Health and everyday life4 picks
The best dictation apps for Mac and iPhone
Wispr Flow is the dictation app most Mac and iPhone users should try, and Handy is the best free one.
Wispr FlowPick it if you dictate long emails and Slack replies every day on both your Mac and iPhone.Free to startWispr Flow cleans up your speech as you talk, cutting filler words in any app on Mac and iPhone, free for 2,000 words a week on the Mac. Handy is free and open source and transcribes offline in any app. Superwhisper suits people who want local models with no word cap, and MacWhisper is for transcribing recordings, not live typing.
How we chose
- 1Cleans up filler words as you talk
- 2Offline models that keep audio private
- 3Works in every app, not just 1
Compare at a glance
Tap a name to jump to its write-up.
| App | Price | How you pay | Mac | iPhone | iPad | App Store | Developer | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wispr Flow | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.8 | |||||
 Superwhisper | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | Too few ratings | |||||
 Handy | Free, open source | Free | Too few ratings | |||||
 MacWhisper | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | Too few ratings |
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The picks, in order
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Pick it if you dictate long emails and Slack replies every day on both your Mac and iPhone.
Talk into any text field on your Mac or iPhone and get clean, punctuated text back, with filler words dropped and your mid-sentence corrections fixed. It learns names and jargon, adjusts tone for email versus chat and hears you even at a whisper. The free 2,000 words a week runs out fast for heavy writers, and Superwhisper is the better pick if you want dictation on free local models.
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Pick this if you want to choose between offline and cloud models and never hit a weekly word cap.
Talk into whatever app is open on your Mac, and custom modes reshape your words so a rambling thought comes out as a tidy email or a short message. The free plan already runs local Whisper models offline with no word limit, in more than 100 languages. Pro at $8.49 a month adds cloud models and file transcription, and if you mostly transcribe recordings rather than dictate, MacWhisper's one-time license fits better.
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Pick it if you want hold-to-talk dictation in any Mac app at no cost, with audio kept offline.
Free and open source, Handy does push-to-talk dictation into any app using Whisper or Parakeet models that run fully offline, so your voice never leaves your computer. Wispr Flow and Superwhisper charge a subscription for their best features, and Handy also runs on Windows and Linux. It only does live dictation, so for transcribing recorded audio or meetings MacWhisper is the better fit.
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Pick this if you need transcripts of recorded interviews or lectures rather than typing by voice.
Apple's built-in dictation types what you say, but it can't turn a 2-hour interview file or a Zoom call into a transcript; MacWhisper does both on your Mac without uploading the audio. The free version already handles files, call recordings and subtitle exports. Pro is a one-time €65, charged in euros, and it is worth it mainly for automatic speaker labels and batch transcription.
Head to head
Stuck between 2 of these? Each comparison lines up price, devices and who should pick which.
- Wispr Flow vs SuperwhisperPick this if you want to choose between offline and cloud models and never hit a weekly word cap.
- Wispr Flow vs HandyPick it if you want hold-to-talk dictation in any Mac app at no cost, with audio kept offline.
- Wispr Flow vs MacWhisperPick this if you need transcripts of recorded interviews or lectures rather than typing by voice.
- Superwhisper vs HandyPick it if you want hold-to-talk dictation in any Mac app at no cost, with audio kept offline.
