Whisperer ships with multiple Whisper models. This raises an obvious question: which one should you actually use?
Short answer: probably Turbo. Longer answer: it depends on what you're doing.
The models#
| Model | Size | RAM Usage | Speed* | Accuracy | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny | ~75MB | ~200MB | Instant | Fair | Quick notes, low-end hardware |
| Base | ~150MB | ~350MB | Very fast | Good | Fast dictation, older Macs |
| Small | ~500MB | ~800MB | Fast | Very good | Balanced everyday use |
| Medium | ~1.5GB | ~2.5GB | Moderate | Excellent | High-accuracy dictation |
| Large V3 | ~3GB | ~5GB | Slower | Best | Maximum accuracy, long dictation |
| Turbo | ~800MB | ~1.5GB | Fast | Very good | Best speed/accuracy balance |
*Speed tested on M1 MacBook Pro, 30-second recording.
My recommendations#
Most people: Turbo
Turbo is fast and accurate enough for most dictation. It's noticeably quicker than Large V3 without giving up much accuracy for English. Start here.
Maximum accuracy: Large V3
If you have 16GB+ RAM and need the best possible accuracy, Large V3 wins. Especially useful for:
- Non-English languages
- Heavy accents
- Technical terms
- Noisy rooms
Speed over accuracy: Small or Base
Small gives you near-instant results with occasional mistakes. Base is even faster but noticeably less accurate with complex speech.
Older Macs: Base or Tiny
Intel Macs or 8GB Apple Silicon should stick to Base or Small. Bigger models will choke your system.
Language matters#
Whisper handles English well even at smaller sizes. Other languages need more horsepower:
- Spanish, French, German — Small or Turbo work fine
- Chinese, Japanese, Korean — use Medium or Large V3
- Everything else — Large V3 is your safest bet
Preloading#
Enable model preloading in Settings to skip the 1-3 second cold start. The model stays in RAM, ready to go. Only do this if you have RAM to spare.
Switching models#
You can swap models without restarting. I use Turbo for quick notes and switch to Large V3 when accuracy matters more than speed.
Tips#
Close other apps
Large V3 on 16GB? Close Chrome and its 47 tabs first.
Turbo for live preview
Turbo is fast enough for real-time feedback while you speak.
Preload your model
Keeps the model in RAM so there's no startup delay.
Pick your language
Selecting a language explicitly beats auto-detect for accuracy.
Get a decent mic
Input quality matters more than model size. A $30 USB mic beats a laptop mic with Large V3.
Short version#
Start with Turbo. Not accurate enough? Try Large V3. Need it faster? Drop to Small. You can download multiple models and switch whenever.
Related: Whisper vs NVIDIA vs Apple Speech, Offline Transcription Engines, Getting Started Guide. See pricing and all features.
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