Simple, private, offline dictation.
Hold a key, say what you'd have typed, let go: it's at your cursor in any app. No cloud, no subscription, no settings.
Private and secure, because your voice never leaves your computer.
On your phone? Email yourself the link and download it on your computer.
- SimpleOne key. That's the whole manual.Hold it, talk, let go. Nothing to set up or learn.
- PrivateYour voice stays on your computer.Transcribed here, never uploaded, never kept.
- OfflineTurn Wi-Fi off and try it.Plane, train, hotel network: it still works.
How it works
One key does everything. No window to open, no mode to switch.
Hold your key
Right Option by default, or any key you choose — Fn (🌐), F18 on a custom keyboard, a different key on each keyboard you plug in.
Speak naturally
A small waveform shows Dictate is listening. Pause, think, carry on — there is no time limit while you hold the key.
Release
The text is pasted at your cursor in whatever app you are in: mail, Slack, your editor, a terminal. It stays on the clipboard too.
What stays on your Mac
Everything you say. Dictate records, transcribes and inserts text entirely on your Mac, so it works on a plane, in a basement, or on a network you don't trust. Here is every time it touches the internet.
Details on the privacy page.
- dictation
Never. Audio and text stay on your Mac. Recordings aren't kept.
- first launch
Downloads the speech model (about 600 MB) from Hugging Face, once.
- daily
Checks for app updates. The request carries the app version, trial status and which kind of link you downloaded it from, so we can count installs — no audio, text or identifiers.
- license
Checked on your Mac. No server decides whether you may dictate. Buying happens in your browser.
Dictate compared
Published facts only, as of September 2026.
| Dictate | Apple Dictation | Wispr Flow | Superwhisper | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works offline | Yes | Yes, on Apple Silicon | No | Yes, with local models |
| Where speech is processed | On your Mac (Parakeet) | On-device on Apple Silicon for supported languages | Cloud — audio is sent to their servers | Local models, plus optional cloud models |
| Price | $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription | Free, built into macOS | $15/month, or $144/year | $8.49/month, $84.99/year, or $249.99 lifetime |
| Hold any key to talk | Yes, per keyboard | Shortcut to start and stop | Yes | Yes |
Competitor pricing from each vendor's pricing page, September 2026.
Switching? Read Dictate vs Wispr Flow, Dictate vs Superwhisper or Apple Dictation vs Dictate. All the on-device options: local speech to text on Mac; every alternative to Wispr Flow: eight compared.
Small on purpose
A menu bar icon, one settings window, and a key. That's the whole app.
- Per-keyboard keys
- Fn on the laptop, F18 on your split keyboard. Dictate switches as you plug in, and remembers each keyboard while it's unplugged.
- Substitutions
- Teach it the names and jargon it mishears once; it fixes them every time after.
- Language detection
- English, then Danish, then German. Parakeet notices; you don't change a setting.
- Fast from the first word
- ~90 ms to transcribe (median on an M1, our 20-clip English/Danish benchmark), warmed up at launch.
- Pauses what's playing
- Spotify, a YouTube tab or a web podcast pauses while you talk and plays again after. Nothing you'd paused yourself starts.
- Updates itself
- Signed, notarized updates install in the background. Install once.
21 languages, detected automatically
Latin-script European languages supported by NVIDIA Parakeet TDT v3. Switch between them from one sentence to the next.
- English
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- Estonian
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Hungarian
- Italian
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Maltese
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Slovak
- Slovenian
- Spanish
- Swedish
Questions
Something missing? The privacy page covers every connection the app makes.
Does Dictate work offline?
Yes. After a one-time download of the speech model (about 600 MB), dictation works with no internet connection at all. Your audio is recorded, transcribed and turned into text on your Mac, and never leaves it.
How can I check that nothing is sent over the internet?
Turn Wi-Fi off and dictate — it works exactly the same. If you run a network monitor such as Little Snitch or LuLu, you will see that Dictate makes no connections while you dictate. The only connections it ever makes are listed on the privacy page: the model download and a daily update check.
What dictation apps work offline on a Mac?
Apple's built-in Dictation works on-device on Apple Silicon Macs for supported languages, and several third-party apps run their speech model locally: Dictate, Superwhisper (with its local models), VoiceInk and others. Cloud tools such as Wispr Flow need an internet connection. We make Dictate, so weigh our view accordingly — the comparison below sticks to published facts.
How is Dictate different from Apple Dictation?
Both can run on-device. Dictate is built for holding a key while you talk: any key can be the activation key, each keyboard can have its own, releasing the key inserts the text, and word substitutions fix names and jargon the model keeps getting wrong (for example "cooper netties" → "Kubernetes"). It uses NVIDIA's Parakeet model, which detects which of its 21 languages you are speaking without switching settings.
Which languages does Dictate support?
21 European languages: English, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish. The language is detected automatically, so you can dictate in English and then in Danish without changing anything.
Which Macs does it run on?
Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, with current updates installed. The speech model runs on the Neural Engine, which Intel Macs don't have.
Is Dictate available for Windows?
Yes. Dictate for Windows is in the Microsoft Store as “Offline Dictation” (the name “Dictate” was taken there), for Windows 10 22H2 or Windows 11 (x64). It transcribes on your PC, offline, and the same licence key works on your Mac and your PC. More about Dictate for Windows.
How much does Dictate cost?
Dictate costs $49, once — no subscription. One license covers every future update, for life, on all your computers. You can try it free for 7 days first, with every feature.
How does the free trial work?
You get 7 days free from the moment you first open Dictate, with every feature included. When it ends, dictation stops until you enter a license key; your settings stay as they are.
Does the license check go online?
No. Your license key is checked on your Mac, so Dictate never contacts a server to decide whether you may dictate. After you buy, the confirmation page has an Activate in Dictate button; you can also paste the key into Dictate yourself.
What if I lose my license key?
Email support@offlinedictation.app from the address you bought with, and we'll send it again. Your key is also on the page you saw after buying, which shows the same key every time you open it.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up, no account and no tracking. Download it, grant microphone and accessibility access, and start talking.
Mac or Windows
Same app, same rules: speech stays on your computer. One licence covers both.
Dictate for Mac
Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Download the app, open it, and it fetches its speech model once. Updates install themselves.
v1.12.2 · Hold Right Option, or any key you choose
Dictate for Windows
Windows 10 (22H2) or 11 · 64-bit PC. From the Microsoft Store, listed as “Offline Dictation”. The speech model comes with the app, so it works offline from the first launch.
v1.0.2 · Hold Right Ctrl, or any key you choose
One price on both: 7 days free, then $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription. Your key works on your Mac and your PC; buy once.
Try it on your next email
7 days free, then $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription. Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later.