WhisperX
Fast transcription with word-level timestamps and speaker diarization.
- Stars
- 24.6K
- Forks
- 2.5K
- Open issues
- 230
- Last commit
- 2026-09-26
Live from the GitHub API · updated 2026-10-15
What is WhisperX?
WhisperX combines faster-whisper batched inference with forced alignment for accurate word timestamps and pyannote speaker diarization — ideal for meeting transcripts and subtitles.
Key features
- Batched inference for speed
- Accurate word-level timestamps via alignment
- Speaker diarization
System requirements
- Platforms
- Windows · macOS · Linux
- GPU
- NVIDIA recommended
- Python
- 3.9+
- Notes
- Diarization needs a Hugging Face token with access to pyannote models.
How to install WhisperX
Summarized from the project’s README. Projects change quickly — check the GitHub page for the latest instructions.
pip
- 1Install.
pip install whisperx - 2Transcribe with speaker labels.
whisperx audio.wav --model large-v2 --diarize --hf_token YOUR_HF_TOKEN
Strengths
- Best timestamps and speaker labels
- Fast
Limitations
- More dependencies to set up
WhisperX alternatives compared
| Software | Stars | License | Platforms | VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WhisperX Fast transcription with word-level timestamps and speaker diarization. | 24.6K | BSD-2-Clause | — | |
| faster-whisper Whisper reimplemented on CTranslate2 — up to 4× faster with less memory. | 25.9K | MIT | — | |
| Whisper OpenAI’s open-source speech recognition and translation model. | 110.5K | MIT | ~1 GB (tiny) to ~10 GB (large) | |
| whisper.cpp Whisper in plain C/C++ — fast on CPUs, Apple Silicon and mobile. | 54.4K | MIT | — | |
| Coqui TTS Deep-learning text-to-speech toolkit, including the XTTS voice cloning model. | 46.1K | MPL-2.0 | — | |
| GPT-SoVITS Few-shot voice cloning and TTS with a full training WebUI. | 62.8K | MIT | 6 GB+ |
FAQ
Is WhisperX free?
Yes — WhisperX is open-source software released under the BSD-2-Clause license. Check the license (and any model weight licenses) before commercial use.
Does WhisperX run on Windows, Mac and Linux?
WhisperX supports: Windows, macOS, Linux.
What hardware do I need for WhisperX?
NVIDIA recommended
How do I install WhisperX?
1. Install. 2. Transcribe with speaker labels.
What are the best WhisperX alternatives?
Popular alternatives include faster-whisper, Whisper, whisper.cpp, Coqui TTS. See the comparison table on this page.