In a sense, 2025 was the year that AI dictation apps really took off. Dictation apps have been around for years, but until now they’ve proven time-consuming and inaccurate unless you pronounce them clearly with a specific accent.
However, advances in large-scale language models (LLMs) and speech-to-text models have improved systems that can better decode speech while preserving context to format text. The developers also included features that automatically format text, remove fillers, and ignore fumbles to output text that requires less editing.
But with the popularity of AI-for-all things skyrocketing, there are dozens of such apps on the market. That’s why we’ve compiled a selection of the best and most useful dictation apps of the year.
Wispr Flow is a deep-funded AI dictation app that lets you add custom words and instructions for dictation. We have native apps for MacOS, Windows, and iOS, and an Android version is in the works.
The app allows you to customize how the system transcribes your notes by allowing you to choose between “formal,” “casual,” and “very casual” styles for different types of writing, including personal messaging, work, and email. Additionally, when used with Vibe coding tools like Cursor, you can turn on the ability to automatically recognize variables and tag files in your chats.
With this app, you can take notes for free up to 2,000 words per month on any desktop version and 1,000 words per month on iOS. Its subscription plans offer unlimited transcription and start at $15 per month.
Willow touts it as a huge time saver for people who hate typing. In addition to common features like auto-editing and formatting, the app has the ability to utilize a large-scale language model to generate complete text from just a few dictated words.
Willow also takes privacy more seriously with its AI-assisted note-taking by storing all transcripts locally on your device, and you can also opt out of training the model. You can also add custom vocabulary to your app to adapt it to industry jargon or local dialects.
With Willow, you can dictate 2,000 words per month for free on our desktop app. Individual subscription plans start at $15 per month and allow unlimited dictation, allowing the app to remember your writing style.
If privacy is important to you, Monologue lets you download models so you can run them on your device for transcription and avoid sending your data to the cloud. Additionally, this app allows you to customize the tone of your voice depending on the app you use.
Monologue lets you write down 1,000 words every month for free. Subscription fees are $10 per month or $100 per year. And if you become one of the app’s top users, the company will also send you this funky Monokey to use with the app.
Superwisper is primarily a dictation app, but it can also transcribe from audio and video files. The app allows you to freely choose and download AI models, including proprietary models with varying speeds and accuracy, as well as NVIDIA’s Parakeet speech recognition model.
The app also allows you to create custom prompts to control output. Easily view both processed and unprocessed transcripts integrated into the system keyboard.
Basic speech-to-text features are free to use, and you can try Pro features like translation and transcription for 15 minutes. The paid tier allows you to use your own AI API key and plug in cloud and local models with no limits.
You can also pay $8.49 per month for a monthly plan, $84.99 per month for an annual plan, or $249.99 for a lifetime subscription.
The app takes an offline-first, subscription-free approach and uses a local model for transcription. There’s also a GitHub repository for those who want to host and run the open source version themselves. VoiceTypr supports over 99 languages and works on both Mac and Windows.
You can try VoiceTypr for free for 3 days, after which you can purchase a permanent license. The app costs $35 for one device, $56 for two, and $98 for four.
Aqua is another voice input client for Windows and MacOS that Y-Combinator supports, and it claims to be one of the fastest tools in its category in terms of latency.
In addition to handling grammar and punctuation, Aqua can also autofill text by saying phrases. For example, you can have Aqua enter your address by saying “My address.”
This app also provides its own speech-to-text API for other apps.
With the free tier, you get 1,000 words per month. Paid plans start at $8 per month (billed annually) and unlock unlimited words and 800 custom dictionary values.
Handy is a free, open-source transcription tool that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. This application is very basic and doesn’t allow for a lot of customization, but if you want to start using voice more and don’t want to pay for it, this is a good option.
The app has a basic settings menu where you can toggle push-to-talk and change hotkeys to enable transcription.
Typeless is another app in this category with a large number of free words. The company claims that it does not retain the data or use it to train models. Typeless also suggests better versions of sentences if you might have made a mistake on a line.
The app allows you to dictate up to 4,000 words per week (approximately 16,000 words per month) on the free tier. Pay $12 per month (billed annually) to unlock unlimited words and access new features. Typeless is available only on Windows and MacOS.
