AI dictation apps have come a good distance in a short while. For years they have been gradual and inaccurate — except you spoke with a specific accent and enunciated clearly.
Advances in giant language fashions (LLMs) and speech-to-text fashions have modified that, producing methods that may decipher speech extra precisely whereas retaining sufficient context to format the textual content appropriately. Builders have additionally in-built options to routinely 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 very best 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” types for various sorts of writing, corresponding to private messaging, work, and e mail. And if you happen to use it with vibe-coding instruments like Cursor, you may activate a characteristic to routinely acknowledge variables or tag recordsdata within the chat.
The app helps you to transcribe as much as 2,000 phrases per week free of charge on desktop, and 1,000 phrases monthly on iOS. Paid subscription plans supply limitless transcription and begin at $15 monthly.
Willow
Willow advertises itself as a giant time-saver for many who don’t wish to sort. Alongside frequent options like automated modifying and formatting, the app makes use of giant language fashions to generate a full passage of textual content from only a few dictated phrases.
Willow additionally takes a extra privacy-focused method by storing all transcripts regionally in your gadget and allows you to decide out of mannequin coaching completely. It additionally helps you to add customized vocabulary to assist it adapt to your trade’s terminology, or your native dialect.
Willow helps you to dictate 2,000 phrases monthly on its desktop app free of charge. Particular person subscription plans begin at $15 monthly, 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 gadget for transcriptions, maintaining your information off the cloud completely. 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 monthly free of charge; a subscription prices $10 monthly or $100 per 12 months. The corporate additionally sends its most lively customers a bodily shortcut gadget known as the Monokey to make use of with the app.
Superwhisper
Superwhisper is primarily a dictation app, however it may additionally transcribe from audio or video recordsdata. 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 immediately out of your system keyboard.
The fundamental voice-to-text characteristic is free to make use of, and also you get quarter-hour to check Professional options corresponding to translation and transcription. The paid tier helps you to use your individual AI API keys and join cloud and native fashions with none utilization caps.
The month-to-month plan prices $8.49 monthly, the annual plan prices $84.99 monthly, or you may pay $249.99 for a lifetime subscription.
VoiceTypr
The VoiceTypr app takes an offline-first, no-subscription method, letting you utilize native fashions for transcription. It additionally has a GitHub repository for many who need 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 attempt for 3 days free of charge, and after that, it’ll can help you purchase a lifetime license. The app prices $35 for one gadget, $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 by way of latency (the delay between once you converse 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 may say “my deal with” and have Aqua sort it in, for instance.
The app additionally provides its personal speech-to-text API, letting different apps plug into Aqua’s transcription engine.
The free tier will get you 1,000 phrases monthly. Paid plans begin at $8 monthly invoice yearly and unlock limitless phrases and 800 customized dictionary values.
Helpful
Handy is an open-source, free transcription instrument that runs on Mac, Home windows, and Linux. The app is fairly fundamental and doesn’t supply a lot customization, however if you wish to begin utilizing your voice extra and don’t need to pay, it’s a good choice.
The app has a fundamental 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 information or use it to coach AI fashions. Typeless additionally provides 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 monthly) on its free tier. You possibly can pay $12 monthly (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 non-public 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 routinely 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 gadget, $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 characteristic 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 elimination. Thanks to those native fashions, the app claims a brilliant quick 80ms latency, that means textual content seems virtually immediately after you converse.
AudioPen
AudioPen started as a web-based voice notes app, nevertheless it has advanced through the years. Its Mac model now helps you to dictate textual content and rewrite it in your most popular format and magnificence, switching between completely different types at any time. In addition to reside transcription, AudioPen means that you can retailer audio notes throughout platforms, mix notes for summaries, add audio recordsdata, and rewrite current notes utilizing AI. The app prices $33 for 3 months, $99 for a 12 months, and $159 for 2 years.
While you buy via hyperlinks in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t have an effect on our editorial independence.