I've used a few and got so invested that I built my own. If I had to suggest some, they are also all Open Source:
Handy - It's great, supports Mac, Win and Linux. It's very focused on dictation, but it doesn't go too far outside of that. It's also completely free https://handy.computer/
VoiceInk - Mac only, and pretty good if you're on a Mac. It starts at $25 for one device. https://tryvoiceink.com/
Glimpse - the one I built. Mac and Windows, free local dictation. A lifetime license covers other paid features, w/ a 2 week free trial. https://tryglimpse.cc
[HEX](https://github.com/anomalyco/hex) is a nice open source app, although it’s in the middle of a rewrite into rust and cross-platform support is still in progress.
After using Superwhisper a lot i wanted something more accurate/faster, ie using Parakeet. I found https://opensuperwhisper.com/. It's pretty ok, long startup time however, and something is overriding the default Opt+` shortcut, so I'm using Opt+Space.
Rambler for Pixel 11 Pro. Runs a local AI model Gemma 4. Eloquence on Apple store released by Google comes close too (most features run local models and you can cut off cloud access).
If you use an android phone, it's easy to find patches for GBoard keyboard for turning on this new feature that was kept exclusive to Pixel 11 series.
Not sure if finetune is the right word here, but their default local model seems to be an in-house fork of parakeet (?, maybe whisper) that works a bit better on tech jargon than vanilla parakeet i use in handy. Though has a few other quirks. Take with a grain of salt as I’m a low volume user, but it’s been enjoyable to test. I kept my wife on handy while i test this one.
I use Handy, it's fine, my complaint is that you can't have it clean up your grammar mistakes, it just records your words exactly as is. But for that it's great
I've used a few and got so invested that I built my own. If I had to suggest some, they are also all Open Source:
Handy - It's great, supports Mac, Win and Linux. It's very focused on dictation, but it doesn't go too far outside of that. It's also completely free https://handy.computer/
VoiceInk - Mac only, and pretty good if you're on a Mac. It starts at $25 for one device. https://tryvoiceink.com/
Glimpse - the one I built. Mac and Windows, free local dictation. A lifetime license covers other paid features, w/ a 2 week free trial. https://tryglimpse.cc
[HEX](https://github.com/anomalyco/hex) is a nice open source app, although it’s in the middle of a rewrite into rust and cross-platform support is still in progress.
tried em all. much love for HEX
After using Superwhisper a lot i wanted something more accurate/faster, ie using Parakeet. I found https://opensuperwhisper.com/. It's pretty ok, long startup time however, and something is overriding the default Opt+` shortcut, so I'm using Opt+Space.
Rambler for Pixel 11 Pro. Runs a local AI model Gemma 4. Eloquence on Apple store released by Google comes close too (most features run local models and you can cut off cloud access).
If you use an android phone, it's easy to find patches for GBoard keyboard for turning on this new feature that was kept exclusive to Pixel 11 series.
https://github.com/kouhxp/yapsnap free cpu first and open source
FluidVoice has been working well enough for me on my laptop.
Not sure if finetune is the right word here, but their default local model seems to be an in-house fork of parakeet (?, maybe whisper) that works a bit better on tech jargon than vanilla parakeet i use in handy. Though has a few other quirks. Take with a grain of salt as I’m a low volume user, but it’s been enjoyable to test. I kept my wife on handy while i test this one.
Monologue and Superwhisper are my go-tos:
https://www.monologue.to/
https://superwhisper.com/
Moonshine.ai
I've put it in a simple android app https://github.com/resolveworks/scribe if you're interested
I use Handy, it's fine, my complaint is that you can't have it clean up your grammar mistakes, it just records your words exactly as is. But for that it's great
I've used https://carelesswhisper.app/ which is available in the macOS App Store
Big fan of https://www.macwhisper.com/ Can use local or cloud models.
+1. My only complaint is that the on-device models don’t handle punctuation commands on their own.
I've been building one for Mac: https://clarifyfor.me/
FluidVoice!! They are cooking up smaller and smaller dictation polish models to do everything locally.
i built https://typewaveai.com after struggling with windows voice typing and wispr flow. give it a try