AI dictation apps compared: prices, models and privacy

If you dictate a sentence or two at a time, even a couple of hundred times a day, paying per use for AI dictation costs a few dollars a month, less than any of the paid subscriptions compared here. Wispr Flow, Aqua Voice and Willow Voice charge $12 to $15 a month for unlimited dictation. Superwhisper and VoiceInk can run speech models on your own Mac for free or for a one-off price. Apple and Windows include dictation at no cost, and Windows adds AI clean-up only on English-language Copilot+ PCs.

We make PeakFlow, which includes AI dictation sold at cost, so it is in this list. Every price and claim below comes from the company's own pricing page, help centre or privacy policy, linked at the end. Where a company doesn't publish something, we say so rather than guess. Prices are as shown on each company's site, before any tax. Most show dollars without naming the currency, and MacWhisper prices in euros.

The short comparison

What a month of dictation costs

Most of these apps charge a flat monthly fee for unlimited words, so the cheapest choice depends on how much you dictate. Most dictation is short: a sentence or two, about 25 words, which takes around 10 seconds to say. This table counts dictations each workday, over 22 workdays a month.

The subscriptions cost the same however little you dictate:

The lower figure in each range is the yearly plan, which you pay for 12 months up front. At 200 short dictations a workday, about 5,000 words, PeakFlow costs US$4.91 a month. The subscriptions only cost less if you dictate far more: about 290 times every workday for Superwhisper's yearly plan ($84.99, about $7.08 a month), about 350 for its monthly plan, about 410 and 490 for the $10 and $12 yearly plans, and about 610 for the $15 monthly plans. A quiet month costs almost nothing because unused credit carries over.

PeakFlow's price is OpenAI's charge for gpt-transcribe, US$0.0045 a minute, plus the card fee on your top-up and the cost of the server that passes your audio to OpenAI. You pay US$0.0057 a minute, billed by the second, and we don't add a profit margin. The per-dictation figures are our estimate: they assume about a second of holding the key around each 10-second dictation, plus the optional clean-up, which adds well under a tenth of a cent each time.

Which speech model is most accurate?

Most subscription apps don't say which speech model they use. Artificial Analysis runs an independent test that counts the share of words each model gets wrong (word error rate). Lower is better. These figures were on its leaderboard on 25 October 2026:

Three things limit what this table tells you. It tests the models, not the finished apps, and an app's clean-up step can fix or add errors. The same Whisper model scored between 4.1% and 10.1% depending on who ran it. And Wispr Flow, Aqua Voice's Avalon, Willow's Frontier models and Typeless aren't in the test, so their accuracy can't be compared this way. Local Whisper models on a Mac come from the same family as the Whisper rows, often in smaller sizes this test didn't measure.

The apps, one by one

Wispr Flow

Wispr Flow types into any app on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. It removes fillers, applies spoken corrections such as "no wait", formats lists and emails, and uses what's on screen and a personal dictionary to spell names. Free use is 2,000 words a week on desktop. Pro is $15 a month or $12 a month billed yearly; Growth is $23 a month. Audio goes to Wispr's servers. With cloud storage off it is discarded after transcription, and you can opt out of model training. Wispr claims SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and offers HIPAA with a signed agreement. When you cancel, Pro runs to the end of the period and then drops back to the free plan.

Superwhisper

Superwhisper has the most generous free plan: unlimited dictation with speech models that run on your own device, plus 3,000 words of Pro to try. Pro costs $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year or $249.99 once, and adds cloud models, AI modes that remove fillers and fix grammar, and the option to use your own API key. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. Local models keep your audio on the device. Superwhisper says its cloud processing happens in memory without storing audio or transcripts, and it doesn't train on your data.

Aqua Voice

Aqua Voice runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android and pastes text at your cursor. It uses its own Avalon 1.5 speech model in the cloud. You get 1,000 free words to start. Pro is $12 a month, or $10 billed yearly, for unlimited words; Max at $24 a month adds a live mode and voice commands such as "send it". Privacy Mode stops it collecting transcripts; with it off, transcripts may be kept to improve the product. Aqua reports SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA compliance.

Willow Voice

Willow's free plan gives unlimited dictation with its smaller Frontier Mini model and 20 uses a week of its writing feature. Pro is $15 a month or $12 billed yearly. It removes fillers, adds punctuation and changes tone for each app. It runs on Mac, Windows and iPhone, with cloud servers in the US and an offline mode. Privacy Mode is on by default, so audio is discarded after transcription. Willow claims SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA support.

Typeless

Typeless is the only app here that lists Linux alongside Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. It removes fillers, follows spoken corrections and changes tone. Pro is $30 month to month or $12 a month billed yearly, the widest gap between the two prices in this list. Audio is processed in the cloud and then discarded, and history stays on your device unless you turn on sync.

PeakFlow AI Dictation

PeakFlow is a set of small tools for Mac and Windows, and AI dictation is one of them. Hold a key, talk and let go, and the text is typed where your cursor is. It sends your audio to OpenAI's gpt-transcribe, then a light clean-up removes um and uh, adds punctuation and applies corrections such as "no wait". If the clean-up drops a "not", a number or a word from your My words list, your raw words are typed instead, unless you corrected yourself. You buy US$5, US$10 or US$20 of credit, which is used by the second at US$0.0057 a minute, about a tenth of a cent for a sentence or two, and never expires. You can also use your own OpenAI key and pay OpenAI directly.

It has limits the subscription apps don't. There are no free words, no iPhone or Android app and no offline mode, and it doesn't change tone per app. A clip can be up to 10 minutes and you can dictate up to 3 hours a day. PeakFlow's server doesn't save your audio; it passes each clip to OpenAI and records the seconds used. The app keeps the last clip for 30 minutes so you can send it again if it fails. On a Mac, up to 400 characters of text before your cursor go with the audio to help with spelling, and when clean-up is on, the transcript and the name of the app you're typing in go to OpenAI too.

MacWhisper

MacWhisper is a Mac app best known for transcribing files with Whisper on your own computer. The version downloaded from its website can also dictate into other apps; the Mac App Store version can't. Pro is €64 once, with lifetime updates. Optional cloud transcription and AI tidy-up can use other services, including your own API key. Its site doesn't say how long cloud audio is kept.

VoiceInk

VoiceInk is a one-off purchase for Mac: $25 for one Mac, $39 for two or $49 for three, after a 7-day trial. It runs speech models such as Parakeet and Whisper on the Mac by default, and can remove fillers and tidy text. On the Mac it pastes at your cursor; on iPhone it copies the text for you to paste. Cloud transcription is optional and goes to the provider you choose.

Apple Dictation

Dictation is built into macOS and iOS at no extra cost. It adds punctuation automatically in supported languages and takes spoken commands for punctuation, new lines and emoji. Many languages run on the device; your Keyboard settings show whether audio is processed on the Mac or sent to Apple. Apple says server-processed dictation isn't stored unless you turn on Improve Siri and Dictation. Apple doesn't say it removes fillers or rewrites what you said, and on a Mac it stops after 30 seconds of silence.

Windows voice typing and Voice Access

Press Windows key + H to dictate into any text box. Voice typing uses Microsoft's Azure Speech service, so it needs the internet and sends your voice to Microsoft. On English-language Copilot+ PCs, Fluid dictation tidies grammar, punctuation and fillers with a small model on the PC. Voice Access, in Windows 11 22H2 and later, works offline after setup and also controls apps by voice.

Dragon

Dragon Professional v16 is still sold for Windows desktops. Nuance doesn't list a price; one authorised retailer sells it for $699.99. It runs on the PC, learns your voice and supports custom words and voice macros. Dragon Anywhere, the phone app, stopped taking new subscriptions and renewals on 1 July 2026, according to Nuance's App Store notes. A Nuance partner reports that Dragon Professional Anywhere, the cloud version, ends sales on 31 December 2026.

Otter.ai and Google Docs voice typing

Neither types into other apps. Otter.ai transcribes meetings. Google Docs voice typing works in Docs and in Slides speaker notes, in Chrome, Edge and Safari, at no extra cost.

Where your audio goes

If audio must not leave your computer, use a local model: Superwhisper's free plan, VoiceInk, MacWhisper, or Windows Voice Access.

Does dictation credit expire?

With the subscription apps there is no credit to expire. You pay each month or year, and a month you don't use is still paid for. Wispr Flow, Superwhisper and Willow say a cancelled plan runs to the end of the paid period, then drops to the free plan or stops.

PeakFlow works the other way round. You buy credit once and it stays in your account until you use it. A month off costs nothing, and US$5 covers over 100,000 words whenever you get to them.

Which one should you pick?

• You dictate in short bursts, even a couple of hundred times a workday, on a Mac or Windows PC: PeakFlow costs a few dollars a month, less than every subscription here, and almost nothing in quiet months.
• You talk all day, or want dictation on your phone too: Wispr Flow, Aqua Voice or Willow, on a yearly plan.
• Your audio must stay on your computer: Superwhisper's free plan or VoiceInk on a Mac, Voice Access on Windows.
• You want to pay once: VoiceInk from $25, MacWhisper Pro at €64, or Superwhisper Lifetime at $249.99.
• You need a HIPAA agreement: Wispr Flow, Aqua Voice, Willow, Superwhisper or Dragon, after checking the agreement covers your plan.
• You only dictate now and then: try Apple Dictation or Windows key + H first.

Questions

Sources, checked 25 October 2026

• Wispr Flow: pricing
• Wispr Flow: privacy policy
• Wispr Flow: Why Flow
• Wispr Flow: data controls
• Wispr Flow: Cancel a subscription
• Superwhisper: subscription plans
• Superwhisper: voice models
• Superwhisper: built-in modes
• Superwhisper: getting started
• Superwhisper: privacy policy
• Superwhisper: security and compliance
• Superwhisper: manage your subscription
• MacWhisper: product overview
• MacWhisper: Whisper Transcription on the App Store
• MacWhisper: Direct download and App Store differences
• MacWhisper: How to use dictation
• Aqua Voice: pricing
• Aqua Voice: Frequently asked questions
• Aqua Voice: product overview
• Aqua Voice: privacy policy
• Aqua Voice: terms of service
• Apple: Dictation on Mac
• Apple: Dictation on iPhone
• Apple: Siri and Dictation privacy
• Apple: Improve Siri and Dictation
• Microsoft: Use voice typing
• Microsoft: Speech, voice activation, inking, typing and privacy
• Microsoft: Set up Voice Access
• Nuance: Dragon Professional
• Dictation Store: Dragon Professional v16
• Nuance: Dragon data settings
• Thax (Nuance partner): Dragon Anywhere end of sale
• Nuance: Dragon Professional Anywhere
• Nuance: Dragon Professional Anywhere release notes
• Nuance: Dragon Anywhere on the App Store
• Nuance: Dragon Anywhere mobile app
• VoiceInk: license management
• VoiceInk: VoiceInk for iPhone
• VoiceInk: product overview
• VoiceInk: privacy policy
• VoiceInk: recommended speech models
• VoiceInk: getting started
• VoiceInk: Quick Dictation
• Willow Voice: pricing
• Willow Voice: security
• Willow Voice: dictation features
• Willow Voice: product overview
• Otter.ai: pricing
• Otter.ai: Best speech-to-text app
• Google Docs: Google Docs overview
• Google Docs: Type with your voice
• Typeless: pricing
• Typeless: data controls
• Typeless: product overview
• Typeless: privacy policy
• Typeless: terms of service
• OpenAI: API pricing
• OpenAI: Whisper model
• Artificial Analysis: speech-to-text leaderboard
• Artificial Analysis: speech-to-text methodology
• MacWhisper: MacWhisper purchase and pricing