Dictate / Dragon for Mac alternative
A Dragon Dictate for Mac alternative, years after Dragon left the Mac
Nuance stopped selling Dragon for Mac on October 22, 2018. If you used it to type by voice, Dictate does that part on a current Apple Silicon Mac: hold a key, speak, release, and the text is at your cursor, transcribed on the Mac itself. We make Dictate, and we'll be clear about what it doesn't replace.
Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later
Side by side
As of October 2026, from Nuance's discontinuation notice and its current product pages.
| Dictate | Dragon Professional Individual for Mac 6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Can you buy it for Mac today | Yes | No, discontinued October 22, 2018 |
| Updates | Installed automatically | None since October 22, 2018 |
| Built for Apple Silicon | Yes, runs on the Neural Engine | No; it predates Apple Silicon |
| Voice commands and editing | No; dictation only | Yes |
| Price | $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription | No longer sold |
| Current Dragon | Mac (Apple Silicon) | Dragon Professional v16: Windows 10 and 11 only |
What happened to Dragon for Mac
Nuance sold Mac dictation for years, from Dragon Dictate for Mac to Dragon Professional Individual for Mac 6. On October 22, 2018 it announced that the Mac line was discontinued: no more sales, no more updates, and phone support only for a limited time after activation. Existing owners kept a perpetual licence. Nuance is now part of Microsoft, and the current Dragon Professional v16 runs on Windows 10 and 11 only. Running it on a Mac means running Windows in a virtual machine.
Why people look for a Dragon alternative on Mac
An old copy that no longer fits the Mac
Version 6 came out in 2016 and stopped receiving updates in 2018. Every Apple Silicon Mac arrived after that. Dictate is built for those Macs and their Neural Engine, and keeps itself up to date.
No training, no profile
Dragon kept a voice profile for each user. Dictate has no profile to create or train: it works the first time you hold the key. When it keeps misspelling a name, add a substitution once and it's fixed for good.
It stays on your Mac
Dictate does its recognition on your Mac, with no internet needed after the one-time model download. The recording is transcribed in memory and discarded. The only connections Dictate ever makes are on the privacy page.
When Dragon, or something else, is the better choice
- You need to control the computer by voice: open apps, click, select and correct text. On a Mac, Apple's Voice Control does this; Dictate doesn't.
- You depend on Dragon's specialised vocabularies and workflows, and can work on Windows.
- You dictate in a language outside Dictate's 21, or one written in a non-Latin script.
- You have an Intel Mac. Dictate needs Apple Silicon.
If what you miss is speaking instead of typing, in any app, Dictate covers that.
On a PC instead? See a Dragon alternative for Windows, where Dragon is still sold.
Free option first? See Apple Dictation vs Dictate, or compare every local speech to text app for Mac.
Questions
Is Dragon NaturallySpeaking available for Mac?
No. Nuance discontinued Dragon Professional Individual for Mac 6, its last Mac product, on October 22, 2018, and has not released a Mac version since. As of October 2026, Dragon Professional v16 runs on Windows 10 and 11 only.
Can I still use Dragon for Mac 6?
If you already own it, your licence is perpetual, but the software hasn't been updated since October 22, 2018. It predates Apple Silicon and today's macOS, so expect it to run poorly or not at all on a current Mac.
What is the best Dragon Dictate alternative for Mac?
It depends on what you used Dragon for. For typing by voice, Dictate, Apple Dictation and other local apps work well. For controlling the whole Mac hands-free, Apple's Voice Control in Accessibility settings is closer to what Dragon offered. We make Dictate, so weigh our view accordingly.
Does Dictate have voice commands like Dragon?
No. Dictate types what you say, with your own word substitutions applied; it doesn't open apps, select text or format by voice. If you need commands, use Apple's Voice Control.
Try dictation on a current Mac
Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later