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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Handy
Handy is a free, open source, cross-platform speech-to-text app that runs completely offline and puts whatever you say directly into any text field. Press and hold a configurable keyboard shortcut, speak, and release; Handy records your voice, transcribes it locally, and pastes the result into the app you are using. Push-to-talk is enabled by default, but users can switch to a toggle mode that starts and stops recording with separate key presses. Handy supports macOS, Windows, and Linux and keeps voice data on the computer instead of sending audio to cloud services. Users can choose between Whisper models and Parakeet V3, Whisper provides broad multilingual support across more than 99 languages, while Parakeet V3 is optimized for fast CPU performance and automatic language detection. Silence is filtered with voice activity detection, and GPU acceleration is available for Whisper where supported.
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Apple Dictation
Apple Dictation is a built-in macOS feature that lets users speak to enter text anywhere they can type. Once Dictation is enabled, it can be started with the Microphone key, a customizable keyboard shortcut, or Start Dictation, then stopped with Escape, the same shortcut, or the Microphone key. On Apple silicon Macs, users can continue typing while they dictate, and Dictation resumes listening after keyboard input stops. Spoken commands can insert emoji, punctuation, new lines, and new paragraphs, while supported languages can automatically add commas, periods, and question marks. Dictation supports text of any length and stops automatically after 30 seconds without detected speech. When macOS is uncertain about a word, it underlines the text so users can choose an alternative or correct it manually. Multiple Dictation languages can be enabled and switched while speaking, and users can select a preferred microphone or let macOS choose automatically.
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Rubil
Voice dictation for Gmail, Slack, Notion + 20 apps. Auto-formats your speech. Audio never stored. 1000 words free daily.
Voice dictation for every web app you use. Speak naturally — Rubil formats your speech into clean, ready-to-send text. Properly structured emails. Concise chat messages. Clean document prose. Works across 20+ web apps where knowledge workers spend their day. No cleanup. No rewrites. No copy-paste. No post-editing.
Audio is processed instantly through secure transcription and never stored. No transcript history. No voice files on our servers. Your glossary is encrypted both on your device and in the cloud.
Teach Rubil your world. Add names, acronyms, and jargon once. Rubil applies them every time you dictate.
Voice dictation and voice typing in one click:
1) Hit the mic
2) Speak naturally — ramble, self-correct, think out loud
3) Rubil formats your speech and drops it right in. Done.
Free: 1,000 words/day. Pro: $9/mo for unlimited.
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