Speech to text

Cactus Whistle

Speech recognition in a single 16.9 MB file: runs on a phone, watch, robot and CPU without a graphics card. Languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish. Gives word timestamps.

Developer
Cactus Compute, not stated
First release
Sep 2026
Latest release
Sep 2026
Sizes
16.9 MB
License
Commercial use allowedApache 2.0
Russian
Not supported
Running
On your own serverAlso runs without a GPU
Industries
Customer support, Manufacturing and logistics, Media and production
Deploy on your server Hugging Face

What it does

  • voice input in mobile apps without internet
  • controlling a device by voice
  • highlighting words in subtitles by timestamps

Where it is used

mobile appssmart home and wearablesautomotive systems

Hardware requirements

LaptopLaptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions
fits
1 GPUOne GPU with 16–80 GB — mid-size versions
no versions
ClusterServer with several GPUs — flagship versions
no versions

Versions

  1. Whistle

How to run it

On your own serverWeights are downloaded from Hugging Face and served with vLLM (load and API) or llama.cpp (modest hardware). The model then runs in a closed network with no per-request fees.Hugging Face
How much hardware you needCalculate the VRAM for the model size, context length and number of concurrent requests.Open the hardware calculator

I can set this up end to end: pick the model size, deploy it on your server and connect it to your systems.

Frequently asked questions

Can Cactus Whistle be used in a commercial project?

Yes. License: Apache 2.0. It allows commercial use, but it is still worth having a lawyer review the license before launch.

What hardware does Cactus Whistle need?

At minimum: Laptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions. Some versions also run on an ordinary CPU, without a GPU. You can calculate the exact VRAM for your model size and context in the hardware calculator.

Does Cactus Whistle support Russian?

No. The developer documentation lists the supported languages and Russian is not among them.

Where can I download Cactus Whistle and what does it cost?

The Cactus Whistle weights are open and free to download. You only pay for the hardware it runs on and for the setup. Source links are at the bottom of this page.

How I deploy it for clients

  1. SelectionI pick the model size for your task and hardware and test it on your examples.
  2. DeploymentI deploy it on your server or in a closed network and provide an API.
  3. Fine-tuningI fine-tune it on your data (LoRA) or connect a knowledge base — whichever is cheaper for the task.
  4. IntegrationI connect it to your CRM, ERP, bot, website or team chat and set up monitoring.

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DetailsSpeech to textWhisperOpenAI · USACommercial use allowed

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DetailsSpeech to textNVIDIA Parakeet / Canary / Nemotron SpeechNVIDIA · USACommercial use with conditions

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Details

Source: huggingface.co/Cactus-Compute/whistle. Data checked against the model card on 22 Sep 2026. Have a lawyer review the license before commercial launch.