1
Wispr Flow
Best all-round if you dictate on more than a Mac
The best-known name in AI dictation, and still the most polished. Hold a key, talk, and clean text lands in whatever app you are in, with formatting and tone that adapt to where you are typing. It now runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, and has added a meeting notetaker on Mac and Windows.
- Processing:
- Cloud
- Platforms:
- Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
- Free:
- 2,000 words a week
Price
Free: 2,000 words a week on desktop, 1,000 on mobile. Pro: $15/month, or $12/month billed yearly.
Best for
You dictate on a Windows laptop or a phone as well as a Mac, you work in several languages, or you want the most refined pure-dictation experience and the price is fine.
Where it falls short
The free allowance is about two emails a day, and daily users hit it. Cloud only, so no offline mode. At $15 a month it sits at the top of this category's price range.
2
Superwhisper
Best for privacy and power users
Local Whisper models running on your Mac, with cloud models on Pro. Its signature feature is custom modes: per-app prompts and model choices, so dictating into a terminal can behave differently from dictating an email. Once Mac-first, it now also runs on Windows, iPhone and Android.
- Processing:
- On device or cloud
- Platforms:
- Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
- Free:
- Unlimited local models
Price
Free tier with unlimited use of local Whisper models, plus a 3,000-word trial of Pro. Pro is $8.49/month, with yearly and lifetime plans.
Best for
Confidential work where audio must not leave the machine, such as legal, medical or security-restricted networks, or you enjoy tuning a tool precisely to your workflow.
Where it falls short
The depth costs setup time: models to download, modes to build, prompts to write. Its own site says offline models only run really well on Apple silicon, so older Intel Macs are pushed to the cloud.
3
Crodo
That's usBest free option, and the only one that does more than dictate
Ours. Hold-to-talk dictation with filler-word removal, grammar and punctuation cleanup, and a dictionary that learns your jargon when you correct it once. The same app answers questions you ask by voice, reads your screen when you ask it to, records meetings into structured notes, and reaches Gmail, Google Calendar and Slack.
- Processing:
- Cloud
- Platforms:
- Mac
- Free:
- Everything, no cap
Price
Free. No weekly word cap, no trial clock, and no paid tier for any of the above.
Best for
You are on a Mac, you keep hitting free-tier word limits elsewhere, or you would rather have one voice tool than a dictation app plus a meeting app plus an assistant.
Where it falls short
English only, which rules it out if you dictate in another language. Mac only: Apple silicon, macOS 14.2 or later, no Windows or phone app. Cloud-based, so no offline mode. Newer than the others, and there is no per-app mode system like Superwhisper's.
4
Aqua Voice
Best for technical vocabulary
Built on its own speech model, Avalon, which Aqua tunes for the words generic models miss: code identifiers, product names, acronyms. It can use what is on your screen as context, keeps a custom dictionary, and on the Max plan shows your words live as you speak.
- Processing:
- Cloud
- Platforms:
- Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
- Free:
- 1,000 words, once
Price
1,000 free words to try it, a one-time allowance rather than a weekly one. Pro is $10/month or $8/month billed yearly. Max, which adds live Realtime Mode, is $30/month or $24/month yearly.
Best for
You dictate code, technical writing or anything dense with names and acronyms, and getting those words right matters more than price.
Where it falls short
The free allowance is a trial, not a tier: around seven minutes of talking and it is gone. Cloud-based. Seeing words live costs three times the Pro price. Its accuracy figures come from its own benchmark, so test it on your vocabulary before you trust them.
5
Typeless
Most generous capped free tier, and it translates
Cloud dictation that strips fillers, adapts tone to the app you are in, translates as you speak, and lets you select text and say how to change it. It runs on more platforms than anything else here, Linux included, and lists support for 100+ languages.
- Processing:
- Cloud
- Platforms:
- Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android
- Free:
- 8,000 words a week
Price
Free: 8,000 words a week. Pro: $12/month billed yearly, or $30/month billed monthly.
Best for
You want a free tier you will rarely hit (four times Wispr Flow's), you dictate across languages or need live translation, or you work on Linux.
Where it falls short
Cloud only, with no offline mode. Month-to-month Pro at $30 is among the most expensive on this list, so it only makes sense billed yearly. It states zero data retention, but your audio is still processed off your Mac.
6
Willow
Best for sounding like your own writing
Cloud dictation built around personalisation: Pro remembers your writing style and applies it to what you dictate. Its Business plan enforces zero data retention and lists SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance, which is often what decides whether a team is allowed to install a dictation tool at all.
- Processing:
- Cloud
- Platforms:
- Mac, Windows, iPhone
- Free:
- 2,000 words a week
Price
Free: 2,000 words a week shared across Mac and iPhone, on a lighter model. Pro: $15/month, or $12/month billed yearly. Business: $35/month, or $28/month yearly.
Best for
You want dictated text that reads like you wrote it, or your company needs compliance paperwork before anyone can use a cloud dictation tool.
Where it falls short
The free tier runs a lighter model under the same small weekly cap as Wispr Flow. Cloud-based. Android is still listed as coming soon.
7
VoiceInk
Best open source, no subscription
An open-source (GPLv3) native Mac app that transcribes on your machine. It detects which app you are in and applies the settings you saved for it, keeps a personal dictionary, and removes filler words. Optional cloud enhancement sends only the text, never the audio.
- Processing:
- On device
- Platforms:
- Mac
- Free:
- Free from source
Price
Free if you build it from source. Prebuilt licences are one-time: $25 for one Mac, $39 for two, $49 for three, with lifetime updates.
Best for
You want local processing and no subscription, and you like that the code is inspectable. A strong middle ground between Superwhisper's polish and rolling your own.
Where it falls short
Apple silicon only. Like every local tool, accuracy depends on which model your Mac can run comfortably, and it does nothing outside dictation.
8
Spokenly
Best free local option
Free on-device dictation with Whisper and Parakeet models, no account and no word cap. If you already pay for an API, you can plug in your own keys for OpenAI, Deepgram, Groq and others and dictate at cost. Pro adds managed cloud models for people who would rather not handle keys.
- Processing:
- On device or cloud
- Platforms:
- Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone
- Free:
- Unlimited local models
Price
Free forever for local models and your own API keys. Local+ is $29 one-time for extras such as settings sync. Pro is $99.99/year ($8.33/month), billed yearly only.
Best for
You want unlimited local dictation without paying anything, or you want to route dictation through an API account you already have.
Where it falls short
Bring-your-own-key means managing keys and paying providers separately. The free local route has the same model-versus-hardware trade-off as every on-device tool. Pro has no monthly option.
9
MacWhisper
Best for transcribing files you already have
Whisper wrapped in a proper native Mac interface. It has added system-wide dictation and automatic recording of Zoom and Teams calls, but its real strength is still batch work: transcribing recordings, video files and YouTube links, with automatic speaker recognition.
- Processing:
- On device
- Platforms:
- Mac
- Free:
- Yes, limited
Price
Free tier for file transcription. Pro is a one-time €64 licence from the developer's site; the App Store version is sold as a subscription instead.
Best for
You have interviews, podcasts or recorded calls on disk that need turning into text, and you want it done locally with speaker labels.
Where it falls short
It is a transcription tool first and a dictation tool second. If your main need is speaking into apps all day, the apps above are built for that job.
10
Apple Dictation
Best for quick notes, and it is already installed
Built into macOS and free. macOS 27 added an improved on-device model that makes fewer spelling, punctuation and capitalisation mistakes, but only on Macs with an M3 or later chip and at least 12GB of memory.
- Processing:
- On device
- Platforms:
- Mac, iPhone, iPad
- Free:
- Built in
Price
Free, built into macOS.
Best for
Short bursts: a quick reply, a note, a search box. It is private, needs no setup, and is there when you have not installed anything else.
Where it falls short
No custom vocabulary, so names and jargon stay mangled. It has historically stopped after about 30 seconds of silence with no setting to change that, and Apple has not said macOS 27 changes either. M1 and M2 Macs do not get the improved model.