AI dictation applications have come a long way in a short period of time. For years they were slow and inaccurate — unless you spoke with a certain accent and pronounced clearly.
Advances in large language models (LLMs) and speech-to-text models have changed this, creating systems that can decipher speech more accurately while retaining enough context to properly format the text. The developers have also built in features to automatically remove filler words, fix problems, and handle punctuation — text output that needs far less editing.
With dozens of such apps now on the market, we’ve rounded up our picks for the best and most useful dictation apps available right now.
Wispr Flow
Wispr Flow is a well-funded AI dictation app that lets you add custom words and instructions for dictation. It has native apps for macOS, Windows and iOS. an Android version is in the works.
The app lets you customize how it transcribes your text by choosing from formal, casual, and very casual styles for different types of writing, such as personal messages, work, and email. And if you use it with vibe coding tools like Cursor, you can enable a feature to automatically identify variables or tag files in the chat.
The app lets you transcribe up to 2,000 words per week for free on desktop and 1,000 words per month on iOS. Paid subscription plans offer unlimited transcription and start at $15 per month.
Willow
Willow advertised as a great time saver for those who don’t like to type. In addition to common features such as automatic editing and formatting, the application uses large language models to generate a complete text passage from just a few dictated words.
Willow also takes a more privacy-focused approach, storing all transcripts locally on your device and allowing you to opt out of model training entirely. It also allows you to add custom vocabulary to help it adapt to your industry jargon or local dialect.
Willow lets you dictate 2,000 words a month on its desktop app for free. Individual subscription plans start at $15 per month, unlocking unlimited dictation and allowing the app to remember your writing style.
Monologue
If privacy is your priority, Monologue it allows you to download the AI model directly to your device for transcriptions, keeping your data completely off the cloud. Additionally, the app lets you customize its tone depending on the app you’re using it with.
Monologue lets you transcribe 1,000 words per month for free. a subscription costs $10 per month or $100 per year. The company is also sending its most active users a physical shortcut device called Monokey to use with the app.
Super whisper
Super whisper it is primarily a dictation application, but it can also transcribe from audio or video files. The app lets you select and download AI models, including several of its own at varying levels of speed and accuracy, along with Nvidia’s Parakeet speech recognition models.
The app also lets you write custom prompts to direct output, and you can view both edited and raw transcripts right from your system keyboard.
The basic voice-to-text feature is free to use, and you have 15 minutes to try Pro features like translation and transcription. The paid tier allows you to use your own AI API keys and connect cloud and on-premises models without usage restrictions.
The monthly plan costs $8.49 per month, the annual plan costs $84.99 per month, or you can pay $249.99 for a lifetime membership.
VoiceTypr
THE VoiceTypr The app takes an offline, no-subscription approach, allowing you to use local models to transcribe. It also has one GitHub repository for those who want to host and run the open source version themselves. VoiceTypr supports more than 99 languages and works on both Mac and Windows.
The app is available for trial for three days for free and after that, it will allow you to purchase a lifetime license. The app costs $35 for one device, $56 for two, and $98 for four devices.
Aqua
Aqua is a Y Combinator-backed voice typing app for Windows and macOS that claims to be one of the fastest tools in its class in terms of latency (the delay between when you speak and when the text appears on the screen).
In addition to handling grammar and punctuation, Aqua also lets you autocomplete text by speaking phrases — you can say “my address” and type Aqua, for example.
The app also offers its own speech-to-text API, allowing other apps to connect to Aqua’s transcription engine.
The free tier gives you 1,000 words per month. Paid plans start at $8 per month annually and unlock unlimited words and 800 custom dictionary values.
Easy to use
Easy to use is a free, open source transcription tool that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The app is pretty basic and doesn’t offer much customization, but if you want to start using your voice more and don’t want to pay, it’s a good option.
The app has a basic settings menu that lets you toggle push-to-talk and change the hotkey to enable transcription.
Without type
Without type stands out for its high number of free words. The company claims it does not keep data or use it to train AI models. Typeless also offers to rewrite sentences you may have searched for.
The app lets you dictate up to 4,000 words per week (about 16,000 words per month) on its free tier. You can pay $12 per month (billed annually) to unlock unlimited words and access new features. Typeless is only available for Windows and macOS.
VoiceInk
VoiceInk is one open source private dictation app for Mac. The app supports universal shortcuts to start/stop recording, along with push-to-talk functionality. It reads the environment on the screen and adjusts its output accordingly.
The app can automatically detect certain apps and URLs and apply custom formatting or rules to each. It also has an assistant function that can answer your questions. The app costs $25 for lifetime access for one device, $39 for two devices, and $49 for three devices.
Dictate
Dictate is a dictionary app for Mac priced at €9.99 — about $12 — that gives you lifetime access and two years of feature updates. The app works with offline models like Parakeet, Whisper and Apple Speech Analyzer and uses Apple Intelligence for light reading and filler word removal. Thanks to these local models, the app claims a super-fast 80ms latency, meaning text appears almost immediately after you speak.
AudioPen
AudioPen started as an online voice memo app, but has evolved over the years. Its Mac version now lets you dictate text and rewrite it in your preferred format and style, switching between different styles at any time. In addition to live transcription, AudioPen lets you save audio notes across platforms, combine notes for summaries, upload audio files, and rewrite existing notes using AI. The app costs $33 for three months, $99 for one year, and $159 for two years.
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