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vs Wispr Flowvs Superwhispervs MacWhispervs Apple Dictation

Push-to-talk dictation for macOS

Speak it once. It lands where you were typing.

Hold a key and talk. The words land in the field your cursor was in — Slack, Xcode, Google Docs, the terminal.

Subscribe — $8/month

Cancel any time · macOS 15 or later · Apple Silicon native

Slack
Tue 9:41

0:00 Holding ⌥
0
bytes of audio stored Transcribed, then discarded
2
permissions asked for Microphone and Accessibility
$8
per month, flat One plan, cancel any time
15+
minimum macOS Apple Silicon native

Transcription is solved.
Insertion isn't.

Anything can turn speech into text. Getting it into a stubborn Electron text box is the hard part. Dictate goes through the Accessibility API, and pastes when it has to.

AX insert

Native apps

Notes, Mail, Pages, Xcode. Straight to the cursor.

AX insert

Browsers

Safari and Chrome, including Google Docs.

AX + paste

Electron

Slack, Discord, VS Code, Notion. Where most tools quietly fail.

Paste fallback

Terminal

Terminal and iTerm, via paste.

Small app. Complete loop.

Everything below ships in the one plan.

Push-to-talk

Any key you like. Hold to talk, release to insert.

Insertion engine

Accessibility API first, paste when an app fights it.

Polish step

Filler dropped, punctuation fixed. Unmetered.

Glossary

Your project's words, spelled right every time.

History

Every dictation as text. The recordings no longer exist.

Offline entitlement tickets

A dropped connection never locks you out.

Dictating in under a minute.

  1. Subscribe

    Checkout on the web. Download and activation links arrive by email.

  2. Grant two permissions

    Microphone and Accessibility. Nothing else.

  3. Hold ⌥ and talk

    Let go. The text is where your cursor was.

Your audio doesn't outlive the request.

The life of one dictation Audio retained: 0 bytes

  1. Capture

    Buffered in memory on your Mac. Never written to disk.

  2. Transcribe

    Streams over TLS to the Dictate API, comes back as text.

  3. Insert

    Lands at your cursor. Accessibility API first, paste as backup.

  4. Discard

    Dropped the moment the request completes. Not our disks, not a backup.

History keeps the text and metadata, never the recording. How this is enforced →

No password to manage

Each Mac is bound to your subscription by a Secure Enclave key we never see. Sign in with a link, or Google, Apple, GitHub, GitLab.

Two permissions, and you can check

No screen recording, no full-disk access, no browser extension. Open System Settings and hold us to it.

Weigh it against the field.

They're good tools. Each comparison starts with what they do well.

vs Wispr Flow

Polished and RSI-focused. We make a different bet on your audio.

vs Superwhisper

Local-first, on-device models. Dictate is the managed alternative.

vs MacWhisper

On-device, one-time purchase. Dictate solves insertion instead.

vs Apple Dictation

Free and built in. The gap is Electron apps and long-form accuracy.

Eight dollars. That's the page.

$8 /month
No free trialNo tiersCancel any time
  • Dictation in every app
  • 40 hours of transcription a month
  • Unmetered polish
  • History and glossary, synced
  • All your Macs
Subscribe — $8/month

Stripe checkout · macOS 15+ · unused subscriptions refunded

Asked before buying.

Real policy, not the friendly version. Anything else: support@dictates.app.

Is there a free trial?

No. It’s $8/month from day one. Cancel whenever; access runs to the end of what you paid for.

How do I get the app after subscribing?

The download link arrives by email right after checkout. Install, choose “Activate this Mac”, enter the address you paid with.

Which apps does it work in?

Anywhere a cursor can sit: native apps, Safari, Chrome, Electron apps like Slack and VS Code, terminals.

Can I use Dictate on more than one Mac?

Yes. Activate each with the same email. The monthly allowance is shared.

What happens to my audio?

Sent over TLS, transcribed, discarded when the request completes. History keeps the text, never the recording.

Does it work offline?

Transcription needs a connection. Your subscription check is cached and signed, so a flaky network won’t lock the app.

Is local-only mode possible?

No, the current build is API-only. If local-first is a hard requirement, Superwhisper or MacWhisper are the honest picks.

Can I get a refund?

If you never used it, yes — email support@dictates.app. Once you’ve transcribed something, no.

Stop typing what you could say.

Hold a key, talk, let go.

Get Dictate — $8/month