Notes on dictation that stays on your Mac

Four questions decide whether you buy a dictation app, and each one has a page here. Start with the question you actually have.

Which dictation app should I buy for a Mac?

The comparison that matters is not the feature list, it is what the app does with your voice and how it charges for it. Best dictation app for Mac puts Inmost, superwhisper, MacWhisper, Wispr Flow and Apple's built-in dictation on the same four axes.

Does dictation send my audio to a server?

For most dictation apps, yes. There is one test that cannot be faked by marketing copy, and it takes thirty seconds. Does dictation send your audio to a server?

Is local dictation actually as accurate as cloud?

Close, and the gap depends on the model rather than on the idea. Local vs cloud dictation compares accuracy, latency, privacy and price, with the numbers we measured on this Mac.

Can I dictate on a Mac without an account?

Yes: dictation needs a model on your disk, a key to hold, and permission to type into other apps — no login, no email, no subscription. How to dictate on a Mac without an account walks through the five setup steps.

How the numbers on this site are produced

Every accuracy figure Inmost quotes is either measured on this Mac with a script in the repo, or taken from a named public leaderboard — never averaged together, and never presented as a measurement when it is a published claim. The method and the raw results are in the measured section.