Both put live speech on an interpreter's screen. Cymo Note builds around glossaries and notes. Unicaption builds around the live call. Here's how to tell which one your work needs.
Computer-assisted interpreting tools used to mean glossary software. Live speech recognition changed that: now the booth can show the speech itself, with key terms flagged. Cymo Note and Unicaption both come from this shift, but they start from different ends. Cymo Note is a workbench for the conference interpreter's glossary and notes; Unicaption is a copilot for the live call, whatever platform it's on. Your working week decides which one you should pick.
Cymo Note, from Cymo, describes itself as a smart interpretation assistant. It shows a running live transcript, automatically highlights numbers and glossary terms inline, offers on-demand translation, and adds note-taking workflows for consecutive interpreting. It also helps you build glossaries by combining speech recognition and machine translation, with you reviewing each term before it's added.
It covers remote, onsite, and hybrid assignments, and it works on a credit basis with trial credits to start (check Cymo's site for current plans). Its own documentation says transcripts are stored in your browser's local storage, not on its servers. For conference interpreters who live in their glossaries, this is a thoughtful tool.
Unicaption is built for the live call. Captions appear as people speak, in 60+ languages with automatic detection, and the translation sits side by side with the original. It reads your microphone or system audio, so it runs beside your agency's phone interpreting line, Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, VRI, or an in-person conversation, and nothing joins the call.
Terminology is handled with a custom dictionary kept across sessions and built-in medical, legal, and government vocabulary, plus a simple notepad beside the captions. It runs in the browser, as a Chrome extension, and as native macOS and Windows apps. Sessions are end-to-end encrypted, audio is never stored, and transcripts are deleted when the session ends.
| Dimension | Cymo Note | Unicaption |
|---|---|---|
| Center of gravity | Glossary, highlights, and notes around a live transcript | Live transcription and translation during the call |
| Typical user | Conference interpreters, consecutive and simultaneous | OPI, VRI, meeting, and conference interpreters |
| Term handling | Inline highlighting of numbers and glossary terms; glossary building with review | Custom dictionary kept across sessions; built-in medical, legal, government vocabulary |
| Translation | On-demand translation | Continuous side-by-side translation, 60+ languages |
| Notes | Built-in note-taking workflows for consecutive | Simple notepad beside the captions |
| Where it runs | See Cymo's site for current platforms | Browser, Chrome extension, macOS and Windows apps |
| Trying it | Trial credits, then credit-based plans | 30 free minutes every week, no credit card; plans from $9/mo |
Cymo Note. Its note-taking workflows and inline number highlighting are designed for consecutive interpreting. Unicaption's notepad is a simple manual one.
Cymo Note, or a dedicated glossary tool. See our InterpretBank comparison for more on prep workbenches.
Unicaption. There's no prep time between agency calls. You need live captions, side-by-side translation, and a dictionary that's already loaded when the call connects.
Unicaption reads system audio beside any meeting platform. See live translated captions in Zoom, Teams, and Meet.
Cymo Note is an interpreting assistant focused on glossary terms, number highlighting, and note-taking around a live transcript, aimed at conference interpreters. Unicaption is a real-time AI copilot for live calls, with transcription and side-by-side translation in 60+ languages beside any platform, a custom dictionary, and 30 free minutes every week.
For over-the-phone and video remote interpreting, Unicaption is built for fast back-to-back calls. It reads system audio beside your agency's platform, shows live captions with side-by-side translation, keeps a custom dictionary across sessions, and stores nothing after the session. It has 30 free minutes every week with no credit card.
Yes. Many interpreters separate prep from delivery: a glossary or note-taking tool for building terminology before assignments, and Unicaption for live transcription and translation during calls and meetings.
30 free minutes every week. No credit card, nothing stored.
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