Paraspeech
Paraspeech is a speech-to-text app for Mac and iOS that turns spoken thoughts into clean text with a simple hold, speak, and release workflow. On Mac, users press and hold a hotkey in the app where they want to write, speak naturally, and release; Paraspeech processes the recording and attempts to insert the result directly into the active editable field, with clipboard fallback for unsupported fields. Apple Silicon Macs can use supported local speech modes, allowing audio to be transcribed on-device and work offline after setup, while eligible cloud-backed paths are also available depending on the selected backend. Fast local models cover English, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and 25-language dictation, while Multilingual Large expands coverage to more than 100 languages where available. AI Rewriting can turn rambling speech into cleaner, formatted text through Cloud Cleanup or, where supported, an on-device rewrite model.
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FluidVoice
FluidVoice is a free, open source macOS dictation app that pairs local speech recognition with Fluid-1, an on-device AI model for polishing dictation. One hotkey lets users speak into any text field across email, documents, chat, terminals, code editors, and other apps, with text appearing in near real time. Local speech models keep dictation on-device and work offline, while optional AI post-processing can use Fluid Intelligence, OpenAI, Groq, or custom providers. Fluid-1 cleans up rough dictation, fixes formatting, capitalization, dates, names, and numbers, and adapts tone to the active app without changing the speaker’s meaning. Users can create custom prompts for different apps, while Write Mode, Command Mode, and Direct Dictation make it easy to switch contexts. FluidVoice supports more than 40 languages across models including Nemotron Speech 3.5, Parakeet Flash, Parakeet TDT v2 and v3, Cohere Transcribe, Apple Speech, and Whisper.
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VoiceInk
VoiceInk is a native macOS dictation app that uses local AI models to instantly turn speech into clean text with near-perfect accuracy and complete privacy. It works across apps, letting users dictate emails, messages, notes, prompts, documents, and code without changing their workflow. Local models keep audio and processing on the Mac, while cloud providers are optional and only used when connected and selected by the user. Global shortcuts support toggle recording, push-to-talk, retry, cancel, and paste actions without reaching for the app. A personal dictionary teaches VoiceInk names, technical terms, unusual spellings, phrases, and Smart Replace shortcuts for frequently used text. Contextual awareness can use selected text, clipboard content, or visible screen text to improve transcription and AI-enhanced output. Modes let users save different transcription models, enhancement prompts, context settings, output behavior, and shortcuts for specific apps, websites, or tasks.
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VoiceTypr
VoiceTypr is an offline, AI-powered voice-to-text tool available for both Windows and macOS that lets you dictate anywhere you can type by simply holding or toggling a hotkey, with automatic transcription directly into applications such as chat editors, code editors, email fields, and text boxes. It supports over 100 languages, offers multiple transcription-model choices (focusing on accuracy or speed), includes smart formatting modes for everything from casual chat to formal documents, and maintains a searchable history of transcriptions that you can export or copy. Crucially, all processing occurs locally on your machine, so your audio stays private. You simply install the app, download your preferred model, set a global hotkey, then speak and ship, whether you’re writing code prompts, emails, notes, or messages. Additional features include drag-and-drop transcription of MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, or MOV files, global hotkey activation, and hardware hardware-accelerated performance.
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