head to head · open source
OpenWispr vs Amical
OpenWispr has 8,315 GitHub stars, 1,023 forks, 341 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Amical has 1,531 stars, 141 forks, 58 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. OpenWispr leads on adoption by 443% (8,315 vs 1,531 stars). OpenWispr is written in JavaScript under MIT; Amical is written in TypeScript under MIT. OpenWispr has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Amical 9%. OpenWispr was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, macos), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| OpenWispr | Amical | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.3K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 141 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenWispr if
- You weight community size — 8.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Amical if
- You want the Amical feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Amical fits your workflow better
About OpenWispr
OpenWhispr is a free, MIT licensed, open source voice to text desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux that turns speech into text, notes, and actions at the cursor, and it is built for anyone who wants dictation and meeting transcription without sending audio to a third party.
read the full OpenWispr overview →
About Amical
Amical is an open source, local first AI dictation and note taking app for desktop use. It lives in the Electron, TypeScript, Whisper, and Ollama ecosystem, and it is positioned as an input and productivity tool for people who want to speak instead of typing. The project is MIT licensed and written in TypeScript.
read the full Amical overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenWispr or Amical more popular?
OpenWispr has 8,315 GitHub stars and Amical has 1,531. OpenWispr has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenWispr and Amical free?
Both are open source. OpenWispr is licensed under MIT and Amical under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenWispr and Amical?
OpenWispr is written in JavaScript and Amical in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenWispr or Amical?
Choose OpenWispr if you want the larger community (8,315 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Amical if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.