SonoJot Terms of Use

Terms version 1 · Effective October 13, 2026

SonoJot is free, open-source dictation and meeting-transcription software for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Cody Stevens Studio LLC, a Texas limited liability company (the “Studio”, “we”, “us”), makes it. These terms are short. Please read sections 4 to 6 in particular.

1. What these terms cover

These terms apply to:

You accept these terms by selecting I agree in SonoJot’s first-run setup. SonoJot stores the terms version and the time you agreed on your computer. If an update changes the terms version, SonoJot will ask you to agree again before you continue. By using the website, you accept these terms for the website.

If you use SonoJot for an organization, you confirm that you may accept these terms for it.

2. Your open-source rights come first

SonoJot’s source code, and the Studio’s code in the Official Builds, are licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “Apache License”). Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under the Apache License. You may copy, modify, and redistribute SonoJot as the Apache License allows. If these terms and the Apache License conflict about copying, modifying, or distributing the code, the Apache License controls.

These terms do not grant any right to use the SonoJot name or logo. The Apache License does not grant one either (its section 6). The SonoJot Trademark Policy explains what is allowed. Third-party components and models keep their own licenses (section 8).

3. Age

You may use SonoJot if you are 18 or older, or if you have a parent’s or guardian’s permission and they agree to these terms for you. Online services you connect to SonoJot have their own age requirements, and you must meet them. OpenRouter, for example, requires its users to be at least 18.

4. Recording other people: your responsibility

SonoJot can record your microphone and your computer’s audio at the same time. By default, meetings record both, which captures other people’s voices. Dictation can also pick up people nearby.

Recording people without the consent the law requires can be a crime and can lead to civil liability. You are solely responsible for making sure every recording you make, and every use or sharing of it, is lawful. In particular:

Do not use SonoJot to record covertly or where recording is prohibited.

5. Not for high-stakes use

Do not rely on SonoJot where a transcription error, an omission, or a delay could cause death, injury, property damage, or serious legal or financial harm. Examples include medical or clinical records, emergency services, legal proceedings and court reporting, official records, and safety-critical systems. SonoJot is not designed to meet HIPAA, PCI DSS, or similar requirements. It is not a substitute for a qualified professional, a certified transcriptionist, or an accessibility service someone depends on. If you use it for these purposes anyway, a qualified person must check everything before anyone relies on it.

6. AI output can be wrong

SonoJot uses machine-learning models for speech recognition, punctuation, cleanup, speaker labels, meeting notes, titles, and vocabulary suggestions. Their output can mishear words, leave things out, add things that were never said, attribute speech to the wrong person, or change meaning. Review output before you rely on it, share it, or let SonoJot paste it into another application.

7. Beta software

SonoJot is in beta. Features may change, break, or be removed. Bugs may cause loss of recordings, transcripts, or settings, so keep backups of anything important. The Studio may change or stop the Official Builds, the update service, or the website at any time.

8. Third-party models and components

SonoJot includes, and can download, software, models, and runtimes made by others. Each comes with its own license, and that license, not these terms, governs your use of it. They are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md, which is included with the Official Builds and shown in SonoJot under About → Credits and licenses. SonoJot shows each model’s license in the model library, and asks you to acknowledge the terms of certain components before downloading them.

Before downloading certain components, including NVIDIA GPU runtime components and the FFmpeg media converter, SonoJot shows their license terms. When you choose to download a third-party component, you agree to that component’s terms with its publisher. Some model licenses limit how you may use the model, for example above a stated company revenue level. Check that a model’s license fits your use. Third-party components come from hosts the Studio does not control, and the Studio does not promise that any of them will stay available.

9. Optional online services

SonoJot works on your computer by default. If you connect your own OpenRouter account and choose an online model, SonoJot sends the content needed for the feature you start (meeting transcripts, dictation text or excerpts, vocabulary, or meeting audio) to OpenRouter, Inc. and the model provider that handles the request. The Privacy Notice describes exactly what each feature sends. Your use of those services is governed by your agreement with them, including OpenRouter’s terms, privacy policy, and charges, and by each model provider’s terms. The Studio is not a party to those agreements and is not responsible for those services. By default, SonoJot asks OpenRouter to use only providers that do not collect user data; for proofreading, you can allow data collection for one specific model after accepting its notice. The Studio cannot guarantee how any service handles your content. Make sure you have the right, including any consent section 4 requires, to send content to an online service.

10. Updates

SonoJot checks the Studio’s update service automatically, shortly after it starts and periodically after that. When an update is available, SonoJot tells you. It downloads and installs the update only when you choose. Updates are signed, and SonoJot verifies the signature before installing. The Studio is not obliged to provide updates or support.

11. Your data

SonoJot keeps your recordings, transcripts, and text on your computer. The app has no accounts and collects no telemetry, analytics, or content. The Privacy Notice explains the network connections SonoJot makes. If the Studio ever offers a way to contribute data to improve SonoJot’s models, it will be opt-in and announced separately.

12. No warranty

As section 7 of the Apache License states for the software, SonoJot is provided “AS IS”, without warranties or conditions of any kind, express or implied, including any warranties or conditions of title, non-infringement, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. The same applies to the Official Builds, the update service, the website, and any model output. You are solely responsible for deciding whether SonoJot is appropriate for your use, and you assume the risks of using it. The Studio does not promise that SonoJot will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that data will not be lost. Where the law does not allow some of these exclusions, they apply only as far as the law allows.

13. Limits on liability

As section 8 of the Apache License states for the software, unless required by applicable law or agreed in writing, the Studio is not liable to you for damages, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character, arising from these terms or from the use of or inability to use SonoJot. That includes loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, and lost recordings or data, even if the Studio was advised of the possibility.

To the extent any liability nonetheless remains, the Studio’s total liability for all claims relating to SonoJot, the Official Builds, the update service, the website, or these terms is limited to the greater of the amounts you paid the Studio for SonoJot in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or US$50. SonoJot is free, so this is normally US$50.

These limits do not apply to liability for fraud, gross negligence, or intentional misconduct, or to liability the law does not allow to be limited.

14. If your misuse causes a claim against us

As far as the law allows, you will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Studio and its members, managers, and employees against any third-party claim, and any resulting loss, liability, fine, or cost (including reasonable attorneys’ fees), arising from:

The Studio will tell you promptly about any such claim and may take part in the defense with its own counsel.

15. Ending

You can stop using the Official Builds and the website at any time. If you seriously breach section 4 or section 14, these terms end for you, and you must stop using the Official Builds and the update service. Ending these terms does not take away rights you have under the Apache License or under any third-party license. Sections 4, 5, 6, and 12 through 18 continue to apply after these terms end.

16. Texas law and courts

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before starting a legal claim, please contact us (section 19) so we can try to resolve the issue. Any dispute will be heard only in the state or federal courts located in Travis County, Texas, and both parties consent to the jurisdiction of those courts. If you are a consumer, you keep any rights under the law of the place where you live that cannot be waived by agreement.

17. Export

You will not use, export, or re-export the Official Builds in violation of U.S. export control or sanctions laws.

18. General

These terms, the Privacy Notice, and the Trademark Policy are the whole agreement between you and the Studio about the Official Builds, the update service, and the website. They sit alongside the Apache License and any third-party licenses. If part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. Not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it. The Studio may transfer these terms to a successor to the SonoJot project.

19. Changes and contact

When the Studio changes these terms in a way you should accept again, it will give them a new terms version, and SonoJot will ask you to agree before you continue. Changes do not apply to events that happened before they took effect.

Contact:

Cody Stevens Studio LLC, a Texas limited liability company.