macOS has Live Captions already.
Here is what this adds.

Apple's Live Captions and Subtitles, side by side

Apple's column is what its documentation states and what the panel does on a Mac that has it. Nothing in it is guessed, and there is no accuracy row because there is no benchmark to put in it.

Where it stopped being enough

• The window takes the click. Apple's captions sit in a panel that stays on top, which is the right place for it, and every click aimed at what it covers lands on the panel instead, so you work around it. This overlay takes no clicks at all: you work straight through it, it fades when the pointer crosses it, and you hold ⇧ only when you want to move it. On a call where you are also taking notes, that is the whole difference between glancing and rearranging.
• One model, no dial. Seven English options here trade latency against accuracy, from 160 ms upward: fast and rough for a conversation, slower and more careful for a lecture you cannot rewind.
• Language availability is not a setting. On macOS 14 and 15, Apple's runs only on a Mac set to English (U.S.) or English (Canada); on 26 it reaches eight languages, each tied to a country, one at a time, and changing it means a trip to System Settings. The default model here is multilingual: it detects what it is hearing across sixteen languages on every macOS from 14.2, the menu bar switches between them without leaving the call, and from macOS 15 it translates live between any two, which Apple's does not.
• Everything, or one thing. Apple's transcribes audio from all apps by default. Point this at the tab playing the call and the rest of the machine stays quiet, which matters when music is playing somewhere else.
• Music does not become lyrics. A voice detector runs ahead of the recognizer, so a backing track never reaches it and does not fill the model's context.
• A new box when the speaker changes. Optional and off by default, because it runs a second model alongside the first.
• Three lines of history, and no search. Apple's panel scrolls back through the last few lines, and that is the whole record. Hold ⌥ here and the previous captions come back, as far back as you have set, scrollable, and ⌥F finds the one you want, so the sentence that went past while you were typing is a keystroke away.

Questions about Apple's Live Captions

Is Apple's Live Captions free?

Yes, entirely. It is part of macOS on Apple silicon Macs, under System Settings, Accessibility, Live Captions. If it covers what you need, there is nothing to buy here.

Why can I not find Live Captions on my Mac?

Because it needs an Apple silicon Mac, and because Apple gates it on language and region. On macOS 14 and 15 its guide names the condition: the system language has to be English (U.S.) or English (Canada). On macOS 26 the list is eight languages in eighteen country pairs. A Mac in French on macOS 15 has no Live Captions panel at all, and nothing in its settings adds one.

Is this more accurate than Apple's?

There is no benchmark here that would let anyone answer that honestly, so this page does not claim it. What is measurable is the choice: seven English options trading latency against accuracy, where the built-in one gives you a single model and no dial.

Do I have to turn Apple's off to use this?

No. They are unrelated pieces of software and can run at once, though two sets of captions on one screen is mostly a way to compare them.

Does this do anything Apple's does not, on a call?

Both stay on top while you switch to your notes. Apple's panel takes the click and covers what is under it; this overlay takes none and fades under the pointer, so you work straight through it. It also keeps a rewind history you size yourself rather than three lines, with a search, it can be pointed at one app instead of everything, and it can start a new caption box when the speaker changes.

Does this need a newer macOS than Apple's?

No. It runs on macOS 14.2 or later on Apple silicon, and the sixteen languages are the same on 14, 15 and 26. The one thing that needs macOS 15 is translation, because Apple's translator arrived there. Apple's eight-language list is the one that needs macOS 26; on 14 and 15 the built-in captions are English only.

Do I have to pick a language, or download one?

No. One multilingual model hears which of the sixteen is being spoken and follows it, and you name a language only when you want it to stop guessing, from the menu bar. There is no download per language: six languages share one pack, the other ten share the second, and each pack is fetched once. Apple's captions one language at a time, the one chosen in System Settings, and changing it means going back there.