DEV Community: Mohammed Ali Chherawalla

How to Sync Files, Clipboard and Passwords Between Phone and Computer Without a Cloud (2026)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sun, 15 Nov 2026 05:33:36 +0000

The best pick is Off Grid AI, because one app syncs your files, copied text and AI chats between your phone and computer over your local network, with no account and no server in the middle. Its vault doesn't sync, so pair it with KeePassXC for passwords. If you want a free alternative for files and clipboard, KDE Connect is the one to try, and Syncthing is the free choice for keeping whole folders in sync.

I build Off Grid AI, one of the apps below. I've tried to be fair, and every fact links to its source.

The tools compared

Checked 15 November 2026 on each tool's own site, docs or GitHub.

Tool	Does	Phones	Computers	Works over the internet	Price
Off Grid AI	Files, clipboard text, chats and projects	iPhone, Android	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows x64, Linux x64	No, local network only	Sync needs Pro: one payment of $119, or $7.99/month
KDE Connect / GSConnect	Files, clipboard text, notifications, SMS	Android, iOS (limited)	Linux, Windows, macOS	Same network, or a VPN	Free
Syncthing	Keeps whole folders in sync	Community apps (Syncthing-Fork, Möbius Sync)	Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD	Yes, through encrypted relays	Free, MPL-2.0
KeePassXC + a KeePass phone app	Passwords in one encrypted file	KeePassDX (Android), KeePassium or Strongbox (iPhone)	Windows, macOS, Linux	However you move the file	KeePassXC and KeePassDX free; iPhone apps have paid tiers
LocalSend	Sends files and text by hand	Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Linux	No, local Wi-Fi	Free, Apache-2.0
Möbius Sync	Syncthing on iPhone and iPad	iOS	Pairs with any Syncthing device	Yes, via Syncthing	Free up to 20MB, one-time unlock

1. Off Grid AI

You install one app on your phone and one on your computer, pair them once, and your files, copied text and AI chats show up on both without an account or a cloud. Off Grid AI is a local AI app for iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux. With Pro you pair by scanning a QR code or typing a code, and after that your conversations, projects, files and copied text sync over your local network, encrypted. The computer keeps a searchable clipboard history. On Android, select the text and choose Copy to Off Grid AI to send it, because the system blocks apps from reading the clipboard in the background.

The same Pro payment also covers meetings without a bot, dictation into any app, memory and the local AI itself.

The limit. It doesn't sync passwords. The Vault stays on the one computer where you made it, and the phone app has no vault, so pair Off Grid AI with KeePassXC for passwords. It only syncs when both devices are on the same network, so nothing moves while you're out. Pro is one payment of $119 or $7.99 a month for up to 5 devices. The devices page has the details.

Pick it if you want files, clipboard and your chats in one app on your phone and computer, with nothing stored on anyone's server.

2. KDE Connect or GSConnect

KDE Connect links your phone and computer for file sharing, clipboard text, phone notifications on the desktop and SMS from the computer. Its download page lists Linux, Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. On GNOME, install GSConnect instead, a separate implementation of the same protocol that won't work with KDE Connect installed at the same time.

The limit. The user guide says the clipboard carries text only, never images. Android 10 and later block background clipboard reads, so you tap Send Clipboard in the notification. On iPhone there's no notification sync, no SMS and no background connection, and clipboard only goes from phone to computer when you tap to push it. Both devices need the same network, with ports 1714 to 1764 open.

Pick it if you live on Linux and Android and want texts, notifications and copied text on the computer for free.

3. Syncthing

Syncthing keeps folders identical across your devices, all the time. Its site says "There is no central server that might be compromised", all traffic uses TLS, and it works over your home network and over the internet. When two devices can't reach each other directly, public relays pass the data along still encrypted end to end, though a relay sees your IP address, device ID and how much data moves. The code is on GitHub under MPL-2.0.

The limit. The official Android app is gone. Its repository says "This app is discontinued" and was archived on 3 December 2024. On Android, use Syncthing-Fork from F-Droid, a community app last updated 25 October 2026. Syncthing doesn't share your clipboard.

Pick it if you want photos, documents or a password file to follow you without pressing send, even away from home.

4. KeePassXC with a phone app for passwords

KeePassXC is a free, GPLv3 password manager for Windows, macOS and Linux, and its site says "no data is stored on remote servers". Everything sits in a single encrypted .kdbx database that you can put anywhere. Its docs say there's no KeePassXC mobile app and point you to KeePassDX or KeePass2Android on Android and to KeePassium or Strongbox on iPhone. KeePassDX is free and GPLv3. KeePassium's free plan covers one database, with Premium at €19.99 a year or Pro at €79.99 once, and Strongbox has a paid Pro tier.

The limit. KeePassXC has no sync of its own, and its docs suggest a shared cloud folder. Put the file in a Syncthing folder instead and you skip the cloud. If you change the database on the phone and the computer before they sync, Syncthing keeps both versions and you merge them by hand, so make changes in one place at a time.

Pick it if you need passwords on your phone without any company holding them.

5. LocalSend

LocalSend sends files and text to nearby devices over your Wi-Fi with no account. Its site says it "Works completely offline" and uses HTTPS with end-to-end encryption. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and it's free under Apache-2.0.

The limit. You send every transfer by hand. Nothing stays in sync, and it doesn't handle passwords.

Pick it if you move a file now and then and don't want anything running in the background.

6. Möbius Sync

Möbius Sync is a third-party iOS app that brings Syncthing to iPhone and iPad. Its FAQ says the free version syncs up to 20MB, and a one-time in-app purchase removes the limit.

The limit. iOS doesn't let apps run in the background for long. The FAQ says sync can take up to 24 hours to settle in, and after that you can expect roughly one to two hours of sync activity a day, so open the app when you need a file now.

Pick it if you have an iPhone and want it in your Syncthing setup, including for a KeePass file.

How to choose

If you want one app for files, clipboard and chats on both phone platforms, use Off Grid AI and add KeePassXC for passwords.

If you'd rather stay free, split the job. Copied text and the odd photo go through KDE Connect, GSConnect or LocalSend. Folders that change often belong in Syncthing, with Syncthing-Fork on Android or Möbius Sync on iPhone. Passwords belong in KeePassXC, synced as a file.

On iPhone, the free tools get harder. KDE Connect's clipboard only goes one way there, and Möbius Sync runs when iOS lets it.

FAQ

What is the best way to sync files and clipboard between phone and computer without a cloud?

Off Grid AI. You pair your phone and computer once, and files, copied text and chats sync over your local network with no account. KDE Connect is the free alternative.

How do I sync whole folders between my phone and computer for free?

Syncthing. It keeps folders in sync device to device with no central server. Use Syncthing-Fork on Android and Möbius Sync on iPhone, since the official Android app was discontinued in December 2024.

How do I sync KeePass passwords to my phone without a cloud?

Keep the .kdbx file from KeePassXC in a Syncthing folder, sync it to your phone, and open it in KeePassDX on Android or KeePassium or Strongbox on iPhone.

Does Off Grid AI sync passwords?

No. Its Vault stays on one computer and the phone app has no vault, so use KeePassXC for passwords. Off Grid AI syncs conversations, projects, files and clipboard text between paired devices.

Does Syncthing send my files through someone else's server?

Only when your devices can't connect directly. Then a relay forwards the traffic, still encrypted end to end, and sees your IP address and how much data moves, never the files.

How to Get Zoom and Google Meet Notes Without a Bot Joining the Call (2026)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sun, 15 Nov 2026 05:32:54 +0000

The best way is Off Grid AI Pro. It records the call on your own computer, with no bot in Zoom, Meet or Teams, then writes the transcript and summary there with local models, on Mac, Windows or Linux, for one payment of $119. The best free alternative is MacWhisper's free version on a Mac. For shared team notes in the cloud, Granola is the most polished, and Zoom's and Google Meet's built-in summaries add no bot either.

I build Off Grid AI, one of the apps below. I've tried to be fair, and every fact links to its source.

The quick comparison (checked 15 November 2026)

App	Platforms	Transcribes on your computer	Price	Best for
Off Grid AI Pro	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux	Yes	One payment of $119, or $7.99/month	Private notes on any computer
MacWhisper	Mac	Yes	Free, Pro €64 once	Free and private on a Mac
Granola	macOS, Windows, iOS, Android	No (Deepgram, AssemblyAI)	Free (30 days of history), Business $14/user/month	Shared team notes
Krisp	Windows, macOS	English only	Core $8/month yearly, $16 monthly	Noisy rooms
Zoom AI summaries	Zoom only	No, Zoom's servers	Included with eligible paid Zoom plans	Zoom-only teams
Gemini in Meet	Google Meet only	No, Google's servers	Eligible Workspace or Google AI plan	Workspace companies
Fireflies (desktop app)	Mac, Windows	No	Free plan, paid plans	Teams already on Fireflies
Tactiq	Chrome extension	No	Free (10 transcripts/month), Pro $8/month yearly	Meet in the browser
Bluedot	Chrome, Mac, Windows	No (stored on AWS)	Free (5 meetings total), Basic $14/month yearly	Locked-down work laptops
Jamie	macOS, Windows, iOS, web	No (EU hosted)	Free (10 notes/month), Pro €39/month yearly	Notes kept in Europe

1. Off Grid AI Pro

Off Grid AI is a free app for chat, images and documents on iOS, Android, macOS (Apple silicon), Windows and Linux. Pro adds Meetings on the computer. It records two tracks, the call's audio and your microphone, so no bot joins Zoom, Teams or Meet. When you stop, a Whisper model writes the transcript on your computer and a local model writes the summary, so the call never reaches an AI company. It tells speakers apart by voice, and you can rename them and ask questions about the call. The same Pro adds a memory of your screens and documents and dictation into any app, and it costs one payment of $119 or $7.99 a month for up to 5 devices.

Your computer does the work, so it has to run a speech model. There are no shared team spaces, and the free app doesn't include Meetings. Pick it if your calls are client, legal or medical work, you're on Linux, or you'd rather pay once than every month.

2. MacWhisper

MacWhisper records Zoom, Teams, Webex, Discord and other calls without a bot, spots when a meeting starts and ends, and transcribes with local models on your Mac. The free version is free forever and Pro is €64 once. It's a transcription tool, so you get a transcript rather than a running memory of your meetings. Pick it if you're on a Mac and want private transcripts for little or no money.

3. Granola

Granola listens to your computer's audio and writes notes next to the ones you type, with no bot on any plan. It works in any meeting app and has phone apps for in-person talks. The free plan keeps 30 days of history. Its security page says transcription uses providers like Deepgram and AssemblyAI, summaries go to providers like OpenAI and Anthropic, and notes live in a US-hosted AWS cloud. Pick it if you want polished shared notes and you're fine with the cloud.

4. Krisp

Krisp started as noise cancellation and still does that better than anything here. Its meeting assistant has no bot by default and transcribes English on your device. The other 15 languages go to its servers. Core is $8 a month billed yearly or $16 monthly after a 7-day trial. Pick it if background noise is the bigger problem.

5. Built into Zoom and Google Meet

Zoom. Zoom's June 2026 announcement, which renamed AI Companion features as ZoomMate, says eligible paid Workplace plans keep the core AI features at no extra cost. The free Basic plan gets meeting summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month, per Zoom's ZoomMate page. There's no bot, but your admin has to allow it and everyone in the call can see it's on. If you'd rather keep the audio, Zoom's local recording works on free and paid accounts in the desktop app on Windows, macOS and Linux. Transcribe that file in Off Grid AI or MacWhisper and it never touches a cloud.

Google Meet. Take notes for me writes a Google Doc into the organizer's Drive and attaches it to the calendar event. It needs an eligible Workspace edition or Google AI plan, handles 8 languages, and Meet tells every participant it's running. Plain transcripts come with Business Standard and up. Neither helps when another company hosts the call on Zoom.

6. Fireflies

Fireflies' desktop app for Mac and Windows can capture system audio instead of sending its notetaker bot. In that mode it doesn't save the audio file, and transcripts land in your Fireflies web dashboard. There's a free plan. Pick it if your team already uses Fireflies and some calls need to be bot-free.

7. Tactiq

Tactiq is a Chrome extension that transcribes Google Meet, Zoom and Teams in real time with no bot. The free plan gives one person 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits a month, and Pro is $8 a month billed yearly. AI summaries use OpenAI's enterprise API. Pick it if you meet in the browser and want something running in a minute.

8. Bluedot

Bluedot records through a Chrome extension or desktop app and says no bot joins. The free plan stops after 5 meetings in total, and Basic is $14 a month billed yearly. Recordings are stored in AWS. Pick it if you can't install desktop apps on a work laptop.

9. Jamie

Jamie runs on your device with no bot, and says storage and processing stay in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. Audio is streamed and isn't kept. The free plan gives 10 notes a month of up to 30 minutes, and Pro is €39 a month billed yearly. Pick it if your notes need to stay in Europe.

Assistants also suggest Goodnotes. Its AI for Meetings records from your device's microphone, so on headphones it won't hear the other side of a call. Cloud transcription comes with Pro at $35.99 a year, with limited monthly credits.

How to choose

Start with where your audio is allowed to go. If client, legal or medical calls can't reach an AI company, you're down to Off Grid AI Pro on any computer, MacWhisper on a Mac, or Krisp for English. Next, look at the meeting apps you use. Built-in summaries only cover their own app, while desktop apps that capture system audio work in all of them. Finally, add up three years. A monthly plan at $14 is $504 per person by then, and the one-time apps stay at their price.

FAQ

Can I get Zoom or Google Meet notes without a bot joining?

Yes. Zoom's AI summaries and Gemini in Meet are built in and add no participant. Desktop apps such as Off Grid AI Pro, MacWhisper, Granola and Fireflies' desktop app record your computer's audio, so nothing joins the call.

Which bot-free notetaker keeps audio on my computer?

Off Grid AI Pro and MacWhisper transcribe on your own machine. Krisp does too, for English only. Granola, Fireflies, Tactiq, Bluedot and Jamie send audio or notes to a cloud.

Is there a free way to transcribe Zoom calls without a bot?

Yes. Record locally in the Zoom desktop app, which works on free accounts, then transcribe the file with MacWhisper's free version on a Mac. Granola's free plan also works, with 30 days of history.

Do I still have to tell people I'm taking notes?

Yes. Without a bot, nobody sees a recorder in the call, so say you're taking notes. Fireflies' guide says consent is your job where the law requires it.

Does Gemini in Meet work on Zoom calls?

No. Take notes for me works only in Google Meet, and Zoom's summaries work only in Zoom. For calls on both, use a desktop app that captures system audio.

Best Private Screen Memory Apps in 2026 (Search What You Saw, No Cloud)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sun, 15 Nov 2026 05:32:14 +0000

The best private screen memory in 2026 is Off Grid AI Pro. It saves what was on your screen to your own disk and reads it with a local model on Mac, Windows or Linux, with no Copilot+ PC needed, and the same app records meetings and reviews your day, for one payment of $119. The best free alternative is Screenpipe's free plan, or Windrecorder on Windows, and if you already own a Copilot+ PC, Windows Recall is built in.

I build Off Grid AI, one of the apps below. I've tried to be fair, and every fact links to its source.

The quick comparison (checked 15 November 2026)

App	Platforms	Stays on your computer	Price	Best for
Off Grid AI Pro	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux	Yes, local models	One payment of $119, or $7.99/month	Memory plus meetings, paid once
Screenpipe	macOS 13+, Windows 10+, Linux	Yes by default; local or cloud model	Free (limited history), Basic $250/year	Developers and AI agents
Windows Recall	Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs	Yes, encrypted	Included with the PC	Copilot+ PC owners
Trailback	macOS 13+, Windows 10/11	Yes, encrypted	One-time, per computer ($9, listed down from $19)	Finding pages and files cheaply
Windrecorder	Windows	Yes	Free, open source (GPL-2.0)	Free on Windows
OpenRecall	Windows, macOS, Linux	Yes	Free, open source (AGPL-3.0)	Tinkerers

1. Off Grid AI Pro

Off Grid AI is a free app for chat, images and documents on iOS, Android, macOS (Apple silicon), Windows and Linux. Pro adds screen memory on the computer. Once you press Resume capture, it saves sampled screen moments on your disk and reads them with a local vision model, so you can ask what Sam said about the rollout and get the source. You can exclude apps, pause and delete moments. Reflect shows your day or week by project, app and person, and the heavy reading can run overnight, 3:00 to 8:00 by default, so your computer stays fast while you work. The same Pro records meetings without a bot, and it's one payment of $119 or $7.99 a month for up to 5 devices.

Your computer has to run a small vision model, and nothing is captured while the app is closed. Pick it if you want Rewind back on Mac, Windows or Linux, kept on your own disk and paid for once.

2. Screenpipe

Screenpipe records your screen, audio and app events to your disk, transcribes with Whisper, and can use Ollama for answers on your device. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and its API and MCP server let Claude, Cursor and your own scripts read your history. It has 22.4k GitHub stars. The free plan limits searchable history, and full history costs $21 a month or $250 a year, per its pricing page. The code is public under Screenpipe's own source-available licence, and commercial use needs a paid licence. Plan for about 30 GB of disk a month. Pick it if you write code and want raw history for your own agents.

3. Windows Recall

Recall saves encrypted snapshots every few seconds and searches them on the PC. Microsoft's support page says snapshots stay on your drive, aren't shared with Microsoft, and need Windows Hello every time you open them. It filters passwords and card numbers by default and is off until you turn it on. The catch is hardware. You need a Copilot+ PC with a 40 TOPS NPU, 16 GB of RAM and 50 GB free, and it's Windows only. Pick it if you already own that PC.

4. Trailback

Trailback saves the web pages, files, screenshots and copied text you use, then lets you search by describing what you remember, in 10 languages. Its site says it never records your screen or audio, skips passwords and card numbers, and goes online only for licence checks and updates. It's a one-time licence per computer, listed at $9 down from $19 when I checked. Pick it if what you usually lose is a page or a document.

5. Windrecorder

Windrecorder records your screen in small video files and searches them by OCR text, with optional image search and LLM tag summaries. Everything runs locally with no internet needed. It's free under GPL-2.0, has 4k GitHub stars and got a commit on 25 September 2026. Setup uses batch installers and Python, so it's less polished than a store app. Pick it if you're on Windows without a Copilot+ PC and want it free.

6. OpenRecall

OpenRecall takes regular screenshots, reads them with local OCR and gives you semantic search, on Windows, macOS and Linux. It's free under AGPL-3.0 and can store data on an encrypted removable disk. You install it with pip and Python 3.11, there are no packaged releases, and the last commit was on 24 September 2025. Pick it if you're comfortable in a terminal and want free on a Mac or Linux.

What happened to Rewind

Rewind was the app most people meant by "remember everything I saw". Meta bought Limitless, the company behind it, and Limitless says Rewind's screen and audio capture stopped on 19 December 2025. Old recordings stay readable in its apps through 2026. If you're still on Rewind, export what you need and move to one of the apps above.

How to choose

Check your hardware first. A Copilot+ PC makes Recall the easy answer, and an older PC or a Mac rules it out. Then decide what you lose most often. If it's whole screens and conversations, you want a screen recorder such as Off Grid AI, Screenpipe or Windrecorder. If it's links and files, Trailback is cheaper and lighter. Last, count the disk and the cost. Continuous capture fills gigabytes each month, and Screenpipe's full history is $750 over three years against a one-time price for Off Grid AI or Trailback.

FAQ

Is there a private Rewind alternative that doesn't use the cloud?

Yes. Off Grid AI Pro, Screenpipe, Windrecorder, OpenRecall and Windows Recall all keep captures on your computer. Trailback stays offline too, but it saves pages, files and copied text instead of recording the screen.

What happened to Rewind AI?

Meta bought Limitless, the company behind Rewind. Rewind stopped capturing on 19 December 2025, and earlier recordings stay readable through 2026.

Can I use Windows Recall without a Copilot+ PC?

No. Recall needs a Copilot+ PC with a 40 TOPS NPU and 16 GB of RAM. On other PCs, Off Grid AI Pro, Screenpipe, Windrecorder and OpenRecall all run on Windows.

Is there a free local screen memory app for Mac?

Yes. Screenpipe has a free plan with limited history, and OpenRecall is free and open source. Off Grid AI's core app is free, but screen memory needs Pro.

How much disk space does screen memory use?

It depends on the app and your settings. Screenpipe estimates about 30 GB a month, with retention you can change. Recall needs 50 GB free to turn on and pauses when free space drops below 25 GB.

Best Private, Local AI Apps for Mac and Windows in 2026 (ChatGPT Alternatives That Run Offline)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sun, 15 Nov 2026 05:31:33 +0000

Yes, and the best one is Off Grid AI. It's one private app that chats, makes images, handles voice and answers from your documents on Mac, Windows and Linux. The same app runs on your phone, and the core is free. If you mostly want to try lots of models, LM Studio is the strongest alternative, free for personal and work use, and Jan is the best fully open-source pick.

I build Off Grid AI, one of the apps below. I've tried to be fair, and every fact links to its source.

All seven run open models such as Llama, Gemma and Qwen on your own hardware. Once a model is downloaded, your prompts never leave the machine and you don't need an internet connection.

The apps at a glance (checked 15 November 2026)

App	Platforms	Runs offline, on your device	Price	Best for
Off Grid AI	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows (x64), Linux (x64), plus iPhone and Android	Yes	Free core; Pro optional	One private app for chat, images, voice and documents, on computer and phone
LM Studio	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows (x64, ARM), Linux	Yes	Free for personal and internal business use	Trying many models with the least setup
Jan	Mac, Windows, Linux	Yes, with local models	Free, open source	An open-source ChatGPT-style app
Ollama	Mac, Windows, Linux	Yes	Free locally; cloud plans from $20/month	Developers, and as the engine behind other apps
AnythingLLM	Mac, Windows, Linux, Docker, Android	Yes	Free desktop app	Chatting with a pile of documents
Open WebUI	Python, Docker or its desktop app	Yes, with a local model server	Free; enterprise plans	A self-hosted ChatGPT-style web app
GPT4All	Mac, Windows, Linux	Yes	Free, open source	People already using it

1. Off Grid AI

Off Grid AI is one private app for your computer and your phone. The free core on Mac, Windows and Linux covers chat, image generation and answers from your documents. It makes images on your own GPU with models such as Qwen-Image 2.1 and Z-Image Turbo. Answers from your files show the page they came from. Vision models like Gemma 4 and Qwen3-VL read charts and screenshots, Whisper handles speech and Kokoro reads replies aloud, and none of it needs an account or an API key. The same app runs on iPhone and Android.

On a Mac it needs Apple silicon, Linux means Ubuntu 24.04 or newer on x64, and it's a young app (version 0.0.56), so it changes quickly.

Pick it if you'd otherwise run separate tools for images, voice and documents. Pro is one payment of $119 or $7.99 a month for up to 5 devices. It adds memory, meeting notes without a bot, dictation into any app, a local vault, sync between your devices over your own network, and Computer Use and Web Use that act only after you approve. Download

2. LM Studio

LM Studio gives you a chat window, a model search and a one-click download, and it runs models with both MLX and llama.cpp. Developers get a local server with OpenAI-compatible endpoints and MCP support, so other apps can use your local model. Version 0.4.28 is the current Windows build.

The app itself isn't open source, though its terms allow personal and internal business use. On a Mac it needs Apple silicon and macOS 14, and LM Studio recommends 16 GB of RAM.

Pick it if you mostly want to try lots of models with the least setup.

3. Jan

Jan is a free, Apache 2.0 desktop app that its makers pitch as a ChatGPT alternative. It downloads open models from Hugging Face, runs an OpenAI-compatible server at localhost:1337, and supports MCP tools. You can also connect cloud models like Claude or OpenAI's, but that's optional, and with local models it runs fully offline. It shipped v0.8.8 on 28 October.

It sticks to chat and assistants, with no image generation listed.

Pick it if you want a ChatGPT-style app where every line of code is public. It's also the one here with a universal Mac build, so Intel Macs are covered.

4. Ollama

Ollama is the model runner a lot of other tools are built on. You install it on Mac, Windows or Linux and type ollama run gemma4 to start. It's MIT licensed and shipped v0.40.16 on 9 November. Its pricing page says running models on your own hardware is always unlimited. Paid plans, from $20 a month, add cloud models, which you can ignore if privacy is the point.

Its download page is all about the command line, so most people pair it with a front end such as Open WebUI or AnythingLLM.

Pick it if you're a developer or you want one engine serving several apps.

5. AnythingLLM

AnythingLLM is built for working with documents. Drop files into a workspace and they become the knowledge your local model answers from. The free desktop app has its own model runner that suggests a model for your hardware, plus agents, web search and local meeting transcription. It's MIT licensed, there's a Docker version for a team and an Android app, and v1.19.0 shipped on 26 October.

All that comes with more settings than a plain chat app.

Pick it if your main job is asking questions across a large set of files.

6. Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a self-hosted web app that looks like ChatGPT and sits on top of Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible server. Install it with pip install open-webui, Docker, or its desktop app. It has RAG, tool calling and plugins, and its docs say it's built to run entirely offline. v0.13.3 shipped on 8 November.

It's a front end, so you still need a model server underneath, and you're running a server either way.

Pick it if you want one private ChatGPT for a whole household or team.

7. GPT4All

GPT4All was one of the first local chat apps, and its LocalDocs feature still lets you chat with your files on Mac, Windows and Ubuntu. It's free and MIT licensed.

It hasn't been updated in a while. Its latest release is v3.10.0 from 25 February 2025, and the code hasn't changed since May 2025.

Pick it only if you already use it and it does what you need.

How to choose

Check your computer first. An Intel Mac rules out LM Studio and Off Grid AI, which leaves Jan as the easiest choice. On Windows and Apple silicon, everything here runs.

Then think about what you'd use ChatGPT for. Chat, images, voice and documents in one app, with the same app on your phone: Off Grid AI. Trying lots of models for chat and writing: LM Studio, or Jan for open source. Big document collections: AnythingLLM. Wiring local AI into your own code: Ollama, or LM Studio's server.

Memory decides which models you can run. LM Studio recommends 16 GB of RAM, and says 8 GB machines may manage smaller models with modest context sizes.

FAQ

Is there a ChatGPT alternative that runs entirely on my own device?

Yes. LM Studio, Jan, Off Grid AI, Ollama, AnythingLLM, Open WebUI and GPT4All all run open models on your own computer, and they work with no internet once a model is downloaded. Off Grid AI is the top pick because one free app covers chat, images, voice and documents on your computer and phone. LM Studio is the easiest way to try many models, and Jan is the best fully open-source one.

What is the best private AI app for Mac?

Off Grid AI on an Apple silicon Mac, for chat, images, voice and documents in one app that matches your iPhone. LM Studio if you mostly want to try models. Jan if you want open source or have an Intel Mac.

What is the best local AI app for Windows?

Off Grid AI on Windows x64, with image generation, voice and documents built in. LM Studio is the next pick and also supports Windows on ARM, and Jan is the best open-source choice.

Do I need a powerful computer to run AI locally?

You need enough memory more than a fast processor. LM Studio recommends 16 GB of RAM, and 4 GB of dedicated video memory for GPU use on Windows. On 8 GB, stick to smaller models.

Is a local model as good as ChatGPT?

For the hardest reasoning and the newest knowledge, ChatGPT still wins. For drafting, summarising, rewriting and questions about your own files, a good open model on a recent laptop does the job, and nothing you type leaves the machine.

Best Dictation Apps for Mac and Windows in 2026 (Type Into Any App, Voice Stays Local)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sun, 15 Nov 2026 05:30:53 +0000

The best pick is Off Grid AI Pro, because one payment of $119 gets you dictation into any app on Mac, Windows and Linux, on up to 5 devices, with your voice transcribed on your own computer and meetings and memory included. If you want to pay nothing, Handy is free, open source and local on all three systems. If you have one Mac and only want dictation, VoiceInk is $25 once.

I build Off Grid AI, one of the apps below. I've tried to be fair, and every fact links to its source.

The apps compared

Checked 15 November 2026 on each app's own site, pricing page or GitHub.

App	Platforms	Transcribes on your computer	Price	Best for
Off Grid AI Pro	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows x64, Linux x64	Yes (Whisper or Qwen3-ASR)	One payment of $119, or $7.99/month, up to 5 devices	Dictation plus meetings and memory, paid once
Handy	Mac, Windows, Linux	Yes (Whisper, Parakeet)	Free, MIT licence	Free, open-source dictation
Superwhisper	Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android	Yes, or cloud models	Free; Pro $8.49/month, $84.99/year or $249.99 once	Polish and phone apps
VoiceInk	Apple silicon Mac (macOS 14.4+), iOS	Yes	$25 once (1 Mac), $39 (2), $49 (3)	Cheapest paid Mac app
Spokenly	Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android	Yes, free local models	Free local; $29 once for Local+; Pro $15/month	Free local use plus an optional cloud
OpenWhispr	Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS	Yes	Free local; Pro $80/year	Open source with meeting notes
MacWhisper	Mac, iOS	Yes, or your own cloud keys	Free; Pro €64 once	Mac file and meeting transcripts
Windows Voice Access	Windows 11 22H2 and later	Yes, after a language download	Free, built in	Voice control of the whole PC

1. Off Grid AI Pro

You pay once and dictate on your Mac, your Windows laptop and your Linux box, up to 5 devices, without your voice leaving any of them. Off Grid AI is a local AI app for your phone and computer, and Pro adds dictation into any app. Put your cursor in a text box, hold Option+Space on a Mac or Alt+Space on Windows and Linux while you speak, and the text appears when you release. Whisper or Qwen3-ASR does the transcribing on your computer, and you can switch to toggle mode, change the shortcut, add custom words and strip filler words.

The same payment covers meetings recorded without a bot, memory, screen memory, device sync and approved actions, so your notes sit next to an assistant that knows your projects.

The limit. Dictation into other apps works on computers only, and on the phone voice input stays inside the app's own chat. Macs need Apple silicon, Linux needs x64 with Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, and the speech model downloads once before you can go offline. If dictation is the only thing you'll ever use, Handy is free and VoiceInk is $25.

Pick it if you work across more than one computer or system and want dictation, meetings and memory for one price. Details are on the Pro page.

2. Handy

Handy does one job. Hold the shortcut, talk, let go, and it pastes into the box you're typing in. Its GitHub page lists builds for Windows, macOS and Linux, Whisper models from Small to Large, and Parakeet V3 for CPUs, all under the MIT licence.

The limit. On Linux under Wayland you'll need a helper such as wtype or dotool before it can type, according to the README. Windows apps running as administrator won't accept its paste unless you run Handy as administrator as well. If no text field is active, the transcript has nowhere to go.

Pick it if you want private dictation, nothing else, for free.

3. Superwhisper

Superwhisper types into any app on Mac, Windows and Linux, and has iOS and Android apps. The free plan includes unlimited Whisper models, meetings on the Mac and more than 100 languages. Pro is $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year or $249.99 once, and adds cloud models, your own API keys, translation and file transcription.

The limit. The site says offline models run well on Apple silicon, and Intel Macs do better with cloud models. The Linux app needs Wayland and systemd.

Pick it if you dictate on your phone as much as your computer.

4. VoiceInk

VoiceInk transcribes on your Mac and writes into any app. If you turn on its Cloud Enhancement, only the finished text leaves your Mac and the audio stays put. Every plan is paid once with lifetime updates and a 14-day money-back guarantee, and the code is on GitHub.

The limit. You need an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14.4 or newer, and there's nothing for Windows or Linux. Three Macs is the most any plan covers.

Pick it if you have one Mac and want the cheapest paid app, at $25.

5. Spokenly

Spokenly has a free Local plan with unlimited on-device transcription, using Whisper and Parakeet, and no account. There's a Local Only Mode that restricts network access. Local+ is $29 once and adds mobile dictation and settings sync, and Pro adds managed cloud models at $15 a month or $144 a year.

The limit. Cloud models are the default, so you download a local model and switch to it before you can dictate offline.

Pick it if you want local dictation for free now and the option of a cloud model later.

6. OpenWhispr

OpenWhispr is MIT-licensed and types what you say into any app on Mac, Windows and Linux. Its pricing page says unlimited local dictation is free for everyone, with 5 hours of meeting recording a month. Pro is $80 a year and adds unlimited OpenWhispr Cloud, 20 meeting hours, sync and the iPhone app.

The limit. The extras you'd pay for are cloud features, so Pro buys you little if your goal is keeping everything local.

Pick it if you want open source with meeting notes on top.

7. MacWhisper

MacWhisper transcribes files and meetings on your Mac, and it dictates system-wide too. It runs Whisper and Parakeet on your Mac, or you can connect cloud providers with your own keys. There's a free version, and Pro is €64 once per licence with lifetime updates.

The limit. Mac only on the desktop, with a separate iOS and iPad version.

Pick it if you need transcripts of recordings and meetings as much as dictation.

8. Windows Voice Access

Voice Access is free in Windows 11 version 22H2 and later. Microsoft says it uses on-device speech recognition and works without the internet once its language files have downloaded during setup. You use it to open and switch apps, browse the web and write emails and other text by voice.

The limit. It's built to control the whole PC, so dictation is one part of a bigger command set you'll need to learn. Microsoft's setup page lists English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Japanese and Italian, and there's no Mac version.

Pick it if you're on Windows 11, speak a supported language and can't install third-party software.

How to choose

Start with your computers. If you use more than one, or Windows or Linux, look at Off Grid AI, Handy, Superwhisper, Spokenly and OpenWhispr. If you're Mac only, VoiceInk is the cheapest app you pay for.

Then check the default. Superwhisper, Spokenly and MacWhisper can all send audio to a cloud model, so pick a local model in settings and test it with Wi-Fi off. Off Grid AI, Handy, VoiceInk and Voice Access transcribe on the device.

Last, decide how you want to pay. Handy, Spokenly's Local plan, OpenWhispr's free plan and Voice Access cost nothing. Off Grid AI Pro, VoiceInk, MacWhisper, Superwhisper's lifetime plan and Spokenly Local+ each take one payment.

FAQ

Which dictation app works on Mac, Windows and Linux for one payment?

Off Grid AI Pro, at one payment of $119 for up to 5 devices, with meetings and memory included. Superwhisper's lifetime plan also covers all three at $249.99, and Handy is free on all three.

What is the best free dictation app that works offline?

Handy. It's free and open source, runs Whisper and Parakeet on your computer and pastes into any app on Mac, Windows and Linux. Superwhisper's free plan and Spokenly's Local plan also include unlimited local models.

Which dictation apps keep my voice on my computer?

Off Grid AI Pro, Handy, VoiceInk and Windows Voice Access transcribe on the device. Superwhisper, Spokenly, OpenWhispr and MacWhisper run local models too, and they also offer cloud models, so check which one is selected.

Does Windows have built-in offline dictation?

Yes. Voice Access in Windows 11 22H2 and later uses on-device speech recognition and works without the internet after setup, in the languages Microsoft lists.

What is the cheapest one-time dictation app for Mac?

VoiceInk, at $25 once for one Apple silicon Mac. MacWhisper Pro is €64 once. Handy is free.

What Is the Best App to Run AI Models Offline on Your Phone? (iPhone and Android, 2026)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sun, 15 Nov 2026 05:30:12 +0000

The best app to run AI models offline on your phone is Off Grid AI. One free app on iPhone and Android chats, answers questions about your photos, takes voice input through Whisper and makes images on the phone, and the same app runs on your Mac or PC. If plain offline chat is all you want, PocketPal is the best free alternative, and on an iPhone, Locally AI is a good free Apple-only pick.

I build Off Grid AI, one of the apps below. I've tried to be fair, and every fact links to its source.

Every app below downloads a model once, the phone runs it, and after that airplane mode is fine. What separates them is which phones they support, what they do beyond chat, and whether anyone still updates them.

The apps at a glance (checked 15 November 2026)

App	Platforms	Runs on the phone, offline	Price (US stores)	Best for
Off Grid AI	iPhone, Android (also Mac, Windows, Linux)	Yes	Free; Pro optional	Chat, photo questions, voice and images in one app
PocketPal	iPhone, iPad, Android	Yes	Free; optional one-time Plus	Plain offline chat on any phone
Google AI Edge Gallery	Android, iPhone	Yes	Free	Trying Google's Gemma models
Locally AI	iPhone, iPad, Mac	Yes	Free	Apple users who want it inside Siri
Private LLM	iPhone, iPad, Mac	Yes	$4.99 once	Apple users who'd rather pay once
Layla	Android, iPhone	Yes	$19.99 on iPhone; free limited Android APK	Character chat and roleplay
LM Playground	Android	Yes	Free	A small Android app that also reads photos and documents

1. Off Grid AI

Off Grid AI Mobile runs GGUF models from Hugging Face, and it does more than chat. It makes images on the phone with Stable Diffusion models, answers questions about a photo or screenshot with a vision model, and turns your voice into text with Whisper, all with no connection. The core app is free and open source (MIT, on GitHub) and needs no account.

It needs iOS 17 on an iPhone 12 or newer, or Android 10 with at least 4 GB of RAM. It's also younger than PocketPal (version 0.0.122 on the App Store, released 4 November), so expect more change between releases.

Pick it if you want one offline app for chat, photos, voice and pictures, and the same app on your Mac, Windows or Linux computer. Pro, at one payment of $119 or $7.99 a month for up to 5 devices, adds memory and sync between your devices over your own network. Downloads

2. PocketPal

PocketPal is the strongest chat-only app here. It runs GGUF models such as Gemma, Qwen, Phi and Llama, and you find them by searching Hugging Face inside the app. There's no account. You can talk to it through on-device Whisper and have replies read aloud by local voices such as Kokoro. "Pals" save an assistant with its own model and prompt, and a built-in benchmark shows how many tokens per second your phone manages.

Its limit is scope. The project page doesn't list image generation or photo questions, and hands-free voice conversation needs the optional Plus purchase in the store builds. It's MIT licensed and shipped v1.23.0 on 10 November.

Pick it if you want offline chat with nothing extra to learn. App Store · Google Play

3. Google AI Edge Gallery

Google AI Edge Gallery is Google's showcase for on-device models running on its LiteRT runtime. You can chat with Gemma models, point the camera at something and ask about it with Ask Image, and transcribe or translate a recording with Audio Scribe, all offline. It's free on the App Store and Google Play.

The project calls itself an "experimental Beta release", and it runs the models Google has packaged for LiteRT, so you can't load any GGUF file you find. It needs Android 12 or iOS 17.

Pick it if you want to see what Google's small models can do on your phone.

4. Locally AI

Locally AI is a free app for iPhone, iPad and Mac built on Apple's MLX. It runs Llama, Gemma, Qwen, DeepSeek and others, has a local voice mode and vision models, and you can open it from Siri, Shortcuts, Control Center or the Action Button. The site says it's joining LM Studio, and the App Store now lists it as "Locally AI by LM Studio".

It's Apple only, and it doesn't list image generation.

Pick it if you live on Apple devices and want a local model one Siri phrase away.

5. Private LLM

Private LLM costs $4.99 on the App Store, and one purchase covers your iPhone, iPad and Mac, with Family Sharing for up to six people. Its catalogue has 140+ models, including Qwen3 4B, Phi 4 and Gemma 3, quantised with OmniQuant and GPTQ. It works with Siri and Shortcuts, and on a Mac a right-click service rewrites or summarises selected text in any app.

It's Apple only, and you choose from its catalogue instead of loading your own files.

Pick it if you're on Apple devices and happy to pay $4.99 once.

6. Layla

Layla is an on-device companion app. It runs GGUF, LiteRT-LM and PTE models, makes Stable Diffusion 1.5 images inside a chat, and has 100+ local voices. Characters are the core of it, with a community hub and import of Tavern cards and SillyTavern lorebooks. The full app is a one-time purchase, $19.99 on the App Store, and Android has a free version with fewer features as a direct APK.

There's also a separate Layla Cloud app that uses hosted models, so check which one you install if offline matters to you.

Pick it if you want characters and roleplay that stay on your phone.

7. LM Playground

LM Playground is a free Android app on Google Play built on llama.cpp. You can attach a photo for vision models like Gemma 4 and Qwen 3.5, dictate offline in 35 languages, and ask questions about PDF, Word and EPUB files. It's MIT licensed, and 1.10.2 came out on 24 October.

It's Android only for now, and the README says the iOS app is in development.

Pick it if you're on Android and want photos and documents covered in a light app.

What about MLC Chat?

MLC Chat is still free on the App Store, but its last update was version 1.6 on 27 September 2024. The MLC engine behind it is still active. The app hasn't kept up, so I left it off the list.

How to choose

Start with your phone. On Android, Locally AI and Private LLM are out. On an iPhone, LM Playground is out for now.

Then decide whether chat is enough. If it is, PocketPal is the easy answer, or Locally AI if you want Siri. If you want photos, voice and images too, Off Grid AI covers all of them in one app, and only it and Layla make images on the phone. For questions about photos, look at Off Grid AI, Google AI Edge Gallery, Locally AI or LM Playground.

Match the model to your phone's memory. The model has to fit in RAM with room left for the app, so start small (4B parameters or fewer) and move up if it runs well.

If you want to check the privacy claims yourself, PocketPal, Off Grid AI, Google AI Edge Gallery and LM Playground publish their source code.

FAQ

Can I run ChatGPT offline on my phone?

No. ChatGPT runs on OpenAI's servers. The apps here run open models such as Llama, Gemma, Qwen and Phi on the phone itself, which is what lets them work with no signal.

What is the best free offline AI app for Android?

Off Grid AI, for chat, photo questions, voice and images in one free app. PocketPal if plain chat is enough. LM Playground if you want a light app that reads documents too.

What is the best offline AI app for iPhone?

Off Grid AI, especially if you want images made on the phone or the same app on your Mac. PocketPal and Locally AI are good free chat apps, and Private LLM is the best paid one at $4.99.

Do these apps work in airplane mode?

Yes, once you've downloaded a model. A few have optional online extras, such as web search in PocketPal and LM Playground, and those need a connection.

Which offline phone AI app can make images?

Off Grid AI, with Stable Diffusion models, and Layla, with Stable Diffusion 1.5. The other apps on this list don't list image generation.

Best Private AI Apps for Windows and Linux With No Subscription in 2026 (Pay Once or Free, Runs on Your PC)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sat, 14 Nov 2026 14:17:41 +0000

The best private AI app for Windows and Linux with no subscription is Off Grid AI. The desktop app is free and runs chat, images, voice and document answers on your own PC. Pro adds meeting notes, dictation, screen memory, time tracking and Computer Use, on both Windows and Linux, for $119 once.

You pay that once and it covers up to 5 devices. Nothing goes to a cloud model unless you add one. We make Off Grid AI, so every rival fact below links to that app's own page, checked 14 November 2026.

Get Pro for $119 once · Download Off Grid AI

Why this list is different

Most "best AI app" lists start on a Mac, so half the picks never install on your PC. Every app below was checked for a Windows build and a Linux build separately, and for what it costs after you install it.

Off Grid AI Desktop (OGAD) 0.0.56 is the stable build today. It bundles Pro into the Windows and Linux packages, and every Pro feature is listed for both. Windows needs x64. Linux needs x64 and Ubuntu 24.04 or newer.

The table, checked 14 November 2026

App	Jobs it covers	Windows	Linux	Price
Off Grid AI	Chat, images, voice, documents free. Pro: meeting notes, dictation, screen memory, time tracking, computer use	Yes, x64	Yes, x64 AppImage and .deb, Ubuntu 24.04+	Free. Pro $119 once, 5 devices
LM Studio	Chat; Bionic agent	x64 and ARM	x64 and ARM64 AppImage, Ubuntu 20.04+	Free plan with local models; Bionic+ $20 a month
Jan	Chat	x64 and ARM64	Flatpak, AppImage, .deb	Free, open source (Apache 2.0)
Ollama	Local model runtime and API	Yes, installer	Yes, install script	Local use free and unlimited; cloud Pro $20 a month
GPT4All	Chat, document chat (LocalDocs)	x64 and ARM	x86-64 only, Ubuntu installer	Open source (MIT)
Msty Studio	Chat with local and online models	x64 and ARM64	x64 AppImage and .deb	Free; Aurum $149 a year or $349 once
Handy	Dictation	Yes	Yes; Wayland support "limited"	Free, open source (MIT)
Screenpipe	Screen and audio memory, meetings	Yes	Yes	Free on one device, limited history; Basic $21 a month

Rival facts come from the pages linked in each row. GPT4All's own pages don't state a price; the app is MIT licensed.

Pick by the job you want done

Chat with a private model

Every app in the table except Handy and Screenpipe does this for free. Jan says it "runs 100% offline on your computer" and ships Windows, Linux .deb, AppImage and Flatpak builds. LM Studio runs on Windows and Linux, x64 or ARM, and needs AVX2 on x64. GPT4All adds LocalDocs for chatting with your files, but its Linux build is x86-64 only. Ollama says running models on your own hardware "is always unlimited", and it's a runtime with an API, so it suits you if you live in a terminal.

Off Grid AI's free app also makes images on your GPU, speaks answers out loud and answers from your documents, using CUDA on NVIDIA cards and Vulkan on AMD and Intel. Its OpenAI-compatible API listens on port 7878 with keys off by default, so turn on Require an API key in Gateway before you share a Wi-Fi network.

Meeting notes without a bot

Off Grid AI Pro records Zoom, Meet and Teams calls with system audio and your mic, spots the call on its own, and writes the transcript on your PC with whisper.cpp. Nobody sees a bot join, and the recording stays on your disk. That's the same on Windows and Linux in 0.0.56.

Screenpipe also transcribes audio locally and has meeting features. Its free plan keeps a limited history on one device, and the full history is $21 a month or $250 a year, so you're back to a subscription.

Dictation into any app

Handy is free, MIT licensed and works on Windows and Linux. On Linux it needs xdotool on X11, and its README calls Wayland support "limited", with wtype or dotool for typing.

Off Grid AI Pro's Voice works with Alt+Space on Windows and Linux. Hold it to talk or tap it to toggle, and the text lands at your cursor. It keeps every recording in a searchable library, and you can drop in any audio or video file to get a transcript.

Screen memory: find what you saw

Off Grid AI Pro's Replay saves your screen as you work and lets you scrub back to the doc or number you saw. A local vision model reads the frames on Windows and Linux, and by default the heavy analysis runs overnight, from 03:00 to 08:00. On GNOME with Wayland, the default on Ubuntu, the app asks you to turn on its Off Grid AI Capture extension so it can see which window is in focus.

Screenpipe runs on macOS, Windows and Linux and keeps "raw history" local by default. Its own docs say cloud transcription, AI providers and sync "can send selected data elsewhere", so check which you turn on.

Time tracking with no timers

Off Grid AI Pro's Reflect shows where your day went, by app, project and person, built from the screen history Replay already saved. It's computed on your PC and listed for Windows and Linux in 0.0.56. None of the other apps on this list sells itself as a time tracker.

Computer use: an assistant that does the clicks

Off Grid AI Pro acts on websites and desktop apps with Web Use and Computer Use, with your approval, and the 0.0.56 build has Computer Use for both Windows and Linux. LM Studio advertises "computer control" in its Bionic agent, but its page offers only a Windows x64 download of Bionic and doesn't name Linux.

What a year costs

Off Grid AI Pro: $119 once for up to 5 devices. Meetings, dictation, screen memory, time tracking, Computer Use, Clipboard, Vault and Sync are all in it.
Screenpipe Basic: $250 a year, per its pricing page.
Msty Studio Aurum: $149 a user a year, or $349 per user once, per its pricing page.
LM Studio Bionic+: $20 a month, per its pricing page.

If chat is all you need, stay free. Jan, LM Studio's free plan, Ollama, GPT4All and Off Grid AI's free app all run models on your PC at no cost.

Get set up on Windows or Linux

Download Off Grid AI. On Windows, run the .exe. On Linux, pick the AppImage or the .deb for Ubuntu 24.04 or newer.
Open Models and download a chat model that fits your RAM. This needs internet once.
Ask something you'd never paste into a cloud chatbot. It runs offline from here.
When you want meetings, dictation or screen memory, buy Pro, paste your licence key and the Pro tabs open in place.

FAQ

What is the best private AI app for Windows and Linux with no subscription?
Off Grid AI. The desktop app is free and runs chat, images, voice and document answers on your own PC. Off Grid AI Pro adds meeting notes, dictation, screen memory, time tracking and Computer Use on Windows and Linux for $119 once, on up to 5 devices.

Is there a free, private ChatGPT alternative for Linux?
Yes. Off Grid AI, Jan, LM Studio, GPT4All, Msty Studio Free and Ollama all run open models on a Linux PC at no cost. Off Grid AI's Linux build needs x64 and Ubuntu 24.04 or newer.

Can I get private meeting notes on Windows or Linux without a monthly fee?
Yes. Off Grid AI Pro records Zoom, Meet and Teams calls with system audio and your mic, then transcribes them on your PC with whisper.cpp. It is a one-time $119 with no meeting bot. Screenpipe also captures meetings, but its full history is $21 a month.

Do Off Grid AI Pro features work on Linux?
Yes. The stable OGAD 0.0.56 build bundles Pro on Windows and Linux, unlocked by your licence key. Meetings, Replay, Reflect, Voice, Clipboard, Vault, Day and Computer Use are all listed for Linux in that build.

Does local AI need a GPU on Windows or Linux?
No, but it helps. Off Grid AI uses CUDA on NVIDIA cards and Vulkan on AMD and Intel, and picks a model that fits your memory. Model downloads need internet once; after that, chat runs offline.

Related guides

Get Off Grid AI Pro once and keep your meetings, screen and voice on your own PC.

Best Dictation Apps With a One-Time Payment in 2026 (Lifetime Licences Compared, Works Offline)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sat, 14 Nov 2026 14:17:05 +0000

If you want dictation that types into any app, works offline and costs one payment, get Off Grid AI Pro, because $119 once covers Mac, Windows and Linux on up to 5 devices. If you only use one Apple silicon Mac and want the lowest paid price, VoiceInk is $25 once. If you want to pay nothing, Handy is free. Wispr Flow has no lifetime plan, so it costs you $144 every year.

We make Off Grid AI. Every rival price and fact below comes from that app's own pages, checked 14 November 2026.

Get Pro for $119 once · Download Off Grid AI

Voice settings in Off Grid AI Desktop. You set the key, turn on Paste at cursor and pick the local model that writes your words.

Pay-once dictation apps compared

	Price	Computers	Speech to text on your computer	Types into any app
Off Grid AI Pro	$119 once, up to 5 devices	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux (x64)	Yes	Yes, pastes at your cursor
Handy	Free, open source (MIT)	Mac, Windows, Linux	Yes	Yes, pastes into the app you're in
VoiceInk	$25 once (1 Mac), $39 (2), $49 (3)	Apple silicon Mac, macOS 14.4+	Yes	Yes
MacWhisper Pro	€64 once per licence, free version too	Mac	Yes, or cloud providers you connect	Yes, system-wide dictation
Superwhisper Pro lifetime	$249.99 once, as many devices as you like	Mac, Windows, Linux	Yes, or cloud models	Yes
Wispr Flow Pro (the monthly baseline)	$15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly	Mac, Windows	No, always cloud	Yes

Sources: Handy's site and GitHub (v0.10.1, released 14 November 2026); VoiceInk's site; MacWhisper's pricing; Superwhisper's plans and Linux page; Wispr Flow's pricing and privacy pages.

What three years of dictation costs you

	3 years
Handy	$0
VoiceInk Solo	$25
MacWhisper Pro	€64
Off Grid AI Pro	$119
Superwhisper Pro lifetime	$249.99
Wispr Flow Pro, billed yearly	$432
Wispr Flow Pro, monthly	$540

Wispr Flow is 36 months at $12 or $15. Every app above it in this table costs less over three years, and every one of them can keep your voice on your computer.

Off Grid AI Pro

What you get. Click into any text box, hold Option+Space on a Mac or Alt+Space on Windows and Linux, talk, and let go. Your words land where the cursor was, transcribed by a model on your own computer. In Voice settings you choose Hold, Toggle or Both, set your own Shortcut, pick the Engine (Whisper or Qwen3-ASR) and the Language, add custom words, and turn on Remove filler words if you want the ums gone. Auto-delete clears recordings after 7, 30 or 90 days.

What else the same payment covers. Meetings recorded without a bot, a local memory of your screens and documents, actions you approve, Vault and Sync. Turn on Feed to memory and the people, projects and to-dos you mention in a dictated note join what Off Grid AI knows about your work.

What you need. Off Grid AI Desktop (OGAD) is free and open source. Dictation into other apps is Pro: $119 once for lifetime access, or $7.99 a month. Macs need Apple silicon, and Linux needs x64 with Ubuntu 24.04 or newer. The speech model needs internet once to download.

Best for. Anyone who dictates on more than one computer, or on Windows or Linux, and wants one payment to cover it. Setup steps are in the guides for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Handy

What you get. A free, open-source dictation app under the MIT licence. Press the shortcut, speak, release, and Handy pastes the text into the app you're in. It runs Whisper and Parakeet models on your computer, with builds for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Best for. People who want dictation and nothing else, at no cost.

The catch. Its README says Wayland support on Linux is limited and needs extra tools such as wtype or dotool. On Windows it can't paste into apps running as administrator unless Handy runs as administrator too.

VoiceInk

What you get. An open-source (GPL v3) dictation app that transcribes on your Mac and writes into any app. Its optional Cloud Enhancement sends only the text, never your voice. Every plan is a one-time purchase with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Best for. One person on one Apple silicon Mac who wants the lowest paid price: $25 once.

The catch. Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14.4 or later only. No Windows or Linux, and the biggest plan covers three Macs.

MacWhisper Pro

What you get. A Mac transcription app that also dictates system-wide. Pro is €64 once with lifetime updates. It also transcribes files and records meetings in Zoom, Teams and others. You can run local models or connect cloud providers with your own keys.

Best for. Mac users who want file and meeting transcripts as much as dictation, paid once.

The catch. Mac only on the desktop. Its pages list a separate iOS and iPad version.

Superwhisper Pro lifetime

What you get. Dictation into any app on Mac, Windows and Linux, plus iOS and Android apps. The free plan already includes unlimited Whisper models. Pro adds cloud models, your own API keys, translation and file transcription, and its FAQ says one licence works on as many of your devices as you like.

Best for. People who dictate on their phone as much as their computer.

The catch. The lifetime plan is $249.99. Meetings are Mac only, and the Linux app needs Wayland and systemd.

Wispr Flow, the monthly baseline

Wispr Flow Pro is $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, and its pricing page lists no lifetime plan. Its privacy page says "Transcription always happens in the cloud", so it won't work offline. If you're searching for a Wispr Flow alternative without a subscription, any app above gets you there. See Off Grid AI vs Wispr Flow for the side-by-side.

Which one should you pick

You dictate on Windows or Linux, or on several computers, and want to pay once: Off Grid AI Pro.
You want free dictation and nothing more: Handy.
You have one Apple silicon Mac and want the cheapest paid app: VoiceInk.
You want Mac file and meeting transcripts with dictation: MacWhisper Pro.
You dictate on your phone a lot: Superwhisper.

FAQ

Is there a Wispr Flow alternative without a subscription?
Yes. Off Grid AI Pro, VoiceInk, MacWhisper Pro and Superwhisper's lifetime plan are all paid once, and Handy is free. All five can turn speech into text on your own computer. Wispr Flow has no lifetime option, and its privacy page says transcription always happens in the cloud.

Which dictation app has a lifetime licence for Windows and Linux?
Off Grid AI Pro, at $119 once for up to 5 devices across Mac, Windows and Linux. Superwhisper's Pro lifetime plan is $249.99 and also covers Windows and Linux. Handy is free on all three. VoiceInk and MacWhisper are Mac only.

What is the cheapest one-time dictation app?
Handy costs nothing. The cheapest paid one is VoiceInk at $25 once for one Apple silicon Mac. If you need Windows or Linux too, Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once.

Does Off Grid AI dictation work offline?
Yes. The speech model runs on your computer, so after it downloads once you can dictate with Wi-Fi off. Dictation into other apps is part of Pro, on Mac (Apple silicon), Windows and Linux (x64, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer).

Can I dictate into other apps on my phone with Off Grid AI?
No. On the phone, Off Grid AI takes voice input inside its own chat, transcribed on the device. Dictating into any app is on computers. Superwhisper and Wispr Flow have phone apps, and VoiceInk has an iOS app.

Related guides

Get Off Grid AI Pro and dictate your next email offline after one payment.

Best AI Meeting Note Apps With a One-Time Payment in 2026 (No Monthly Fee, No Meeting Bot)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sat, 14 Nov 2026 14:16:29 +0000

Yes, you can buy an AI meeting notetaker once and never pay a monthly fee. Off Grid AI Pro records your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call with no bot, writes the transcript and summary on your own computer, and costs $119 once on Mac, Windows and Linux.

We make Off Grid AI. Every rival fact and price below comes from that app's own page, checked 14 November 2026.

Get Pro for $119 once · Download Off Grid AI

Meetings in Off Grid AI Desktop: the call, the decisions and the transcript, all made on the computer.

The pay-once meeting notetakers, compared

App	One-time price	What it records	Where transcription runs	Computers
Off Grid AI Pro	$119 once, up to 5 devices	Call audio, your mic and the screen; auto-starts on Zoom and Google Meet, or press Record meeting	Your computer (Whisper); summary by a local model	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux
MacWhisper	€64 once (Pro)	Zoom, Teams, Webex, Skype, Chime, Discord and any app's audio (Pro only)	Your Mac, unless you connect a cloud service	Mac
Talat	$189 lifetime licence	Both sides of Zoom, Teams and Meet calls, started on its own	Your computer; summaries by a built-in Qwen3.5-4B	Mac (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), Windows 10+
Anarlog (was Hyprnote, then Char)	Free plan	Your device's audio, no bot	Your computer, unlimited on the free plan	Mac; Windows and Linux in beta
Meetily	Free Community edition	System audio from Meet, Zoom, Teams, Slack Huddles and more	Your computer (Whisper)	Mac, Windows

Rival facts from each app's own site, checked 14 November 2026.

What the monthly apps cost you

These are the apps most people compare first. Each one charges every month and processes your call in the cloud.

App	Price	Over 3 years
Granola Business	$14 per user a month	$504
Fireflies Pro	$10 per seat a month billed yearly, $18 billed monthly	$360
Otter Pro	$8.33 a month billed yearly, $16.99 billed monthly	$299.88

Granola's free Basic plan and Otter's free plan exist, but Otter's free plan stops at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation. Fireflies sends a bot into the meeting by default; you need its Chrome extension to record without one.

1. Off Grid AI Pro: one payment, every computer you own

What you get. Off Grid AI Desktop (OGAD) is a free, open-source AI app. Pro adds Meetings. When a Zoom or Google Meet call starts, it records on its own: the far side's audio, your microphone and your screen. In a room, or on any other call, press Record meeting. When you stop, the screen shows Transcribing on device… while a Whisper model writes the transcript on your computer, and a local model writes the summary with the decisions and who owes what.

After the call. The Speakers list tells voices apart, and you click a speaker to give them a name. Press Chat about this meeting to ask what was agreed. Pick a Transcription language and a Transcription model, and save the transcript, the audio or the full video to your disk. Turn on Keep recording when away and the recording continues when you switch away from the call window.

Price. $119 once for lifetime access, or $7.99 a month. One key covers up to 5 devices, and it works the same on Mac (Apple silicon), Windows and Linux (x64, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer). You download the speech model once, and after that the notes work with no internet.

Best for. Client, legal or deal calls you'd rather keep on your own machine, and anyone on Windows or Linux who wants one price. The same key also brings Pro's memory of your screens and mail, actions and God, a chief of staff that preps your meetings.

2. MacWhisper: a transcript tool for the Mac

MacWhisper's free version transcribes files and your microphone. Meeting recording is in Pro, €64 per licence, paid once, with lifetime updates. It records Zoom, Teams, Webex, Skype, Chime and Discord, and its App Audio option captures any app on your Mac. Transcription runs on your Mac, and you can connect OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama or LM Studio for AI.

Pick it if you only use a Mac and want transcripts more than an assistant. It doesn't run on Windows or Linux. See Off Grid AI vs MacWhisper.

3. Talat: a lifetime licence, Mac and Windows

Talat records both sides of a call when it starts on Zoom, Teams or Meet, with no bot. Transcripts and notes stay in a local database, and its built-in Qwen3.5-4B writes the summaries on your computer. It sells a yearly plan at $89, or a lifetime licence for $189 if you'd rather pay once. You get 10 free hours of recording first.

It needs macOS 15 on Apple silicon, or Windows 10 or newer, and there's no Linux build. At $189 it costs more than Off Grid AI Pro.

4. Anarlog: free, open source, local transcription

Anarlog started as Hyprnote, was renamed Char, and is now Anarlog. Its free plan has unlimited on-device transcription, local recordings and bring-your-own API keys, with no bot in the call. Its own pricing page warns that "Local speech recognition does not make summaries local," so check where your summary model runs.

There's no one-time paid plan. Pro is $14 a person a month or $140 a year, for cloud transcription, sync and sharing. Its download page offers Mac builds, and Windows and Linux builds in beta.

5. Meetily: free and open source, Mac and Windows

Meetily's Community edition is free under the MIT licence and transcribes on your device with Whisper. It captures system audio, so it works with Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Discord, Slack Huddles and Webex. Summaries use a local model through Ollama, or your own Claude, OpenAI or Groq key, which sends the transcript (not the audio) to that provider.

You download it for Mac or Windows; Linux is a waitlist. Its paid Pro is a subscription at $10 a user a month, billed yearly at $120.

Which one should you buy

You want to pay once and use Windows or Linux too: Off Grid AI Pro. It's the only pay-once option here on all three.
You only need transcripts on a Mac: MacWhisper Pro at €64.
You want nothing to pay and can set up Ollama: Meetily on Mac or Windows, or Anarlog's free plan.
You're paying Granola, Otter or Fireflies today: Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once. Granola Business is $504 over three years.

Related guides

FAQ

Is there an AI meeting notetaker without a subscription?
Yes. Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once, MacWhisper Pro is €64 once and Talat sells a lifetime licence for $189. Anarlog and Meetily have free plans that transcribe on your computer. None of them sends a bot into your call.

Which one-time meeting notetaker works on Windows and Linux?
Off Grid AI Pro records and summarises meetings on Mac (Apple silicon), Windows and Linux, and one key covers up to 5 devices. Talat runs on Apple silicon Macs and Windows 10 or newer. MacWhisper is Mac only.

Do these apps send my meeting audio to the cloud?
Off Grid AI Pro, Talat, Anarlog's free plan and Meetily transcribe on your computer. MacWhisper transcribes on your Mac unless you connect a cloud service. Granola, Otter and Fireflies process your calls in the cloud.

How much do I save over a subscription?
On 14 November 2026, Granola Business is $14 a month, $504 over three years. Fireflies Pro is $10 a month billed yearly, $360 over three years. Otter Pro is $8.33 a month billed yearly, about $300 over three years. Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once.

Is Off Grid AI's meeting recorder free?
Off Grid AI Desktop is free and open source, but Meetings is part of Pro. Pro is $119 once for lifetime access, or $7.99 a month.

Get Off Grid AI Pro and keep your next call on your own computer.

How Much Do AI Subscriptions Cost in 2026? Yearly Totals for Popular AI Tools, and What Paying Once Saves

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sat, 14 Nov 2026 14:15:51 +0000

Eleven popular AI subscriptions cost $1,234.70 a year together on their cheapest plans, and $1,589.40 if you pay month to month. Pay for just one tool per job, say Granola, Wispr Flow, Rize, Paste, 1Password and ChatGPT Plus, and it's still $749.75 every year. Off Grid AI covers those six jobs with one payment. Private chat is free, and Pro adds the rest for $119 once, less than one year of ChatGPT Plus alone.

We make Off Grid AI. Every rival price below comes from that product's own pricing page, checked 14 November 2026, and is linked next to the number.

Get Pro for $119 once · Download Off Grid AI

A meeting summary in Off Grid AI Desktop, written by a model on your computer. With Pro, it does the job of a notetaker that costs $99.96 to $168 a year.

What 11 AI subscriptions cost in 2026

Prices are for one person, in US dollars, before tax. "Yearly cost" uses the cheapest way each product lets you pay, so these totals are as low as they get.

Tool and plan	Job	Billed monthly	Yearly cost	Off Grid AI
ChatGPT Plus	AI chat	$20	$240 (no yearly plan)	Free, local models
Granola Business	Meeting notes	$14	$168 (no yearly price shown)	Pro
Fireflies Pro	Meeting notes	$18	$120 ($10 a month billed yearly)	Pro
Otter Pro	Meeting notes	$16.99	$99.96 ($8.33 a month billed yearly)	Pro
Wispr Flow Pro	Dictation	$15	$144 ($12 a month billed yearly)	Pro, computer only
Superwhisper Pro	Dictation	$8.49	$84.99	Pro, computer only
Rize Basic	Time tracking	$12.99	$119.88 ($9.99 a month billed yearly)	Pro (Reflect)
RescueTime Solo	Time tracking	$9	$84	Pro (Reflect)
Raycast Pro	AI in a launcher	$10	$96	AI chat free, clipboard with Pro
1Password Individual	Passwords	Billed yearly only	$47.88 ($35.88 first year for new customers)	Pro, one computer
Paste Personal	Clipboard history	$3.99	$29.99	Pro
Rewind / Limitless	Screen memory	No longer sold	Not counted	Pro (Memory)
All 11 priced tools		$1,589.40 a year	$1,234.70	$119 once

Checked 14 November 2026 on each linked page. ChatGPT, Granola, Otter, Fireflies, Wispr Flow, Superwhisper and Raycast also have free plans with limits. Otter showed a 50% first-time offer on Pro that day; we used its listed price. Superwhisper also sells Pro for $249.99 lifetime, and Paste lists a lifetime plan without a price on its page.

Rewind is gone. Meta bought Limitless, the company that made Rewind. Limitless says it no longer sells to new customers and is sunsetting non-Pendant features like Rewind, and the rewind.ai address now sells token packs for a different product. That's why it has no price in the table.

What a normal stack costs per year

You only need one notetaker. Here's what one tool per job costs, on the cheapest yearly plans.

Job	Popular pick	Per year	Cheapest pick	Per year
AI chat	ChatGPT Plus	$240	ChatGPT Plus	$240
Meeting notes	Granola Business	$168	Otter Pro	$99.96
Dictation	Wispr Flow Pro	$144	Superwhisper Pro	$84.99
Time tracking	Rize Basic	$119.88	RescueTime Solo	$84
Passwords	1Password	$47.88	1Password	$47.88
Clipboard	Paste	$29.99	Paste	$29.99
Total		$749.75		$586.82

Over three years the popular stack is $2,249.25 and the cheapest one is $1,760.46, if no price goes up. Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once, and one key covers up to 5 of your devices. If you'd rather spread it out, it's $7.99 a month.

Why one app can charge once

Cloud AI tools pay for a server every time you ask them something, so they have to bill you every month. Off Grid AI runs the models on your own computer and phone, so your answers cost nobody a server bill and there are no usage fees. You need the internet once, to download the app and your models and to activate Pro. We explain the economics in the case against cloud AI subscriptions.

What you get for each job

AI chat, free. Off Grid AI Desktop (OGAD) and Off Grid AI Mobile (OGAM) chat with open models you download, answer from your PDFs with the source shown, and take voice in and out. No account.
Meeting notes, Pro. OGAD records Zoom, Teams and Google Meet calls without a bot joining, transcribes them on your computer and writes the summary and follow-ups. No minute caps.
Dictation, Pro. Talk and the text lands in any app on Mac, Windows and Linux.
Time tracking, Pro. Reflect shows your day and week by project, app and person, with no timers to start.
Screen memory, Pro. Memory keeps your screens, meetings, mail and documents searchable on your disk, which is the job Rewind used to do.
Clipboard, Pro. A searchable history of text, links, images and files, and Sync sends copied text between your phone and computer over your own network.
Passwords, Pro. Vault holds logins, cards and private files, encrypted on one computer.

OGAD needs a Mac with Apple silicon, Windows, or Linux on x64 with Ubuntu 24.04 or newer. The app shows which models fit your machine before you download one.

Where the subscriptions do a better job

Hard reasoning and deep research. ChatGPT Plus runs OpenAI's GPT-6 reasoning models on OpenAI's servers. A model that fits on your laptop is smaller, so keep Plus if you live in long research reports.
Anything on your phone. Off Grid AI's dictation, meetings, Reflect and Vault run on your computer. Wispr Flow and Superwhisper have phone apps, Otter and Fireflies record on iOS and Android, and 1Password works on every device. OGAM has no vault.
Teams. Granola Business, Fireflies and Otter Business have shared workspaces and team admin. Off Grid AI Pro is for one person.
Focus blocking and client timesheets. RescueTime blocks distractions in Focus Sessions, and Rize and RescueTime have billing reports. Reflect shows where your time went but blocks nothing.
A launcher. Raycast opens apps, manages windows and runs extensions. Off Grid AI doesn't replace any of that.
A slow computer. Cloud tools run on any laptop because their servers do the work. Off Grid AI's speed depends on the machine you have.

FAQ

How much do AI subscriptions cost per year in 2026?
Eleven popular ones, from ChatGPT Plus to Granola and Wispr Flow, cost $1,234.70 a year together on their cheapest plans, and $1,589.40 if you pay month to month. One tool per job, Granola, Wispr Flow, Rize, Paste, 1Password and ChatGPT Plus, comes to $749.75 a year. Prices are from each product's own page, checked 14 November 2026.

How much is ChatGPT Plus per year?
$240. OpenAI's help page lists Plus at $20 a month, billed monthly, and says there is no annual plan or way to pay months in advance, so there is no yearly discount.

What is the cheapest paid AI meeting notetaker per year?
Of the three we checked, Otter Pro, at $8.33 a month billed yearly, or $99.96. Fireflies Pro is $120 a year and Granola Business is $168. Off Grid AI records and summarises meetings on your computer with Pro, for $119 once.

Is there a pay-once alternative to AI subscriptions?
Yes. Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once, for up to 5 devices, or $7.99 a month. It covers meetings, dictation, time tracking, clipboard and a password vault, and private chat is free. It can charge once because the models run on your own computer and phone.

Is Rewind AI still available?
No. Meta bought Limitless, the company behind Rewind. Limitless says it is sunsetting Rewind and no longer sells to new customers. Off Grid AI Memory keeps a searchable history of your screens and meetings on your own computer.

Related guides

Get Off Grid AI Pro once and stop paying the same bill every month.

Which AI Subscriptions Can You Replace With One App in 2026? (Pay Once, Runs on Your Own Devices)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sat, 14 Nov 2026 10:18:10 +0000

You can replace up to ten AI subscriptions with one app, Off Grid AI, and own it after one payment. Private chat and images are free, and Off Grid AI Pro adds meeting notes without a bot, dictation, screen memory, time tracking, clipboard, a password vault, browser tasks and an email helper, for $119 once.

We make Off Grid AI. Every rival fact below comes from its own pages, checked 14 November 2026.

Get Pro for $119 once · Download Off Grid AI

Today in Off Grid AI Desktop. Meetings, prep, follow-ups and time from one app on your computer.

How we counted

The job, in the words you'd use. Each row is something people pay for every month.
The popular paid pick for that job, at the price on its own pricing page today.
The cheapest way to pay it. Where a yearly plan costs less, we used it, so the subscription totals are as low as they get.
Three years, so a one-time price and a monthly one sit side by side.

Ten AI subscriptions and what replaces them

Job	Popular subscription	Its price	3 years	Off Grid AI
Private ChatGPT-style chat	ChatGPT Plus	$20 a month, no yearly plan	$720	Free. Local chat, answers from your files, voice
Meeting notes without a bot	Granola Business	$14 a user a month	$504	Pro. Meetings on Mac, Windows, Linux
Dictation into any app	Wispr Flow Pro	$15 a month, $12 billed yearly	$432	Pro, on your computer. No phone keyboard
Screen memory	Screenpipe Basic	$21 a month, $250 a year	$750	Pro. Memory of your screens, meetings, mail, docs
Time tracking	Rize Basic	$12.99 a month, $9.99 billed yearly	$359.64	Pro. Reflect, no timers
Clipboard across devices	Paste Personal	$3.99 a month, $29.99 a year	$89.97	Pro. Clipboard and Sync over your own network
Password vault	1Password Individual	$3.99 a month ($2.99 first-year promo)	$143.64	Pro. Vault on one computer, not on your phone
Browser and computer agent	Claude Pro, with Claude in Chrome	$20 a month, $200 a year	$600	Pro. Web Use in Chrome or Firefox, Computer Use
Email and calendar assistant	Superhuman Business	$33 a member a month, billed yearly	$1,188	Pro, partly. Reads mail and calendars, drafts in Chat
Images and video	Midjourney Basic	$10 a month, $96 a year	$288	Images free. Video with Pro
All ten			$5,075.25	Pro $119 once

Prices in US dollars from each product's own page on 14 November 2026, before tax. ChatGPT Plus also lists a built-in browser, so you may not pay for both it and Claude Pro.

What a typical stack costs

Few people pay for all ten. A common four is ChatGPT Plus, Granola, Wispr Flow and 1Password. That's $49.99 a month on their cheapest plans, and $1,799.64 over three years.

Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once, and one key covers up to 5 of your devices. If you'd rather not pay up front, it's $7.99 a month. Local models have no usage fees, so the price stays the same however much you use it.

That works because your own hardware does the AI work. Cloud apps pay for a server every time you ask them something, so their bill repeats. We explain the economics in the case against cloud AI subscriptions.

What you get for free, and what needs Pro

Free, on every device. Off Grid AI Desktop (OGAD) and Off Grid AI Mobile (OGAM) chat with open models you download, answer from your PDFs and documents with the source shown, take voice in and out, and make images on your own GPU or phone. No account. Once a model is on your device, chat works offline.

Pro, mostly on your computer. Meetings are recorded without a bot joining the call and transcribed on your computer. Dictation types into any app on Mac, Windows and Linux. Memory keeps your screens, meetings, mail and documents searchable, and Reflect shows where your day went by project and person. Clipboard keeps a history and sends copied text to your phone. Vault holds passwords and private files. Web Use and Computer Use run tasks in your own browser and apps, and Web Use hands passwords, codes and card numbers back to you. Video turns a sentence into a clip on your computer, or on phones with about 12 GB of memory.

OGAD needs a Mac with Apple silicon, Windows, or Linux on x64 with Ubuntu 24.04 or newer. The app shows which models fit your machine.

Where a dedicated tool is still better

Hard reasoning and deep research. ChatGPT Plus runs GPT-6 models on OpenAI's servers. A model that fits on your laptop is smaller. If you live in long research reports, keep Plus.
Passwords on your phone, or for a family. Off Grid AI Vault stays on one computer and OGAM has no vault. 1Password has apps for phones and computers, and its Families plan shares vaults across 5 people.
A draft waiting in every thread. Off Grid AI writes a draft when you ask, in Chat or in your own Gmail tab with Web Use. Superhuman writes Auto Drafts into your threads before you ask.
Dictation on your phone. Off Grid AI's dictation into other apps is computer only. Wispr Flow has phone apps.
A team sharing notes in one workspace. Granola Business connects notes to Notion and HubSpot and adds workspace features. Off Grid AI Pro is for one person, with no shared workspace.
A slow computer. Midjourney and ChatGPT run on their GPUs, so any laptop works. Off Grid AI's speed depends on the computer you have.

Which subscriptions should you cancel

You pay for a notetaker, dictation or a time tracker: these are the easiest swaps. Off Grid AI Pro does all three on your computer, with no minute caps or word limits.
You pay ChatGPT Plus for everyday writing and questions: try OGAD's free chat for a week before you renew.
You pay Screenpipe or miss Rewind: Off Grid AI Memory keeps it local and reads it with a local model. See Rewind and Recall alternatives.
You share passwords with family: keep 1Password.
You want drafts waiting in every email thread: keep Superhuman.

FAQ

Which AI subscriptions can I replace with one app?
Off Grid AI covers private chat, meeting notes without a bot, dictation, screen memory, time tracking, clipboard history, a password vault, browser and computer tasks, an email helper, and image and video making. Chat and images are free. The rest come with Off Grid AI Pro for $119 once. The email helper only reads and drafts, and the vault stays on one computer.

Is there an AI app I can pay for once instead of monthly?
Yes. Off Grid AI Pro is $119 once, for up to 5 devices, and it also comes as $7.99 a month. It can sell a one-time price because the models run on your own computer and phone, so each answer costs nobody a server bill.

What's the cheapest way to get meeting notes, dictation, screen memory and a private ChatGPT?
Off Grid AI. Private chat is free, and meetings, dictation and screen memory come with Pro for $119 once. Bought separately, Granola Business, Wispr Flow Pro, Screenpipe Basic and ChatGPT Plus cost $2,406 over three years at their own prices on 14 November 2026.

Is Off Grid AI as good as ChatGPT Plus?
For everyday writing, summaries and questions about your files, a local model does the job. For the hardest reasoning and deep research, ChatGPT Plus runs OpenAI's GPT-6 models on OpenAI's servers, and a model on your computer is smaller. Off Grid AI keeps your chats on your device and adds memory of your own work.

Does Off Grid AI replace my subscriptions on my phone too?
Partly. Off Grid AI Mobile (OGAM) does free private chat and images on iPhone and Android, makes video with Pro, and syncs with your computer over your own network. Meetings, dictation into other apps, screen memory, time tracking and the vault run on your computer.

Do I need the internet to use it?
Once, to download the app and your models and to activate Pro. After that chat, meetings, dictation and memory run on your computer offline. Sync between your phone and computer needs your local network, and reading Gmail or Outlook needs the internet.

Related guides

Get Off Grid AI Pro and cancel the subscriptions you no longer need.

How to Run LFM3 on Your Android Phone in 2026 (1.7B Chat and 2B Vision, Offline)

Mohammed Ali Chherawalla — Sat, 14 Nov 2026 10:17:34 +0000

You can run LFM3 on your Android phone with Off Grid AI Mobile (OGAM). Download one model of about 1 GB once, and you get a fast chat model, or one that reads your photos, running on your own phone with no internet and nothing uploaded.

It's free, and it fits phones with 4 GB of RAM, so you don't need a flagship to try it.

Google Play · Download Off Grid AI · App Store

What LFM3 is

LFM3 is Liquid AI's newest small model family, released in October 2026. It mixes short convolution layers with attention layers, a design Liquid made to run on phones and laptops. Liquid says the 1.7B model takes about 1 GB of memory at 4-bit, which is the version OGAM downloads.

OGAM 0.0.122 added two LFM3 models to its catalog:

Model	What it reads	Shows in the app as	RAM listed
LFM3 1.7B	Text	1.0 GB	4 GB or more
LFM3 VL 2B	Text and photos	1.4 GB with its vision file	4 GB or more

Both download at Q4_K_M. The VL model comes as two files, the model and a 361 MB vision file (an "mmproj" file at F16). OGAM downloads them together and pairs them when the model loads, so you don't hunt for the second file on Hugging Face.

To check your RAM, open Android Settings, then About phone.

What LFM3 1.7B is good for

OGAM's catalog describes LFM3 1.7B as "Fast agent and tool use with reasoning; text only". Liquid trained it for tool calling and structured answers, and it understands 16 languages, including Hindi, Arabic, Japanese, Spanish and Russian. Here's what to ask it:

"Turn these notes into a packing list, grouped by bag." Paste messy text and get it back in order.
"Reply to this message politely and say I can do Thursday instead." A short draft you can copy straight into WhatsApp.
"Put these expenses in a table with a total." Structured output is what it was trained for.
"Rewrite this in simple Hindi." Hindi is one of the 16 languages it was trained on.

Liquid says the 1.7B model isn't meant for long coding jobs or hard multi-step reasoning. If you want a stronger all-rounder and have 8 GB of RAM or more, the Qwen 3.5 guide covers the next size up. LFM3 is the one to pick when you want a quick answer on a phone with less memory.

What LFM3 VL 2B lets you do with photos

LFM3 VL 2B is the LFM3 language model with a 164M-parameter vision encoder added. The catalog line is "Fast reasoning with vision, reads documents and charts", and Liquid lists reading documents, charts and app screens as what it's built for. Take a photo or pick a screenshot, then ask:

A printed bill or receipt: "What's the total, and how much of it is tax?"
A screenshot of a chart: "Which month had the highest number?"
A page of a letter or form: "What's the deadline in this letter?"
A photo of a shelf or a desk: "Where is the blue folder?" Liquid trained it to find objects and say where they sit in the picture.

The photo stays on your phone. A cloud assistant has to upload your bill or your letter to answer, and OGAM doesn't.

Set it up

Install OGAM from Google Play. You need version 0.0.122 or later.
Tap Models in the bottom bar. You land on the Text tab.
Type LFM3 in Search models. The catalog's LFM3 models come first, above any Hugging Face results.
Tap LFM3 1.7B for chat, or LFM3 VL 2B if you want to ask about photos, and download it. Use Wi-Fi, because it's about 1 to 1.4 GB.
Go to Home and tap Select Model, then pick the LFM3 model you downloaded.
Tap New Chat and type your question.

To ask about a photo with LFM3 VL 2B, tap + in the message box, choose Photo, then Camera or Photo Library. Add your question and send. If Photo is greyed out and the app says "Vision Not Supported", LFM3 1.7B is still the active model, so switch to LFM3 VL 2B.

Once it's downloaded, turn on airplane mode and send another message. It still answers, because nothing leaves the phone.

If something goes wrong

LFM3 doesn't show up in the list. Update OGAM to 0.0.122 or later from Google Play. The LFM3 models came with that release, and they need the newer llama.cpp engine it ships.

The app says "Vision File Missing". The model is there but its vision file isn't. Tap Go to Download Manager, then the wrench next to LFM3 VL 2B to download it, and reload the model.

FAQ

Can LFM3 run on an Android phone?
Yes. Off Grid AI Mobile has LFM3 1.7B and LFM3 VL 2B in its model catalog. Both are listed for phones with 4 GB of RAM or more, and both run on the phone with no internet.

How big is the LFM3 download?
LFM3 1.7B shows as 1.0 GB in the app. LFM3 VL 2B is the same size plus a 361 MB vision file, so about 1.4 GB in all. The app fetches both files together.

What is the difference between LFM3 1.7B and LFM3 VL 2B?
LFM3 1.7B reads text only. LFM3 VL 2B is the same language model with a vision encoder added, so you can attach a photo and ask about it. Pick VL if you want to ask about pictures.

Is LFM3 free to use on Android?
Yes. Chat and photo questions are part of the free Off Grid AI app. There's no account, no subscription and no limit on messages.

Does LFM3 work offline?
Yes, after the first download. The model runs in your phone's memory, so you can turn on airplane mode and keep chatting. Your messages and photos are never uploaded.

Related guides

Get Off Grid AI on Google Play and run LFM3 on your own phone today.