Skip to content
Dictate
Get Dictate

Checkout unavailable

We couldn’t open checkout.

Still stuck? Email support@dictates.app.

Email support
How it worksPrivacyPricingFAQ Account

Compare

vs Wispr Flowvs Superwhispervs MacWhispervs Apple Dictation

What is actually free

Free dictation software for Mac

The short version: your Mac already has dictation, it is free, it is better than its reputation, and for a lot of people it is the end of the search. This page is sorted by what costs nothing, then by what each free option quietly costs you instead. Where a free tool wins

Updated
August 2, 2026
Covers
Six free or nearly free options
Read time
6 minutes

In this issue

The options, priced

Every entry below is free unless the listing says otherwise. The trade sits in the same sentence as the benefit, because that is where it actually sits when you use them.

01 · The lead

Apple Dictation

It is free, it ships with macOS, and it works in any app with a text field: Mail, Messages, Pages, Slack, a browser, a note. On Apple silicon, supported languages can be processed on the device itself, which means it can keep working with no connection at all. Nothing else on this page does all of that.

It is also good at the thing people actually do most: a sentence, a reply, a search box, an address. If that is your dictation, stop reading here. You have the tool.

Where it stops is longer work, and it stops in four specific places. It ends after about 30 seconds without speech and there is no duration setting, so thinking mid-paragraph closes the session. Automatic punctuation exists but is hit and miss, so you spend the time you saved putting commas back. There is no custom dictionary, so a name or a product term it has never seen stays wrong every time (custom vocabulary on a Mac is a Voice Control feature, which is a different system feature). And standard keyboard Dictation is unavailable while Voice Control is switched on, so the two cannot share a workflow.

Choose it if you dictate in bursts, or if free is the requirement.

Free · Is Apple Dictation good enough?

Turn it on

System Settings Keyboard Dictation

Then press the shortcut and talk. Setup, in full, is how to dictate on a Mac.

02

Google Docs voice typing

Free, and it does not cut you off after a silence the way Apple Dictation does, which makes it a strong free option for writing something long in one sitting. It listens only while the Docs tab is focused, so switching tabs or apps ends the session. Voice typing has been in Docs since 2015, and Google has supported it in desktop Chrome, Edge and Safari since May 2024.

The catch is the boundary. It works inside a Google Doc and nowhere else, so the reply, the terminal, the ticket, and the chat box are all somewhere you have to paste into.

Choose it if your writing already happens in Docs.

Free · Dictating in Google Docs

03

Microsoft Word Dictate

It belongs on the list because people find it and assume it is included. Word's Dictate button requires a Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection, so it is part of a paid plan rather than part of the Mac.

If you already pay for 365 it costs nothing extra and is a reasonable way to draft a document. If you do not, this is the option that looks free and is not.

Choose it if 365 is already on the company card.

Needs 365 · Dictating in Word without 365

04

Whisper at the command line

Genuinely free and genuinely good. OpenAI released the code and the weights, whisper.cpp builds natively on Apple silicon, and once it runs, the audio never leaves your Mac. There is no subscription and no per-minute cost, ever.

The cost is shape, not money. You install a toolchain, download model files separately, and then you have a program that transcribes an audio file. It is not a hotkey, and the text does not appear in the field you were typing in. OpenAI ships no desktop app.

Choose it if the terminal is home and audio must stay local.

Free · Whisper on a Mac, set up properly

05

Free tiers of paid apps

Several paid Mac dictation apps run a free plan with a word or minute allowance. They are real, and they are the cheapest way to feel what a hotkey-and-insert loop is like before paying anyone. Wispr Flow's free plan was 2,000 words a week when we checked in July 2026.

Allowances change without notice, so treat any number you read (including that one) as dated. The structural catch is that the meter is set by the company that wants you to upgrade, and it tends to run out on the days you talk most. Separately, VoiceInk is open source under the GPL and sells one-time licenses from about $25 as of mid-2026.

Choose one to try the loop, not to live in.

Free tier · The ranked list, with prices

The honest boundary

Where free stops being enough

Not “where free is bad”. Free is fine. These are the four moments where people who started with a free tool go looking for something else, and each one is a limit rather than a failure.

  1. You pause to think and the session ends.

    About 30 seconds of silence closes Apple Dictation, with no setting to extend it. Composing out loud means restarting constantly.

  2. The words have to land somewhere else.

    Google Docs voice typing and Whisper both produce text in one place. If your day is a chat box, a terminal, a ticket, and an editor, the copying is the work.

  3. It cannot learn a word.

    Apple Dictation has no custom dictionary, so a client name, a codebase, or a drug you say twenty times a day is wrong twenty times a day.

  4. The setup becomes a hobby.

    Local Whisper is free forever and asks for a toolchain, model files, and maintenance. That is a fair trade for some people and a non-starter for others.

If none of those four describe your week, the free answer is the right answer.

The paid option

What $8 a month buys

Dictate is our app.

It does one job the free options above do not do together: you hold a key, speak for as long as you like, release, and the text lands in whatever field the cursor was already in. Native apps, browsers, Electron apps, and terminals. Insertion goes through the macOS Accessibility API first, falls back to paste, and falls back to clipboard only as a last resort. There is no timeout to fight, because the recording ends when your finger comes up.

It also has the thing Apple Dictation does not: a glossary of your own terms, each with the ways you actually say them, so the names in your work come out spelled right. Setup is signing in. There is no model to download and no API key to paste.

The price is a flat $8 a month, monthly only, with no tiers and no word cap. There is no free plan, and nothing is transcribed before you subscribe. Unused subscriptions are refunded in full; once anything has been transcribed, that month is not refundable.

What it does not do: transcription runs on our servers over TLS and needs a network connection, so unlike Apple's on-device dictation and unlike local Whisper it does not work on a plane. Audio is discarded after transcription and history stores the text and its metadata, never recordings, but the audio does leave your Mac. It transcribes English only. It transcribes live speech only, never an audio file you already have. It is Mac only. And it is not free, which is the whole reason

Dictate vs Apple Dictation See how it installs

Dive deeper

The longer reads

FAQ

What is free, what only looks free, and where the line sits.

Is there genuinely free dictation software for a Mac?

Yes. Apple Dictation is built into macOS, costs nothing, and works in any app with a text field. Google Docs voice typing is free and unmetered inside Google Docs. Whisper is free and open source if you are comfortable at a command line.

Is Apple Dictation good enough on its own?

For short bursts it often is, and for a lot of people it is the end of the search. The limits show up in longer work: it stops after about 30 seconds without speech with no setting to change the timeout, automatic punctuation is hit and miss, and there is no custom dictionary for names or jargon.

Is the Dictate button in Microsoft Word free?

No. Word Dictate requires a Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection, so it comes with a paid plan rather than with the Mac. If you already pay for 365, it costs you nothing extra.

Can I use OpenAI Whisper for free on a Mac?

The code and the model weights are free, and whisper.cpp builds natively on Apple silicon. What it does is transcribe audio files from a terminal. It does not give you a hotkey, live microphone capture, or text that lands in the field you were typing in.

Are the free tiers of paid dictation apps worth using?

They are real, and they are metered. Wispr Flow was 2,000 words a week on its free plan when we checked in July 2026. Allowances move, so check the current number before you plan around one, and expect the meter to run out on the days you talk most.

Does free dictation work offline?

Apple Dictation can process supported languages on-device on Apple silicon, so it keeps working without a connection. Google Docs voice typing and Word Dictate need one. Locally run Whisper does not. Dictate needs a connection to transcribe; only its subscription check works offline.

Does Dictate have a free plan?

No. Dictate is $8 a month flat, monthly only, and nothing is transcribed before you subscribe. Unused subscriptions are refunded in full; once anything has been transcribed, that month is not refundable.

If free stopped being enough

$8 a month flat, monthly only. Hold a key, talk, release, and the sentence lands where you were already typing.

Subscribe · $8/month

Checkout unavailable

We couldn’t open checkout.

Still stuck? Email support@dictates.app.

Email support
Or check the free answer again