Now available for macOS
The local-first qualitative analysis workspace for Mac.
Liminon is a qualitative research workspace for Mac that transcribes, codes and analyzes interviews entirely on your Mac, with speaker separation, optional local AI suggestions and an audit trail you can export. 14-day free trial, then a one-time purchase; nothing is uploaded.
Download Liminon 14-day free trial · macOS 14+, Apple Silicon
Liminon for Mac
The full app, free for 14 days. No account needed.
- 14-day free trial
- macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon (M1+)
- Notarized by Apple
- Runs offline after a one-time model download
What it looks like
A workspace built around the transcript, not the software.
Sources, transcript, and codebook live in one window — no exporting to spreadsheets to see what you have.
Three commitments
Built for research, not repurposed for it.
Truly local
Transcription, speaker separation, and AI analysis run on your Mac — not in a data center. Apart from a one-time download of the transcription models (a few GB, on your first transcription), Liminon works with no network connection at all, and shows a live indicator whenever it does talk to the network, so "local" is something you can watch, not a line in a privacy policy. Built for the realities of IRB review and participant confidentiality.
AI suggests, you decide
Liminon proposes codes, clusters emerging themes, and surfaces related quotes by meaning, not just keyword — every suggestion sits in a pending state until you accept it. Every accept, reject, and edit is written to an audit trail you can export, so when a reviewer asks what the AI actually did, you have an answer.
One-time purchase
$179, once. Early-bird $129, students $79. No annual renewal — and this is a promise, not a hedge: no future version of Liminon will lock you out of a project you built in an older one.
How it works
Four steps, one file, zero uploads.
Import
Bring in audio or video interviews directly. Nothing is queued to a server to get started.
Transcribe
A local, Whisper-class model transcribes and separates speakers automatically, on-device.
Code
Code whole segments or any selected phrase, with a keyboard-driven flow. Nest codes into trees, merge them later, and pull every quote for a code in one view.
Analyze
AI-assisted theme discovery that proposes candidate themes from your data — every suggestion reviewed by you. Export quote tables as Word documents and theme matrices as CSV, with a full audit trail.
Why not NVivo?
The honest comparison.
The mainstream QDA tools run their AI features in a vendor's cloud by default (MAXQDA's Premium AI Assist can also use a model on your own computer or server). Liminon's AI runs on your Mac, always. That's the gap it is built to close. See the sourced comparison, or twelve tools compared.
Scroll to compare →
| Liminon | NVivo | MAXQDA | ATLAS.ti | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| License | $179 once early $129 · student $79 |
Subscription; amounts not shown on its page | Subscription or fixed term; amounts not shown on its page | Flat-fee licence; amounts not shown on its page |
| AI features | Included | Separate cloud product, NVivo AI Cloud | Add-on, sold by subscription only | Opt-in; extra fees may apply |
| Where AI runs | On your Mac, always | Cloud (Microsoft Azure) | Cloud by default; local model option in Premium | Cloud (OpenAI) |
| Heard in the field | —, no public reviews yet | "Upgraded and my coding was gone" | — | "10–15 seconds per code click" |
Questions
Frequently asked
Does my data ever leave my Mac?
No. Transcription, speaker separation, and AI analysis all run locally, on-device. Liminon shows a live indicator whenever it makes a network request, so "local" isn't something you have to take our word for — it's something you can watch. After a one-time download of the transcription models on your first transcription (a few GB), the app works fully with no network connection.
What about IRB compliance?
Because recordings and transcripts never leave your Mac by default, Liminon fits cleanly into protocols that require participant data to stay on a single, non-networked device. It doesn't replace your IRB's judgment — but it removes "did this vendor's cloud see our data" from the list of questions you have to answer.
Which Macs are supported?
Apple Silicon (M1 or later), macOS 14 or later. On an Intel Mac or another kind of computer? Nothing is ruled out, but the local AI models we rely on need Apple Silicon to run well today — leave your email in the form at the bottom of this page and we'll write once when your machine is supported.
Is Liminon available now?
Yes. Liminon is on sale now — download it here. Every feature is free for 14 days. After that your projects stay open to read, search and export, and a one-time purchase (from $129, no subscription) restores transcription and coding — see pricing.
Do you offer student pricing?
Yes — $79 with a valid .edu (or equivalent institutional) email address, verified at checkout on the pricing page.
Can I import from NVivo?
REFI-QDA (QDPX) import is on the roadmap. It's the closest thing our field has to a portable project format, and we intend to support it.
Other machines
Not on an Apple Silicon Mac?
Liminon runs on Apple Silicon Macs today. On an Intel Mac or another kind of computer? Leave your email and we'll write once when Liminon supports your machine.
On an M1 or later? Download the free trial instead.