Disclosure: This review is written by the creator of Dictato.

What is Dictato?

Dictato is a macOS voice-to-text app that runs entirely on your Mac. No cloud, no internet, no monthly fees. Press a hotkey, speak, release, and text appears wherever your cursor is. It works in Gmail, Slack, VS Code, Word, Notion, or any app with a text field.

The pricing is unusual for 2026: $9.99 for a two-year license. No subscription. The app keeps working after the license expires; you only renew when you want future updates.

Here’s whether it actually delivers.

How it works

The flow is straightforward:

Set a global hotkey (default: Right Command key, customizable)
Press and hold the hotkey anywhere on your Mac (or use toggle mode: press once to start, press again to stop)
Speak naturally
Release the key
Text appears at your cursor

No copy-pasting, no switching apps. Dictato uses system permissions to place text directly where your cursor is, the same way you’d type.

I tested this in Gmail, Slack, VS Code, Word, Notion, and Apple Notes. In every case, the text appeared in the right place without friction. Most offline dictation tools make you record to a file and then copy-paste. This is noticeably better.

The three engines

Dictato ships with three transcription engines, all local.

Parakeet is the default and the fastest. It’s a 2.3GB download, supports 25 languages, and responds in about 80ms. For English and other major languages, it’s the best option. The 80ms delay is genuinely imperceptible: you stop talking, and the text is already there.

Whisper (OpenAI’s open-source model) covers 99 languages in a 600MB package. It’s slower (200-500ms depending on your Mac) but the language coverage is unmatched. If you need Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, or Swahili, this is the one.

Apple SpeechAnalyzer is built into macOS 26+, so there’s nothing to download. It handles 20 languages and avoids taking up disk space. Limited language support, though, and it only works on newer macOS versions.

You can switch between engines whenever you want based on what you need. For a detailed breakdown of how these engines compare, see Dictato vs Apple Dictation vs Whisper.

Features worth mentioning

On macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, Dictato offers AI proofreading that cleans up grammar, removes filler words, and polishes your text. This runs locally through Apple Intelligence. Additional writing styles (professional, concise, friendly, formal, casual) are planned for a future update.

For example, “Um, like, I’m really busy with the project, so I might not have the deliverables ready by Friday” becomes “I’m managing a heavy workload on the project. I may need to extend the deadline beyond Friday for the final deliverables.”

The app also includes on-device translation to 30 languages (via Apple’s translation framework), two output modes (floating preview window to review text before placing, or direct injection straight to your cursor), customizable recording indicators, and unlimited transcription history.

Speed testing

I tested on a MacBook Pro (M3, 2024) with Parakeet.

The full delay from pressing the hotkey to seeing text was about 300ms total: under 100ms to start listening, three seconds of speaking, and under 200ms after releasing the key. It feels faster than typing. For the technical details behind that speed, see how Dictato achieves 80ms real-time dictation.

For comparison: Apple Dictation takes 1.5-3 seconds (cloud roundtrip), Otter takes 2-4 seconds, Superwhisper takes 1-2 seconds, and a DIY Whisper setup takes 1-3 seconds depending on model size.

The speed difference is real and it affects how natural dictation feels. With Dictato, you don’t wait for the text. With cloud tools, there’s always a pause.

Privacy

Everything happens on your Mac. Audio never leaves the device. No internet connection needed. No analytics, no tracking, no account required.

For lawyers, therapists, doctors, or anyone handling sensitive information, this matters. You can dictate patient notes, client conversations, or confidential strategy without any of it touching someone else’s servers. Meeting healthcare privacy rules (HIPAA) and European privacy law (GDPR) is simpler when there’s no cloud component. For a deeper dive, read our speech-to-text privacy guide for Mac.

This is the opposite of Otter (cloud-based, stores recordings on their servers, $10-20/month) or Apple Dictation (sends audio to Apple’s servers for processing).

Pricing

$9.99 gets you a two-year license with all features and updates included. After two years, the app keeps working. You only renew if you want new features.

Service	Cost	Model	3-year cost
Dictato	$9.99	2-year license	~$15
Otter.ai	$10-20/mo	Subscription	$360-720
Superwhisper	$4.99/mo	Subscription	$180
Apple Dictation	Free	Cloud	$0

Over two years, Dictato costs $9.99 versus $400+ for Otter. Even with renewals, you’re looking at roughly $20 over four years compared to $800+ on a subscription. For a full cost analysis, see the real cost of speech-to-text.

What’s good and what’s not

What works well:

The $9.99 price with no subscription. The 80ms response time (genuinely fast). Universal input that works in any app. Fully local processing with no data collection. Three engine options for different needs. Translation, proofreading, unlimited transcription history, and customizable recording indicators. Both push-to-talk and toggle recording modes. Native macOS feel.

What doesn’t:

Mac only, no Windows or iOS. Requires macOS Sonoma 14.0 or newer, so older Macs can’t run it. The model downloads are large (2.3GB for Parakeet). System permissions are required (standard for this type of app, but some corporate policies block it). No voice activation; you need a hotkey. Parakeet only supports 25 languages; for less common languages, you’ll need Whisper.

Who it’s for (and who it’s not)

Dictato makes sense for freelancers and solopreneurs, lawyers and therapists who handle sensitive information, remote workers doing async communication, writers who want faster first drafts, and developers adding code comments by voice.

It’s a poor fit for long-form transcription (podcasts, 30+ minute interviews), non-Mac users, people on pre-Sonoma Macs, or teams that need centralized transcription management.

How it compares

Otter.ai ($10-20/month) is cloud-based and built for teams sharing meeting transcriptions. Dictato is local-only and built for individual speed and privacy. If you need team collaboration and meeting summaries, Otter is better. For everything else, Dictato costs less and keeps your data private.

Superwhisper ($4.99/month) has a polished UI and optional cloud processing. But Dictato’s two-year license at $9.99 pays for itself after two months versus Superwhisper’s $120 over the same period.

Apple Dictation is free and built-in, but it sends your audio to Apple’s servers and has a noticeable delay.

DIY Whisper is free and supports 99 languages, but requires technical setup (programming knowledge, command-line tools) and manual copy-pasting. Dictato handles all of that for $9.99.

Three weeks of real use

I’ve been using Dictato daily since the beginning. I dictate 20+ emails in Gmail (roughly 30-40% faster than typing). Slack messages are quick and frictionless. I add code comments by voice, which feels surprisingly natural. I take meeting notes and have tested recording sessions over 40 minutes with no issues. I also dictate in English and translate to Spanish for documents without leaving the app.

The workflow is smooth and reliable.

Bottom line

Dictato does what it promises for $9.99: fast, private, local voice-to-text that works in any Mac app. The 80ms response time is noticeably faster than cloud alternatives. The limitations exist (macOS only, Sonoma+, large downloads), but none of them are dealbreakers for most people.

If you dictate regularly on a Mac and care about privacy or are tired of subscription fees, this is a straightforward recommendation.

Download Dictato and try it out.

If you want to compare options first, read Best Offline Speech-to-Text Apps for Mac or Why Local Speech Recognition Matters.