Dictate / Typeless vs Dictate
A Typeless alternative that transcribes on your Mac
Typeless is cloud dictation with a careful privacy policy and apps everywhere. Dictate keeps the whole job on your Mac: hold a key, speak, release, and the text is at your cursor. One price, once. We make Dictate; here are both products' published facts.
Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later
Side by side
As of October 2026, from each product's pricing and privacy pages.
| Dictate | Typeless | |
|---|---|---|
| Where speech is processed | On your Mac (NVIDIA Parakeet, Neural Engine) | Cloud — audio is processed on their servers, then discarded |
| Works without internet | Yes | No |
| Price | $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription | Pro $12/month yearly, or $30 monthly; free tier with a limited number of words per week |
| Languages | 21 European, auto-detected | 100+ |
| Platforms | Mac (Apple Silicon) | Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android |
Why people look for a Typeless alternative
Private is not the same as on-device
Typeless promises zero cloud data retention, and its policy says recordings are discarded after transcription. That's a real commitment. It still means every sentence leaves your Mac to be transcribed. Some people read "On device" on the pricing page as on-device processing; it describes where history lives. Dictate's audio never leaves the Mac, which you can check with Wi-Fi off.
It needs the connection
Cloud transcription stops when the network does: in the air, in a tunnel, on a captive portal. Dictate behaves the same offline as online.
The subscription adds up
At $144 a year, Typeless Pro costs $432 over three years. A Dictate key is $49 once and covers every future update, for life, on all your computers.
When Typeless is the better choice
- You dictate on Windows, Linux, iPhone or Android as well as a Mac.
- You speak a language outside Dictate's 21, or one written in a non-Latin script.
- Your team needs shared billing and usage analytics, or HIPAA controls on an enterprise plan.
- You're comfortable with cloud processing under a no-retention policy.
- You have an Intel Mac. Dictate needs Apple Silicon.
If you'd rather your voice never left the Mac, Dictate is built for exactly that.
Comparing other cloud tools? See Dictate vs Wispr Flow. For apps that only work on-device, see local speech to text on Mac.
Questions
Does Typeless process voice on device?
No. Typeless's privacy policy says your voice audio is processed in real time on its cloud servers and discarded once the result is returned. The "On device" label on its pricing page refers to where your history is kept. Dictate transcribes on your Mac.
Does Typeless work offline?
No, not for transcription, because the audio is processed on Typeless's servers. Dictate works with no internet connection after a one-time model download of about 600 MB.
Is Dictate cheaper than Typeless?
Yes. As of October 2026 Typeless Pro costs Pro $12/month yearly, or $30 monthly, which is $432 over three years on the yearly plan. Dictate is $49 once.
Does Typeless store my recordings?
Typeless says it doesn't. Its privacy policy states that no voice recordings are stored on its servers, and its pricing page says your data is never used for training. Dictate never sends a recording anywhere, so the question doesn't arise.