Dictate / Local speech to text on Mac
Local speech to text on Mac: five apps that run on-device
Apps that turn your voice into text on the Mac itself, with no audio leaving it. Compared on what can be checked, with the free one included. We make one of them.
Facts as of September 2026, from each vendor's own pages.
At a glance
| Dictate | Apple Dictation | Handy | VoiceInk | Superwhisper | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fully on-device | Yes | Partly: about 40 languages | Yes | Yes, cloud models optional | Yes, cloud models optional |
| Price | $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription | Free, built into macOS | Free, open source | $25 once for one Mac ($39 for two, $49 for three) | $8.49/month, $84.99/year, or $249.99 lifetime |
| Hold a key to talk | Yes, per keyboard | Shortcut to start and stop | Yes, or toggle | Yes | Yes |
| Languages | 21 European, auto-detected | 56 locales | Depends on model | Depends on model | 100+ |
| Setup | One model, one key | Built in | Pick a model and shortcut | Pick a model | Pick models and modes |
| Platforms | Mac (Apple Silicon) | Mac | Mac, Windows, Linux | Mac (Apple Silicon, macOS 14.4 or later) | Mac, iPhone |
Competitor facts from each vendor's pages, September 2026. Tell us if one is out of date: support@offlinedictation.app.
How to pick
You want it free
Apple Dictation if your language is on Apple's on-device list; Handy if you'd rather have an open-source app and don't mind choosing a model. Both do the job.
You want to hold a key and forget the rest
Dictate. Hold a key, speak, release; the text is at your cursor. It detects which of 21 European languages you're speaking, learns your substitutions, and makes no connections while you dictate. $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription.
You want to tune models and modes
Superwhisper has the most knobs, including per-app modes and optional cloud models. VoiceInk sits between: local by default, a few model choices, one-time price per Mac.
You dictate in Greek, Russian, Japanese or Chinese
Not Dictate; it covers Latin-script European languages only. Apple Dictation or a Whisper-based app will serve you better.
How to check an app is really local
- Turn Wi-Fi off and unplug Ethernet.
- Dictate a sentence. If text appears, that transcription happened on your Mac.
- For the long version, run a network monitor such as Little Snitch or LuLu while you dictate and watch for outbound connections. Dictate's are listed on its privacy page; there are none during dictation.
Some apps store history locally but transcribe in the cloud. The Wi-Fi test tells those apart. More on the distinction in what on-device dictation means.
Comparing one on one? Apple Dictation vs Dictate · Superwhisper vs Dictate · Wispr Flow vs Dictate.
Questions
What is the best local speech to text app for Mac?
It depends on what you want to pay and configure. Handy is free and open source; Apple Dictation is built in for supported languages; VoiceInk, Dictate and Superwhisper are paid apps that run their models on your Mac. We make Dictate, so weigh our view accordingly: it is the one to try if you want hold-to-talk with nothing to configure and a one-time price.
Is local speech to text as accurate as cloud?
For dictation in a major language on an Apple Silicon Mac, yes in practice. The models these apps run (NVIDIA Parakeet, OpenAI Whisper) are the same families the cloud services started from, and the Neural Engine runs them in well under a second for a sentence. Cloud services still lead for rare languages and for AI rewriting.
Does local speech to text need an internet connection?
Only once, to download the model. After that, every app in this list transcribes with the network off. Dictate's model is about 600 MB.
Why pay for Dictate when Handy is free?
Handy is a good choice if you like setting things up. Dictate is for people who want one key that works on every keyboard, language detection with no setting, word substitutions, signed updates that install themselves, and someone to email. $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription; try it 7 days free first.
Try the simplest one
Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later