Offline Dictation for Mac
Updated October 17, 2026
Hold Fn, speak, release. The text appears at your cursor in any app, and your voice never leaves your Mac.
Download for Mac5,000 words a week free, then $14 once. Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later.
Whisper Notes is an offline dictation app for Mac. Hold the Fn key in any app, speak, and let go: the words are typed where your cursor is. The speech model runs on your Mac, so dictation works without an internet connection and the audio is never uploaded. It costs $14 once, and the first 5,000 words every week are free.
We don't collect or upload any user information; fully offline.
How does it work?
Put the cursor in any text field: an email, a Slack message, a browser form, a code editor, Terminal. Hold Fn and talk. When you release the key, Whisper Notes transcribes what you said and types it at the cursor, with punctuation. If you would rather not hold a key, set a global shortcut instead: press it once to start and again to stop.
Three speech engines run on the Mac, and you choose one in Settings:
- Parakeet V3 is the default, built into the app, for English and 24 other European languages. Benchmark against Whisper.
- Whisper Large V3 Turbo covers 100+ languages. Full language list.
- SenseVoice is for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Cantonese. SenseVoice vs Whisper.
In our test on an M4 Pro, a 20-second dictation was typed out about 2.5 seconds after releasing the key. Names and technical terms the model gets wrong can go into Vocabulary in the sidebar, and the model uses them from then on.
How do I set it up?
- Download Whisper Notes for Mac from our website and open it.
- Allow the microphone when macOS asks.
- Allow Accessibility when asked. This is how Whisper Notes types into other apps; it does not log what you type.
- If you skipped that step, open Voice Typing in the left sidebar and turn on Enable voice typing.
- Click into any text field, hold Fn and speak.
What does it cost, and what do I need?
- 5,000 words a week free, with every model and feature. Then $14 once, no subscription. One license works on two Macs.
- A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14 or later.
- Voice typing is in the Mac app you download from this site. Apple's rules for Mac App Store apps don't allow an app to type into other apps, so the App Store version can't include it.
How does it compare with other Mac dictation apps?
All six type into any app. The differences are where the speech is processed, how you pay, and what else the app does.
| App | Where speech is processed | Price | Choose it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Dictation | On-device for many languages on Apple silicon | Free, built into macOS | You dictate short messages and don't want to install anything. |
| Superwhisper | Local models by default; some modes send audio or text to a cloud provider | Free tier; Pro $8.49/month, $84.99/year or $249.99 lifetime | Dictation is most of your day and you want modes that rewrite speech into an email or a commit message. Also on Windows and iOS. |
| VoiceInk | Local, on Apple silicon; source code on GitHub | $29 once (more for several Macs) | You want a dictation-only app and like being able to read its source. |
| MacWhisper | Local | Free tier includes dictation; Pro €64 once | Your main job is transcribing files (batch queues, watched folders, many export formats) and dictation is a side feature. |
| Wispr Flow | Cloud; needs an internet connection | 2,000 words a week free on Mac; Pro $15/month or $144/year | You want AI to rewrite and format what you say, or you work on Windows. |
| Whisper Notes | On your Mac, with no internet connection | 5,000 words a week free; $14 once | You want dictation that never leaves your Mac, at a one-time price, in the same app that records meetings and transcribes files. |
Prices are as listed on each vendor's own site when we last checked; check their sites for current pricing. Longer comparisons: Superwhisper, MacWhisper, Wispr Flow, and the best offline transcription apps for Mac and iPhone.
Questions
Which Mac dictation apps work offline?
Apple Dictation runs on-device for many languages on Apple silicon Macs. Whisper Notes, VoiceInk and MacWhisper run their speech models on the Mac. Superwhisper is local in some modes and uses a cloud provider in others. Wispr Flow processes speech on its servers, so it needs an internet connection.
Can I dictate into any app on my Mac?
Yes. Hold Fn in any text field, in Mail, Slack, a browser, a code editor or Terminal, speak, and release. Whisper Notes types the text at your cursor. macOS asks you to allow Accessibility once, because that is the permission an app needs to type into other apps.
Does Whisper Notes dictation work without internet?
Yes. Parakeet V3 is built into the app, and Whisper and SenseVoice download once from Settings. After that, dictation and transcription run on your Mac with no connection. We don't collect or upload any user information.
Is Whisper Notes a Whisper dictation app?
Yes. You can dictate with OpenAI's Whisper Large V3 Turbo, which covers 100+ languages, running on your Mac. The default engine is NVIDIA's Parakeet V3 for 25 European languages, and SenseVoice is there for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Cantonese.
How much does Whisper Notes cost on Mac?
5,000 words a week are free, with every model and feature. After that it is $14 once, with no subscription, and one license works on two Macs. Voice typing is in the Mac app you download from our website; Apple's rules don't allow it in the Mac App Store version.