Web Captioner alternative
The Web Captioner alternative for live production
Web Captioner was retired in 2023. LiveSubs is the modern desktop replacement: it captions any system audio, not just your mic, and streams the captions straight into OBS, vMix and other tools over NDI, Spout and OSC.
What you gain
Everything Web Captioner did, and more
If you came here from Web Captioner, here is what changes when you switch to a purpose-built desktop app.
A native app, not a browser tab
No Chrome tab to keep focused and awake. LiveSubs is a Windows app built to run all show.
Captions any system audio
Not just your microphone. Caption a video, a call, a stream, or anything playing on the PC.
Real production outputs
Send captions into OBS, vMix, Resolume and more over NDI, Spout and OSC, not just a browser window to screen-capture.
Transparent, keyable layer
The caption frame has an alpha channel, so it composites cleanly over your video with an outline for legibility.
Multilingual and accurate
A modern transcription engine handles many languages and keeps pace with the speaker in realtime.
Simple pay per minute
A flat $0.04/min, prepaid, no subscription. You only pay for the minutes you caption.
Streaming? See the OBS setup guide or the streamer overview.
FAQ
Coming from Web Captioner
What happened to Web Captioner?
Web Captioner, the free browser-based live captioning tool, was retired in 2023. Many people who relied on it for streams, services and events have been looking for a replacement that still works.
Is LiveSubs a good Web Captioner alternative?
Yes. It covers the same job (turning live speech into on-screen captions) and adds what a browser tool could not: it is a native app, it captions any system audio and not just the mic, and it outputs real NDI, Spout and OSC feeds that drop straight into OBS, vMix and other production software.
How is it different from a browser captioner?
A browser captioner only hears your microphone and lives in a tab you have to screen-capture. LiveSubs runs as a desktop app, can caption any audio on the PC, and sends a transparent caption layer into your production tools over NDI or Spout, plus the text over OSC.
Is it free like Web Captioner was?
LiveSubs is prepaid and pay per minute at $0.04/min, with no subscription. It is not free, but there is no monthly commitment and you only pay for the minutes you actually caption.
Can I still use it just to show captions on screen?
Yes. You do not need OBS or NDI to use it. LiveSubs shows the captions on screen and, when you want, streams them into your production setup as well.
Switch in a few minutes
Download LiveSubs, add some minutes, and pick up right where Web Captioner left off.