AI-based dictation apps have come a long way in a short time. For years these words were slow and imprecise, unless you spoke with an accent and pronounced them clearly.
Advances in large language models (LLMs) and speech-to-text models have changed that, producing systems that can decode speech more accurately while retaining enough context to format text correctly. The developers have also integrated features to automatically remove filler words, fix errors, and handle punctuation – to output text that needs far fewer edits.
With dozens of these apps on the market now, we’ve put together our picks for the best and most useful dictation apps available right now.
Flow Whisper
Wispr Flow is a well-funded AI dictation app that lets you add custom words and instructions to dictation. Contains native apps for macOS, Windows, and iOS; An Android version is in the works.
The app lets you customize how your text is copied by choosing from “Formal,” “Informal,” and “Very Casual” styles for different types of writing, such as personal letters, work, and email. And if you use it with dynamic coding tools like Cursor, you can turn on a feature to automatically recognize variables or tag files in 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 copying and start at $15 per month.
Willow
Willow advertises itself as a great time saver for those who don’t like to write. Besides common features like automatic editing and formatting, the app uses large language models to create an entire chunk of text from just a few dictated words.
Willow also takes a more privacy-focused approach by storing all texts locally on your device and lets you opt out of typical training entirely. It also allows you to add custom vocabulary to help it adapt to your industry terminology, or your local dialect.
Willow lets you dictate 2,000 words per month on its desktop app for free. Individual subscription plans start at $15 per month, which opens the door to unlimited dictation and enables the app to remember your writing style.
monologue
If privacy is your priority, Monologue lets you download its AI model directly to your device to make copies, keeping your data out of the cloud entirely. Moreover, the app allows you to customize its tone depending on the app you are using it with.
Monologue lets you transcribe 1,000 words per month for free; The subscription costs $10 per month or $100 per year. The company also sends its most active users a physical shortcut device called a Monokey to use with the app.
Superwhisper
Superwhisper is primarily a dictation app, 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 different speeds and accuracy levels, along with speech recognition models from Nvidia’s Parakeet.
The application also allows you to write custom prompts for pipe, and you can view both processed and unprocessed texts directly from your system keyboard.
The basic audio-to-text feature is free to use, and you get 15 minutes to test out 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 any usage limits.
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 subscription.
VoiceTypr
VoiceTypr takes an offline-first, subscription-free approach, allowing you to use local templates for transcription. It also has a GitHub repository for those who want to host and run the open source version themselves. VoiceTypr supports over 99 languages and works on both Mac and Windows.
The app is available to try for three days for free, after which you will be allowed to purchase a lifetime license. The app costs $35 for one device, $56 for two devices, 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 category in terms of latency (the delay between when you speak and when text appears on the screen).
Besides handling grammar and punctuation, Aqua also lets you auto-fill text by speaking phrases – you can say “my address” and have Aqua type it, for example.
The application also offers its own speech-to-text API, allowing other applications to plug into Aqua’s transcription engine.
The free tier gives you 1,000 words per month. Paid plans start at a monthly bill of $8 per year and unlock unlimited words and 800 custom dictionary values.
useful
Handy is a free, open source transcription tool that works on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The app is pretty basic and doesn’t offer a lot of 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 activate transcription.
No type
Typeless has a high free word count. The company claims that it does not retain any data or use it to train AI models. Typeless also offers you the ability to retype sentences that you may have fumbled.
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 available for Windows and macOS only.
Sonic ink
VoiceInk is an open source proprietary dictation application for Mac. The app supports global shortcuts to start/stop recording, as well as push-to-talk mode. It reads the context on the screen and adjusts its output accordingly.
The app can automatically detect specific apps and URLs and apply custom formatting or rules to each of them. It also has an assistant mode that can answer your questions. The app costs $25 for lifetime access for one device, $39 for two devices, and $49 for three devices.
Dictations
Dictato is a dictionary app for Mac that’s priced at €9.99 – roughly $12 – and 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 removing filler words. Thanks to these native models, the app has a super-fast 80ms response time, which means text appears almost instantly after you speak.
Voice pen
AudioPen started out as a web-based audio notes app, but has evolved over the years. The Mac version now lets you dictate and retype text in your preferred format and style, and switch between different styles at any time. Besides live transcription, AudioPen lets you store audio notes across platforms, merge notes for summaries, upload audio files, and rewrite existing notes using AI. The app costs $33 for three months, $99 for a year, and $159 for two years.
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