Speech to text on Mac: the options, honestly compared
macOS has free dictation built in. A handful of apps do it better for long-form text. I built one of them, so take the comparison with that in mind โ prices below come from each vendorโs own page.
Interface animation; timings from a real run on a MacBook Air M1.
Built-in macOS Dictation
- System Settings โ Keyboard โ turn on Dictation and pick languages.
- Choose a shortcut โ by default press ๐ fn twice, or the microphone key.
- Put the cursor anywhere and speak. It adds punctuation automatically.
Good for short messages. For long text it keeps filler words and false starts, has no custom vocabulary, and canโt apply a style.
Hold-a-key dictation apps
| App | Engine | Price | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wispr Flow | Cloud | $12โ15 / month | 2,000 words / week |
| Aqua Voice | Cloud | $8โ10 / month | 1,000 words |
| Superwhisper | Local + cloud | $8.49 / month, $249.99 lifetime | Local models |
| VoiceInk | Local (Apple Silicon) | $25 once | Trial |
| Vox | Cloud (Whisper large-v3-turbo on Groq) + cleanup model | $18โ29 once | 7 days or 30 dictations |
Prices from official pricing pages, 17 Oct 2026.
When to pick what
- Need offline or maximum privacy: a local-model app (VoiceInk, Superwhisper local).
- Windows and iPhone too: Wispr Flow.
- Mac only, want cloud speed and accuracy without a subscription: Vox. About 0.5 s to transcribe and 0.6 s to clean up, measured on an M1 Air. Strong in English and Russian, including mixed sentences.
What Vox doesnโt do
- No offline mode, no Windows or iOS.
- Not notarised by Apple yet โ macOS asks you to confirm the first launch once in Privacy & Security.
- No voice commands for editing existing text.
Try Vox free for 7 days
Hold fn, speak, and punctuated text lands in any app. No card, no signup.
FAQ
Is there free speech to text on Mac?
Yes โ macOS Dictation in System Settings โ Keyboard. It is free and works in any text field.
Does Vox work on Intel Macs?
Yes. It needs macOS 15 or later; Apple Silicon or Intel.
Is my audio stored?
Audio is sent to Groq for transcription. On the key-included plan it passes through our relay, which counts minutes and does not store audio.
Updated 2026-10-17.