Looking for a Mentalyc alternative? Here is one that doesn't upload your sessions.
Mentalyc is a cloud service: your session audio is uploaded, processed on their servers, and billed per note — $19.99 to $119.99 a month depending on how many notes you need (as of 2026-10-08). Spokenroom is the offline alternative: transcription and note generation both run on your own Windows computer, for $59 once. If your objection to Mentalyc is the monthly bill, the per-note cap, or the upload itself, that is the difference that matters.
Side by side.
| Spokenroom | Mentalyc | |
|---|---|---|
| Processing location | Your computer | Vendor cloud |
| Price | $59 one-time (incl. 1 year of updates) | $19.99 / $39.99 / $69.99 / $119.99 per month (40 / 100 / 160 / 330 notes) |
| Annual option | — | $14.99–$99.99 / month billed annually |
| Note limit | Unlimited | Tied to plan tier |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| BAA | Not applicable — no vendor receives PHI | Offered |
| Access after cancelling | Software keeps working | Cannot create or access notes |
| Platforms | Windows (macOS coming) | Web / desktop / mobile |
| Team features | No | Yes, $49.99–59.99 per seat / month |
Mentalyc figures from their public pricing page, checked 2026-10-08. We recheck quarterly; if you find this out of date, email us and we will fix it.
When to choose Mentalyc instead of us.
Choose Mentalyc if
- You need a group-practice setup with per-seat admin and shared supervision workflows.
- You work primarily from an iPad or phone. Spokenroom is a desktop application.
- You want a signed BAA on file as a matter of policy, even where no PHI is actually transmitted — some agencies require the paperwork regardless of architecture.
- You are on a Mac today and can't wait for our macOS build.
Choose Spokenroom if
- You are a solo or small private practice on Windows.
- You object to the audio leaving your machine at all.
- You want the bill to stop being a bill.
Two other tools also run locally; see the three-way comparison.
What it adds up to.
| Horizon | Spokenroom | Mentalyc Basic ($39.99/mo) | Mentalyc Pro ($69.99/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $59 | $479.88 | $839.88 |
| Year 2 | $59 (or $88 with update renewal) | $959.76 | $1679.76 |
| Year 3 | $59 (or $117) | $1439.64 | $2519.64 |
Break-even against the cheapest paid Mentalyc tier is about three months.
"But does a local model write good notes?"
Fair question, and the honest answer has a shape:
- The transcript comes from a speech model that is competitive with cloud transcription on English audio — this part is genuinely solved.
- The note comes from a small language model running on your CPU, constrained to your template, with every claim checked by code against the transcript line it cites. It fills fields; it does not write prose from imagination.
- On 8 GB machines clinical templates are not available at all; see requirements. We tell you which tier you are on rather than hiding it.
- You review and edit before anything enters the chart. That was always true of scribes.
- We publish our beta quality scores and the raw benchmark data from an intentionally old CPU-only machine.
There is nothing to migrate. Install, record your next session, pick a template. Your existing notes stay in your EHR where they already are. If you keep Mentalyc for a month while you compare, that is the sensible thing to do.
Try it for seven days when it ships. Every feature, no card, no account.
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