Capnot and NotchLive both do live, on-device captions on a Mac — but they're built for different jobs, and that's what should decide between them.
The short version: NotchLive captions audio for you to read — meetings, calls, videos — anchored around the notch, with translation and saved transcripts. Capnot puts captions on screen for your audience to read, baked into a demo or recording, alongside annotation and pointer tools. If you're captioning what you present, that's Capnot; if you're captioning what you hear, that's NotchLive.
Key Takeaways
- Both do live, on-device speech-to-text — neither is post-production subtitling.
- NotchLive is built for reading captions yourself (notch/floating view/timeline) with translation and saved transcripts; it has no annotation, cursor, or demo tools.
- Capnot is built for putting captions into your screen demos for viewers, plus annotation and pointer tools. macOS 13+, $12.99 one-time with a 7-day free trial.
What they share
Both are lightweight macOS apps that transcribe speech on-device in real time — no cloud, no upload. NotchLive uses Whisper models you download; Capnot uses macOS Speech Recognition. Either way the audio stays on your Mac, and captions appear live rather than being added afterward in an editor.
The real difference: captions for you vs captions for your audience
This is the split that matters.
NotchLive is a reader. It captions the audio you're hearing — a Zoom call, a podcast, a video — and shows it in the MacBook notch area, a floating view, and a scrollable timeline you can review later. It even has a "Ghost Mode" to hide the caption UI from screen sharing. That tells you everything about its purpose: it's an accessibility and meeting-transcript tool for the person at the keyboard, not something designed to put captions into a recording for other people.
Capnot is a broadcaster. Its captions are on-screen overlays you place for your viewers — a subtitle bar, a dialogue panel with your name and photo, or a Bubble Chat bubble anchored to your cursor — and they're designed to show up in a full-display recording or screen share. You caption what you're demoing so the audience can follow, even on mute.
Where each one wins
NotchLive wins if you need:
- Translation — roughly 20 languages (Pro), which Capnot doesn't do.
- Saved transcripts, export, and "Meeting Intelligence" for reviewing calls later.
- Captioning any audio source — calls, videos, podcasts — with speaker labels on Apple silicon.
- A free-forever tier for basic captions.
Capnot wins if you need:
- Captions your audience sees in a demo, tutorial, or shared screen.
- Annotation and pointer tools — draw, spotlight, laser, magnifier — which NotchLive doesn't have.
- Broader OS support (macOS 13+ vs NotchLive's macOS 14+) and a lower paid price with a trial.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Capnot | NotchLive |
|---|---|---|
| Live on-device captions | Yes | Yes |
| Caption placement | On-screen overlay you position | Notch, floating view, timeline |
| Captions meant for | Your viewers (in recordings/demos) | You (reading meetings/videos) |
| Translation | No | Yes (~20 languages, Pro) |
| Saved transcripts / export | No | Yes (Pro) |
| Annotation + cursor tools | Yes | No |
| Built-in screen recording | No (overlay) | No |
| Platform | macOS 13+ | macOS 14+ |
| Pricing | $12.99 one-time + 7-day free trial | Free tier; Pro $24.99 one-time |
Features and pricing retrieved 2026-08-27 from each tool's official site.
Which should you pick?
- Pick NotchLive if you want to read captions of your own meetings and media, translate them, or keep transcripts — it's purpose-built for that and has a free tier.
- Pick Capnot if you want captions (and annotations) that your audience sees in a screen demo or recording.
They're complementary more than competitive — some people use NotchLive to follow a call and Capnot to record a captioned tutorial. If the captioning you care about is the kind viewers read, try Capnot free for 7 days, then $12.99 once. For the setup, see how to add live captions to a Mac screen recording, and for another head-to-head, Capnot vs Presentify. For the full field, see the best live caption apps for Mac.