AudioPen vs Whisper Memos

AudioPen

• Writers and creators who draft by talking
• Capturing ideas on the move from a phone or watch
• People who find typing slow or painful, such as with RSI or dyslexia

Whisper Memos

• Capturing ideas on a walk or in the car from an Apple Watch
• People who want voice notes to arrive in their email inbox
• Recording in-person meetings or interviews with speakers separated

AudioPen

• Free recordings stop at 3 minutes, and free voice typing is limited to a set number of sessions.
• Prime is sold as fixed-term passes charged once ($33, $99 or $159), not as an auto-renewing subscription.
• It is not a meeting recorder: the vendor says it will not join a Zoom call or label who said what.
• Audio uploads need Prime and are capped at 100 files every 4 weeks, with a 100 MB limit per file.

Whisper Memos

• iPhone and Apple Watch only: the App Store listing says it is designed for iPhone and not verified for macOS, and no Android or web app is offered.
• There is no free plan. The app is free to try, then needs a subscription at $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year.
• Transcription happens online: memos recorded offline are saved on the device and uploaded once a connection returns.
• Each recording is limited to 90 minutes, and imported audio must be an audio-only file; video files are rejected.

AudioPen

Transcribe, then rewrite

Each recording is transcribed and then rewritten into structured text, and the plain transcript is kept alongside the rewritten note.

Writing styles and rewrite level

A style library covers formats such as email, memo and bullet points, custom styles are built from a description or a writing sample, and the edit can be set to low, medium or high.

Voice typing in other apps

A hotkey on Mac and Windows, a keyboard on iPhone and iPad, and a floating bubble on Android place dictated text wherever the cursor is.

Speak one language, write another

The spoken language and the written language do not have to match, so a note dictated in Spanish can come back in English.

Offline transcription option

The iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows apps can transcribe on the device so audio never leaves it. The AI rewrite step still needs a connection.

Zapier, webhooks and MCP

Saved notes can be passed on through Zapier or webhooks, and the Prime-only MCP gives ChatGPT or Claude read-only access to search and read notes.

Whisper Memos

One-tap recording on iPhone and Watch

Recording starts from a Lock Screen widget, an Apple Watch complication, the Action Button, Back Tap or Siri. The Watch app records on its own without the iPhone nearby.

Transcripts delivered by email

Each memo is transcribed, split into readable paragraphs and emailed with its summary by default, so it can be dealt with later from the inbox.

Choice of transcription models

An Automatic setting picks a model for each recording, or you can choose one yourself, such as OpenAI Whisper or ElevenLabs Scribe. More than 50 languages are supported.

Summaries with custom prompts

Every memo gets an AI summary, and extra summary tabs can be defined with your own prompts, for example one that pulls out action items.

Meeting mode

Turning on Meeting mode produces a transcript organized by speaker, with an optional hint that up to 2 to 6 people will talk. Each speaker can then be given a name and a color.

Integrations and agents

Built-in Notion and Reflect integrations, Mail Drop, Zapier and webhooks send memos elsewhere, and named agents route a memo when its name is spoken at the start.

AudioPen

• Free$0

  Recordings up to 3 minutes, transcribed and rewritten in a chosen style, with a limited number of voice typing sessions.

• Prime 3 months$33

  one-time payment for 3 months

  Unlimited recordings up to 15 minutes, unlimited voice typing and rewrites, unlimited note storage, audio file uploads and SuperSummaries.

• Prime Yearly Pass$99

  one-time payment for 1 year

  The same Prime features for one year, charged once. The vendor works this out to $8.25 a month and labels it a 25% saving.

• Prime 2 Year Pass$159

  one-time payment for 2 years

  The same Prime features for two years. The vendor works this out to $6.63 a month and labels it a 40% saving.

Whisper Memos

• Pay annually$5.83

  per month, billed $69.99 per year

  Every feature: unlimited memos, 90-minute recordings, the Apple Watch app, AI summaries, audio import and Zapier integrations.

• Pay monthly$9.99

  per month, billed monthly

  The same features as the annual option, billed month to month.

AudioPen

• Annual discount

  Longer Prime passes cost less per month

  Against the 3-month pass at $11 a month, the vendor labels the 1-year pass ($99) a 25% saving and the 2-year pass ($159) a 40% saving.

• Other savings

  20% off multiple Prime licenses

  Buying several one-year Prime licenses through the bulk purchase page, up to 100 per order, carries a 20% discount. Bulk purchases are not refundable.

Whisper Memos

• Annual discount

  Save 42% with annual billing

  Paying annually costs $69.99 a year, which the vendor shows as $5.83 a month and a 42% saving against the $9.99 monthly price.