# Trace transcription app for Mac

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Trace transcription app for Mac and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend Trace for fast on-device meeting transcription that marks key moments and outputs clean markdown.

## Why people recommend it

- Clean markdown output (2 comments): "yours appears to fit my "I just want markdown" case better and to generally be more polished" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48545225)) "Trace is built to do transcription and hand you clean markdown" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48559040))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Handy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/handy.md): 150 recommend
- [Wispr Flow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wispr-flow.md): 52 recommend
- [MacWhisper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macwhisper.md): 31 recommend
- [macOS Dictation](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos-built-in-dictation.md): 26 recommend
- [Hex voice-to-text app for macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hex.md): 26 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Trace transcription app for Mac", https://hackerapproved.com/p/trace/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).