A Wispr Flow alternative that never leaves your Mac.

Why people look for an alternative

The reasons are usually the same three. The first is the cloud: every sentence you dictate is recorded, uploaded and processed somewhere else. For drafts, client email or anything under a confidentiality agreement, that is a real cost, not a theoretical one.

The second is the price. There is no way to buy Wispr Flow outright; you rent it for as long as you use it. The third is the connection: when the Wi-Fi drops, on a plane or a train, cloud dictation stops working.

Side by side

Prices taken from each vendor's own site on October 1, 2026.

The same gesture, on your hardware

If you are used to Wispr Flow, nothing about the habit changes. Hold a key, speak, release. Punctuated text appears wherever your cursor is — Mail, Slack, Notes, a browser field, a code editor — in about half a second.

The difference is where the work happens. The recognition model runs on the Apple Silicon chip in your Mac. No audio is uploaded, so there is no recording on someone else's server to worry about, and no network delay between finishing a sentence and seeing it typed.

What you give up

Being honest about it: Dictami is a Mac app and only a Mac app. If you need the same dictation on Windows or a phone, a cloud service that syncs across devices will suit you better. Dictami also needs an Apple Silicon Mac; it does not run on Intel machines.

The cost over a year

At $15 a month, Wispr Flow costs $180 a year, every year. Dictami's lifetime license is $29.99 once, with every language, every model and all future updates included. For the full breakdown, see the lifetime license.

Try it before you switch

The trial runs inside the app for seven days, with no card and no account. Use it alongside what you have now and keep whichever one you reach for. If you buy and change your mind, refunds are available within 14 days. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later on an M1 or newer.