AI dictation apps have come a good distance in a short while. For years they have been sluggish and inaccurate — except you spoke with a specific accent and enunciated clearly.
Advances in massive language fashions (LLMs) and speech-to-text fashions have modified that, producing programs that may decipher speech extra precisely whereas retaining sufficient context to format the textual content accurately. Builders have additionally inbuilt options to robotically take away filler phrases, repair stumbles, and deal with punctuation — outputting textual content that wants far fewer edits.
With dozens of such apps now available on the market, we’ve rounded up our picks for the most effective and most helpful dictation apps accessible proper now.
Wispr Movement
Wispr Flow is a well-funded AI dictation app that allows you to add customized phrases and directions for dictation. It has native apps for macOS, Home windows, and iOS; an Android model is within the works.
The app helps you to customise the way it transcribes your textual content by selecting from “formal,” “informal,” and “very informal” kinds for various sorts of writing, resembling private messaging, work, and electronic mail. And in the event you use it with vibe-coding instruments like Cursor, you’ll be able to activate a function to robotically acknowledge variables or tag information within the chat.
The app helps you to transcribe as much as 2,000 phrases per week at no cost on desktop, and 1,000 phrases per 30 days on iOS. Paid subscription plans provide limitless transcription and begin at $15 per 30 days.
Willow
Willow advertises itself as an enormous time-saver for individuals who don’t prefer to kind. Alongside widespread options like computerized modifying and formatting, the app makes use of massive language fashions to generate a full passage of textual content from only a few dictated phrases.
Willow additionally takes a extra privacy-focused strategy by storing all transcripts domestically in your machine and allows you to decide out of mannequin coaching solely. It additionally helps you to add customized vocabulary to assist it adapt to your business’s terminology, or your native dialect.
Willow helps you to dictate 2,000 phrases per 30 days on its desktop app at no cost. Particular person subscription plans begin at $15 per 30 days, unlocking limitless dictation and enabling the app to recollect your writing type.
Monologue
If privateness in case your precedence, Monologue helps you to obtain its AI mannequin on to your machine for transcriptions, holding your knowledge off the cloud solely. What’s extra, the app helps you to customise its tone relying on the app you utilize it with.
Monologue helps you to transcribe 1,000 phrases per 30 days at no cost; a subscription prices $10 per 30 days or $100 per yr. The corporate additionally sends its most energetic customers a bodily shortcut machine referred to as the Monokey to make use of with the app.
Superwhisper
Superwhisper is primarily a dictation app, however it will possibly additionally transcribe from audio or video information. The app helps you to select and obtain AI fashions, together with a number of of its personal at completely different speeds and accuracy ranges, together with Nvidia’s Parakeet speech-recognition fashions.
The app additionally helps you to write customized prompts to steer the output, and you’ll view each processed and unprocessed transcripts straight out of your system keyboard.
The essential voice-to-text function is free to make use of, and also you get quarter-hour to check Professional options resembling translation and transcription. The paid tier helps you to use your personal AI API keys and join cloud and native fashions with none utilization caps.
The month-to-month plan prices $8.49 per 30 days, the annual plan prices $84.99 per 30 days, or you’ll be able to pay $249.99 for a lifetime subscription.
VoiceTypr
The VoiceTypr app takes an offline-first, no-subscription strategy, letting you utilize native fashions for transcription. It additionally has a GitHub repository for individuals who wish to host and run the open supply model themselves. VoiceTypr helps over 99 languages and works on each Mac and Home windows.
The app is offered to strive for 3 days at no cost, and after that, it can will let you purchase a lifetime license. The app prices $35 for one machine, $56 for 2, and $98 for 4 units.
Aqua
Aqua is a Y Combinator-backed voice-typing app for Home windows and macOS that claims to be one of many quickest instruments within the class when it comes to latency (the delay between while you communicate and when textual content seems on display).
In addition to dealing with grammar and punctuation, Aqua additionally helps you to autofill textual content by saying phrases — you’ll be able to say “my tackle” and have Aqua kind it in, for instance.
The app additionally gives its personal speech-to-text API, letting different apps plug into Aqua’s transcription engine.
The free tier will get you 1,000 phrases per 30 days. Paid plans begin at $8 per 30 days invoice yearly and unlock limitless phrases and 800 customized dictionary values.
Useful
Handy is an open-source, free transcription device that runs on Mac, Home windows, and Linux. The app is fairly primary and doesn’t provide a lot customization, however if you wish to begin utilizing your voice extra and don’t wish to pay, it’s a good choice.
The app has a primary settings menu that allows you to toggle push-to-talk and alter the hotkey to activate transcription.
Typeless
Typeless stands out for its excessive free phrase rely. The corporate claims it doesn’t retain any knowledge or use it to coach AI fashions. Typeless additionally gives to rewrite sentences you might have fumbled.
The app helps you to dictate as much as 4,000 phrases per week (roughly 16,000 phrases per 30 days) on its free tier. You may pay $12 per 30 days (billed yearly) to unlock limitless phrases and get entry to new options. Typeless is offered for Home windows and macOS solely.
VoiceInk
VoiceInk is an open-source personal dictation app for Mac. The app helps international shortcuts for recording begin/cease, together with a push-to-talk mode. It reads the context on display and adjusts its output accordingly.
The app can robotically detect sure apps and URLs and apply customized formatting or guidelines to every. It additionally has an assistant mode that may reply your questions. The app prices $25 for lifetime entry for one machine, $39 for 2 units, and $49 for 3 units.
Dictato
Dictato is a dictionary app for Mac priced at €9.99 — roughly $12 — that offers you lifetime entry and two years of function updates. The app works with offline fashions like Parakeet, Whisper, and Apple Speech Analyzer, and makes use of Apple Intelligence for gentle studying and filler phrase removing. Thanks to those native fashions, the app claims an excellent quick 80ms latency, which means textual content seems virtually immediately after you communicate.
AudioPen
AudioPen started as a web-based voice notes app, but it surely has advanced over time. Its Mac model now helps you to dictate textual content and rewrite it in your most well-liked format and elegance, switching between completely different kinds at any time. In addition to stay transcription, AudioPen permits you to retailer audio notes throughout platforms, mix notes for summaries, add audio information, and rewrite present notes utilizing AI. The app prices $33 for 3 months, $99 for a yr, and $159 for 2 years.
Once you buy by means of hyperlinks in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t have an effect on our editorial independence.
