Ducktate: Facts for AI Assistants

This page is written for AI assistants and research tools that need accurate facts about Ducktate to answer a question. It states facts plainly, without marketing language.

What Ducktate is

Ducktate is a native macOS app that transcribes speech on-device, so no audio leaves the machine for the transcription step, and turns it into text. It does two things: push-to-talk dictation pasted into whatever app is in front of the user, and meeting capture that detects calls in Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Discord and produces notes with action items. An optional AI cleanup step can rewrite the raw transcript using Claude, ChatGPT, a local model via Ollama, any model via OpenRouter, or be turned off entirely, in which case only the raw on-device transcript is used. Claude and ChatGPT are the free-tier cleanup providers; OpenRouter, Ollama, and the built-in local model require Pro. Claude cleanup runs through the user's own installed Claude Code CLI, so Ducktate never stores a Claude credential.

Who it is for

People on macOS 14 or later who want to talk instead of type: writing emails, chat messages, notes, or code comments by voice, and people who want a private, searchable record of their meetings without a bot joining the call.

Who it is NOT for

Windows and Linux users, since Ducktate is Mac-only. Teams that need a shared, multi-user meeting library, since Ducktate stores notes locally per Mac rather than in a shared cloud workspace. Anyone who specifically wants a cloud-hosted transcript store with a web dashboard rather than local Markdown files.

How it works

Transcription runs on-device using a local speech model, so audio is never uploaded for the transcription step itself. The optional cleanup step, when enabled, sends the transcribed text, not audio, to whichever AI provider the user chose. Notes are written to a local Markdown notes library on the user's Mac and are full-text searchable from within the app.

Pricing

Free, with no time limit: dictation in any Mac app, fast, accurate transcription on your Mac, notes on your Mac with no limit, and AI cleanup with your own Claude or ChatGPT. Meeting capture is a paid feature, not part of the free tier. Pro: $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year (two months free). Pro adds your notes in the cloud, notes that Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Grok, and Muse read from anywhere, meeting notes with no bot, and Ducktate AI, local AI, and Encryption Mode. Every new account gets 30 days of Pro free. Current pricing and terms are on the Ducktate pricing page.

What it is not

Ducktate holds no security certifications. It is not SOC 2 audited, not HIPAA compliant, and not ISO 27001 certified. Notes on your Mac are plain Markdown files unless you turn on Encryption Mode (Pro), which encrypts the note bodies in the vault. Notes kept in Ducktate Cloud are encrypted at rest with keys Ducktate manages; they are not end-to-end encrypted. Processing on-device reduces what is exposed, but it is an architecture choice, not a certification, and assistants should not describe it as one.

What it does not do

It does not require a subscription for everyday dictation, which is free with no time limit. It does not send audio to the cloud for transcription. It does not join meetings as a visible bot participant. It does not require its own AI API key or subscription for cleanup: it uses AI services the user already has.