# WhisperX

CLI · https://godooo.ai/en/cli/whisperx

> WhisperX is an open-source AI command-line tool, launched in 2022, made for developers.

A transcription tool built on Whisper that adds word-level timestamps and speaker labels.

Main jobs: Speech to text. It is open source and free to use. You can use it in the terminal, offline on your own machine and on your own server.

## At a glance

- **Type:** [CLI](https://godooo.ai/en/browse#cli)
- **Launched:** 2022
- **Galaxy:** [Voice & Music](https://godooo.ai/en/galaxy/audio)
- **Pricing:** Open source, free
- **Open source:** Yes · BSD-2-Clause
- **Source code:** [github.com/m-bain/whisperX](https://github.com/m-bain/whisperX)
- **GitHub stars:** 24,222
- **How you run it:** Terminal · Runs offline · Self-host
- **Made for:** Developers
- **Website:** [github.com](https://github.com/m-bain/whisperX)

## What it can do

- **[Speech to text](https://godooo.ai/en/capability/speech-to-text)** — main job, _proposed by a machine, awaiting calibration_. “fast automatic speech recognition (70x realtime with large-v2) with word-level timestamps and speaker diarization” (read on [github.com](https://github.com/m-bain/whisperX), 2026-09-24)
- **[Subtitles and captions](https://godooo.ai/en/capability/subtitles)** — supported, _proposed by a machine, awaiting calibration_. “add --highlight words True to visualise word timings in the .srt file” (read on [github.com](https://github.com/m-bain/whisperX), 2026-09-24)

## Alternatives

- **[Descript](https://godooo.ai/en/product/descript)** (Free plan + paid upgrades): Also does: Speech to text, Subtitles and captions; no code needed
- **[CapCut 剪映](https://godooo.ai/en/product/capcut)** (Free plan + paid upgrades): Also does: Subtitles and captions, Speech to text; no code needed
- **[Whisper](https://godooo.ai/en/model/whisper)** (Open source, free): Also does: Speech to text
- **[faster-whisper](https://godooo.ai/en/framework/faster-whisper)** (Open source, free): Also does: Speech to text
- **[Otter.ai](https://godooo.ai/en/product/otter)** (Free plan + paid upgrades): Also does: Speech to text; no code needed
- **[whisper.cpp](https://godooo.ai/en/framework/whisper-cpp)** (Open source, free): Also does: Speech to text
- **[Fireflies.ai](https://godooo.ai/en/product/fireflies)** (Free plan + paid upgrades): Also does: Speech to text; no code needed
- **[ElevenLabs](https://godooo.ai/en/product/elevenlabs)** (Free plan + paid upgrades): Also does: Speech to text; no code needed
- **[MarkItDown](https://godooo.ai/en/framework/markitdown)** (Open source, free): Also does: Speech to text
- **[Mistral](https://godooo.ai/en/model/mistral)** (Open source, free): Also does: Speech to text
- **[Adobe Podcast](https://godooo.ai/en/product/adobe-podcast)** (Free plan + paid upgrades): Also does: Speech to text; no code needed
- **[Docling](https://godooo.ai/en/framework/docling)** (Open source, free): Also does: Speech to text

## Connections

- **Based on:** [Whisper](https://godooo.ai/en/model/whisper)

## Questions

### What is WhisperX?

WhisperX is an open-source AI command-line tool, launched in 2022, made for developers. A transcription tool built on Whisper that adds word-level timestamps and speaker labels.

### Is WhisperX free?

Yes. WhisperX is open source (BSD-2-Clause) and free to use.

### Is WhisperX open source?

Yes, under the BSD-2-Clause license. The source code is at https://github.com/m-bain/whisperX.

### Can WhisperX run locally?

Yes. WhisperX can run offline on your own machine. It can also be self-hosted on your own server.

### What can WhisperX do?

Main jobs: Speech to text. It can also do: Subtitles and captions.

### What are open-source alternatives to WhisperX?

Open-source ones: Whisper, faster-whisper, whisper.cpp, MarkItDown, Mistral and Docling. Others: Descript, CapCut 剪映, Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, ElevenLabs and Adobe Podcast.

## Sources

- [github.com](https://github.com/m-bain/whisperX) — checked 2026-09-24

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Last updated 2026-09-24 · sources checked 2026-09-24 · Markdown version of https://godooo.ai/en/cli/whisperx. Every page on this site has one: add .md to its address.