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 giant 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 appropriately. Builders have additionally inbuilt options to mechanically 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 perfect and most helpful dictation apps obtainable proper now.
Wispr Circulate
Wispr Circulate is a well-funded AI dictation app that permits 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 enables you to customise the way it transcribes your textual content by selecting from “formal,” “informal,” and “very informal” types for various sorts of writing, comparable to private messaging, work, and electronic mail. And should you use it with vibe-coding instruments like Cursor, you possibly can activate a characteristic to mechanically acknowledge variables or tag recordsdata within the chat.
The app enables you to transcribe as much as 2,000 phrases per week free of charge 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 a giant time-saver for individuals who don’t wish to sort. Alongside widespread options like automated modifying and formatting, the app makes use of giant language fashions to generate a full passage of textual content from just some dictated phrases.
Willow additionally takes a extra privacy-focused method by storing all transcripts regionally in your system and allows you to decide out of mannequin coaching totally. It additionally enables you to add customized vocabulary to assist it adapt to your trade’s terminology, or your native dialect.
Willow enables you to dictate 2,000 phrases per 30 days on its desktop app free of charge. Particular person subscription plans begin at $15 per 30 days, unlocking limitless dictation and enabling the app to recollect your writing model.
Monologue
If privateness in case your precedence, Monologue enables you to obtain its AI mannequin on to your system for transcriptions, conserving your information off the cloud totally. What’s extra, the app enables you to customise its tone relying on the app you employ it with.
Monologue enables you to transcribe 1,000 phrases per 30 days free of charge; a subscription prices $10 per 30 days or $100 per yr. The corporate additionally sends its most energetic customers a bodily shortcut system referred to as the Monokey to make use of with the app.
Superwhisper
Superwhisper is primarily a dictation app, however it might additionally transcribe from audio or video recordsdata. The app enables you to select and obtain AI fashions, together with a number of of its personal at totally different speeds and accuracy ranges, together with Nvidia’s Parakeet speech-recognition fashions.
The app additionally enables you to write customized prompts to steer the output, and you’ll view each processed and unprocessed transcripts instantly out of your system keyboard.
The essential voice-to-text characteristic is free to make use of, and also you get quarter-hour to check Professional options comparable to translation and transcription. The paid tier enables 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 possibly can pay $249.99 for a lifetime subscription.
VoiceTypr
The VoiceTypr app takes an offline-first, no-subscription method, letting you employ native fashions for transcription. It additionally has a GitHub repository for individuals 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 obtainable to strive for 3 days free of charge, and after that, it should assist you to purchase a lifetime license. The app prices $35 for one system, $56 for 2, and $98 for 4 gadgets.
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 whenever you communicate and when textual content seems on display screen).
Moreover dealing with grammar and punctuation, Aqua additionally enables you to autofill textual content by saying phrases — you possibly can say “my tackle” 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 per 30 days. Paid plans begin at $8 per 30 days invoice yearly and unlock limitless phrases and 800 customized dictionary values.
Useful
Useful is an open-source, free transcription software 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 need to pay, it’s a good choice.
The app has a primary settings menu that permits you to toggle push-to-talk and alter the hotkey to activate transcription.
Typeless
Typeless stands out for its excessive free phrase depend. The corporate claims it doesn’t retain any information or use it to coach AI fashions. Typeless additionally provides to rewrite sentences you could have fumbled.
The app enables 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 obtainable 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 screen and adjusts its output accordingly.
The app can mechanically 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 system, $39 for 2 gadgets, and $49 for 3 gadgets.
Dictato
Dictato is a dictionary app for Mac priced at €9.99 — roughly $12 — that provides 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 mild studying and filler phrase removing. Thanks to those native fashions, the app claims an excellent quick 80ms latency, that means textual content seems virtually immediately after you communicate.
AudioPen
AudioPen started as a web-based voice notes app, but it surely has developed over time. Its Mac model now enables you to dictate textual content and rewrite it in your most well-liked format and elegance, switching between totally different types at any time. Moreover 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 yr, and $159 for 2 years.
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