Can I open-source Hedy?
KINDA · partial or early alternativesKinda. Meetily and Whisper cover the core of Hedy, but they're early or partial — expect gaps like Mobile apps that keep recording reliably when the screen is off, which is where most of these sessions actually happen and Tuned latency: your DIY suggestions arrive a beat late, and a beat late is useless in conversation.
Because real-time is unforgiving. A post-hoc summarizer can be sloppy and still useful, but a live copilot that lags four seconds or drops audio when you switch apps is worse than nothing, and people pay to not think about that. The mobile side compounds it: background audio on iOS is a permissions and lifecycle minefield that nobody wants to solve for themselves. Add the meeting-type presets and calendar hookups and the subscription is mostly buying tuning you would otherwise do by hand for a month.
xMobile apps that keep recording reliably when the screen is off, which is where most of these sessions actually happen
xTuned latency: your DIY suggestions arrive a beat late, and a beat late is useless in conversation
xSpeaker diarization and meeting-type presets that shape the assistant for a sales call vs a lecture vs a doctor visit
xCalendar and conferencing integrations that join and label sessions for you
xHosted, searchable history across every session with no laptop babysitting
These projects already replace it, free.
WWhisperState-of-the-art speech-to-text you can run locally — the engine behind most transcription startups.open source↗MMeetilyPrivacy-first AI meeting note taker for macOS and Windows that transcribes and summarizes meetings entirely on your own machine — no bots joining calls, no cloud.open source↗What each one is, in full: Whisper · Meetily
no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Can I open-source Hedy?
Kinda. Whisper covers the core of Hedy, but there are real gaps: Mobile apps that keep recording reliably when the screen is off, which is where most of these sessions actually happen, Tuned latency: your DIY suggestions arrive a beat late, and a beat late is useless in conversation. Read the honest list above before committing.
How much does Hedy cost?
Hedy costs about $12.99/month (Pro, checked 2026-08-18), which is $155.88 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Hedy?
Honestly: Mobile apps that keep recording reliably when the screen is off, which is where most of these sessions actually happen; Tuned latency: your DIY suggestions arrive a beat late, and a beat late is useless in conversation; Speaker diarization and meeting-type presets that shape the assistant for a sales call vs a lecture vs a doctor visit; Calendar and conferencing integrations that join and label sessions for you; Hosted, searchable history across every session with no laptop babysitting. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Hedy?
Yes: Whisper (State-of-the-art speech-to-text you can run locally — the engine behind most transcription startups.) Meetily (Privacy-first AI meeting note taker for macOS and Windows that transcribes and summarizes meetings entirely on your own machine — no bots joining calls, no cloud.)