The best AI dictation apps, tested and ranked

AI dictation apps have come a long way in a short time. For years they were slow and inaccurate – unless you spoke with a certain accent and enunciated clearly.

Advances in large language models (LLMs) and speech-to-text models have changed that, creating systems that can decipher speech more accurately while retaining enough context to format the text correctly. Developers have also built in features to automatically remove filler words, fix stumbling blocks, and handle punctuation, outputting text that requires far fewer edits.

With dozens of such apps on the market, we’ve made our picks for the best and most useful dictation apps available today.

Wispr current

Wispr current 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 your text is transcribed by choosing from ‘formal’, ‘casual’ and ‘very informal’ 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 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 plans offer unlimited transcription and start at $15 per month.

Willow

Willow advertises itself as a great time saver for those who don’t like typing. In addition to common features such as automatic editing and formatting, the app uses large language models to generate an entire passage of text from just a few dictated words.

Willow also takes a more privacy-focused approach by storing all transcripts locally on your device and allowing you to opt out of model training entirely. You can also add custom vocabulary to it so that it can adapt to your industry terminology or your local dialect.

Willow lets you dictate 2,000 words per month for free via the desktop app. Individual plans start at $15 per month, giving you unlimited dictation and the app remembering your writing style.

Monologue

If privacy is your priority, Monologue This allows you to download the AI ​​model directly to your device for transcriptions, keeping your data completely out of the cloud. Additionally, the app allows you to adjust the tone depending on the app you are using it with.

With Monologue you can transcribe 1000 words per month for free; a subscription costs $10 per month or $100 per year. The company also sends its most active users a physical shortcut device called the Monokey to use with the app.

Super whispering

Super whispering is primarily a dictation app, but can also transcribe audio or video files. The app lets you choose and download AI models, including some of its own with different speeds and accuracy levels, along with Nvidia’s Parakeet speech recognition models.

The app also lets you write custom prompts to direct the output, and you can view both processed and unprocessed transcripts directly from your system keyboard.

The basic speech-to-text feature is free to use, and you get 15 minutes to test Pro features like translation and transcription. The paid tier allows you to use your own AI API keys and connect cloud and on-premise models without usage limits.

The monthly subscription costs $8.49 per month, the annual subscription costs $84.99 per month, or you can pay $249.99 for a lifetime subscription.

VoiceTypr

The VoiceTypr app takes an offline, subscription-free approach, allowing you to use local models for transcription. It also has a 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.

You can try the app for free for three days and then you can 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 the category in terms of latency (the delay between when you speak and when text appears on the screen).

In addition to dealing with grammar and punctuation, Aqua also lets you auto-complete text by speaking sentences. For example, you can say ‘my address’ and have Aqua type it in.

The app also offers its own speech-to-text API, allowing other apps to connect to Aqua’s transcription engine.

With the free tier you get 1,000 words per month. Paid subscriptions start at an annual bill of $8 per month and unlock unlimited words and 800 custom dictionary values.

Handy

Handy is an open-source, free transcription tool that runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. The app is quite 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 allows you to toggle push-to-talk and change the keyboard shortcut to activate transcription.

Typeless

Typeless is notable for the high number of free words. The company claims that it does not store data or use it to train AI models. Typeless also offers the ability to rewrite sentences you may have found.

The app allows you to dictate up to 4,000 words per week (about 16,000 words per month) on the 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.

StemInk

StemInk is a open source private dictation app for Mac. The app supports common shortcuts for starting/stopping recording, along with a push-to-talk mode. It reads the context on the screen and adjusts the output accordingly.

The app can automatically detect certain apps and URLs and apply custom formatting or rules to each app. 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.

Dictation

Dictation 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 such as 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 latency of 80ms, meaning text will appear almost immediately after you speak.

AudioPen

AudioPen started as a web-based voice notes app but has evolved over the years. With the Mac version you can now dictate and rewrite text in your preferred format and style, switching between different styles at any time. In addition to live transcription, AudioPen allows you to 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.