BYOAIK — Bring Your Own AI Key: a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.

OpenWhispr

Privacy-first voice-to-text dictation with local Whisper/Parakeet and bring-your-own-key cloud AI.

Website Source code

Category:

Voice and Transcription Tools

Pricing:

Open Source

Open source:

Yes (MIT)

Self-hostable:

Yes

Local-first:

Yes

Platforms:

Desktop, Self-hosted, Docker

AI providers (bring your own key):

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Groq, Mistral, Ollama, Custom / OpenAI-compatible

API key storage:

Stored locally on device

Key risk level:

LOW

Trust score:

86/100

OpenWhispr is an open-source, cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux) voice-to-text dictation desktop app. You press a hotkey, speak, and the transcribed text appears at your cursor, with optional AI post-processing/agent reasoning, meeting transcription, and speaker diarization. It can run fully offline using local speech-to-text engines (OpenAI Whisper via whisper.cpp, NVIDIA Parakeet via sherpa-onnx) and local LLMs via llama.cpp, so audio never leaves the device. Alternatively, it does cloud processing on a bring-your-own-key basis: users enter their own provider API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Groq, and Mistral (plus AssemblyAI/Deepgram for transcription). Keys are encrypted at rest in the OS keychain (Keychain/DPAPI/libsecret) via Electron safeStorage. It explicitly supports "any OpenAI-compatible API," including Ollama, LocalAI, and self-hosted Whisper servers, allowing custom base URLs/endpoints. Licensed MIT and free forever with local models or your own keys; a paid Pro/Business/Enterprise tier offers zero-setup managed cloud and extra features. Maintained by Gizmo Labs Inc.

How your API key is handled

Your API key is stored locally on your device. Requests are sent directly to the AI provider. Because it can be self-hosted, your key never has to touch a third-party backend.

Setup

Open settings, paste your provider API key, choose a model, and start — the key stays on your device.