs at the device edge.
Watch out for: ESP32-S3 BOX hardware required; not a general business voice-AI platform.
What people actually do with Willow-style transcription
The tool is the means. These are the jobs — each one priced at published rates, each one wired up on its own page.
Features
| Speaker diarization | No |
| Word-level timestamps | No |
| Streaming / real-time | No |
| Languages supported | None |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
Links
Willow vs Whipscribe
| Feature | Willow | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Open source | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | free | $6–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · first 20 minutes free |
| Speaker identification | — | Named in the summary, key quotes and chapters |
| Word timestamps | — | Yes |
| Streaming | — | No |
| Languages | — | 99 |
| Platforms | Linux, Edge | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to Willow
Frequently asked about Willow
Is Willow free?
Yes. Willow is free and open source.
Does Willow work on Mac, Windows and Linux?
Willow runs on Linux and Edge. It is not listed for other platforms; check the vendor for anything beyond Linux and Edge.
Does Willow identify different speakers?
No. Willow does not label speakers; a conversation comes back as one continuous text. If you need speaker labels, that is a separate tool or a different service.
Does Willow give word-level timestamps?
No — Willow produces segment or sentence timing only, so subtitle cues can land mid-word.
Can Willow transcribe live audio?
No — Willow works on finished files, not a live stream.
Is Willow HIPAA compliant?
Willow does not claim HIPAA compliance. For PHI, run it on infrastructure you control or choose a service that will sign a BAA.
What are the limitations of Willow?
ESP32-S3 BOX hardware required; not a general business voice-AI platform.
Who is Willow best for?
Self-hosters replacing Alexa or Google Home with a local-first voice assistant.
Does Willow run offline?
Willow runs on your own machine — it is open source, so nothing leaves the computer unless you configure it to.
Can I use Willow in the browser?
No — Willow is a Linux and Edge application, not a web app. You install it rather than sign in to it.
Where is the Willow source code?
On GitHub at github.com/toverainc/willow.
What kind of tool is Willow?
In this directory Willow is filed under voice agent, edge as a open-source tool.
What are the alternatives to Willow?
There is a side-by-side page at /tools/willow-voice-alternatives comparing Willow with the closest tools in the same category on price, platform and features.
Can I automate Willow-style transcription without running it myself?
Yes. If what you want is transcripts rather than the tool itself, Whipscribe does the same job as a hosted API: submit a file or URL, poll a job id, pull the result as txt, json, srt, vtt or docx. $0.012 a minute — about $0.72 an audio hour — bought as credits that never expire. The automation recipes on this site show it wired to Drive folders, Zoom recordings, S3 buckets and no-code platforms.
How is Whipscribe different from Willow?
Willow is something you run; Whipscribe is something you call. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training, and every job returns five formats plus an AI summary, quotes and topics. The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export.
Whipscribe is a hosted transcription 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.
Transcribe your recordings
Running Willow yourself? Send the same file here and compare the transcript. Transcribe any language, any recording · Transcription services from $0.29 an hour · Transcribe from any meeting or recording platform · How to transcribe, step by step
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Skip the setup and send the file or the link: see transcribing a long MP3 or M4A, transcribing a podcast episode and the SRT generator.
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