A local Wispr Flow alternative for Mac
Wispr Flow is a really good dictation app. It turns your speech into text on its servers, and Pro is a subscription.
I wanted fast, simple and robust dictation that runs on my Mac without sending data to the cloud. Local transcription on Apple silicon is so good now that there's simply no need to. So I made Dictate: your audio stays on your Mac.
Dictate next to Wispr Flow
| Dictate | Wispr Flow | |
|---|---|---|
| Your audio goes to | Your Mac | Wispr's servers |
| Price | Free forever for the first 50 early access users. After early access, a regular lifetime license is $49. | Free with a weekly word limit, or Pro at $15 a month or $144 a year |
| Online calls, no bot | Yes | Yes, with Notetaker |
| Your agents can read it | Yes: dictations and calls on your Mac | Yes: meetings through Wispr's servers |
| Works on | Apple silicon Macs with macOS 15 or later | Mac, Windows and phones |
Wispr Flow's column comes from its pricing, privacy, Notetaker and MCP pages, as of 13 November 2026.
What it does
- Press Option ` and talk, and your words appear as you go. Press it again and the text lands where you were writing, in any app.
- Add the names it gets wrong as key terms, spelled your way.
- Every dictation and call is in History, searchable.
- It transcribes your online calls too, with your side and the call kept apart. No bot joins.
- Claude Code or any MCP client can search your dictations and calls, through a server on your Mac.
Other apps that keep your audio on your Mac
Local apps like Handy, OpenSuperWhisper, VoiceInk and MacWhisper are already great, and nothing you say leaves your Mac with them either. Handy and OpenSuperWhisper are free, and they're my all-time favorites. I've learned a lot from them.
Using them, I ran into a few things. Sometimes I'd talk and the mic was off, so Dictate shows a level meter and your words as you talk. Sometimes I'd hit Escape by accident and lose what I'd said, so only Dictate's own shortcut stops a recording. And I wanted my online calls in the same app.
One thing I want to do next is measure its quality against the cloud apps and the other local apps.