Wispr Flow is the default answer to “which dictation app” and for a lot of people it’s the right one. But it’s not the only one, and the reasons people go looking elsewhere tend to be the same four: price, privacy, platform, or what it does in AI apps. Here’s where to look for each.
Speaky Box
Ours, so weigh accordingly. Mac only. Two keys: Dictate for your words tidied, Smart for app-aware writing that turns a ramble into a structured prompt in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, an email in Mail, a message in Slack. Free for 2,000 words a week with no card, £8.99 a month for unlimited. History on your Mac.
Pick it for: AI prompting, price, and keeping history local. Not for: Windows or phone.
Superwhisper
Runs speech models on your own Mac. Works offline, nothing leaves the machine, and you can build your own modes with your own prompts. Setup takes longer and accuracy depends on the model you choose.
Pick it for: privacy and control. Not for: people who don’t want to configure anything.
Lemon
Voice to prompt, first and foremost. Ramble at an AI tool and get a structured prompt; dictation mode for everything else. Mac and Windows.
Pick it for: AI prompting on Windows. Not for: people who want per-app writing in email and chat.
MacWhisper
A desktop app for transcribing files and recordings with Whisper models, locally, with a dictation feature added on. Strong if your main need is transcribing meetings and audio files rather than typing by voice.
Pick it for: transcribing recordings. Not for: hold-to-talk dictation as your main use.
Built-in Mac dictation
Free and already installed. Literal transcript, spoken punctuation, no AI features. Fine for occasional use.
Pick it for: the odd sentence. Not for: daily writing.
How to choose
Ask three questions. Do you need Windows or your phone? Then Wispr Flow or Lemon. Must nothing leave your Mac? Superwhisper. Is most of your typing going into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor? Speaky Box or Lemon, and the full comparison covers the difference. Everyone else: try the free tiers for a week each and keep the one you stopped noticing.