Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to FnScribe – Open-source, offline dictation for macOS
I built FnScribe because I'm pretty privacy concious and wanted a wispr flow-like app that kept everything local and on device. Currently works for Mac (sillicon and intel). It's dead simple. Hold the fn key, speak and release. I use a quantized Wisper small.en model for transcription. It inserts the text into the active application. There's also a hands-free model for longer dictation. Audio transcription is kept in memory. There's no account or transcription history. Clipboard contents are restored after it inserts it. GPLv3, Mac-only, English only..still in alpha. Hope you enjoy it! Would…
FnScribe is a privacy-focused dictation tool for macOS that transcribes speech locally using an offline Whisper model. Users hold the function key and speak to insert text into any application, or use hands-free mode… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 4 we have checked on their own sites, 4 of them free or with a free tier.
- 1
Dictlyfree tier, from $29.99/mo▲240TL;DR: I built a native macOS dictation app that transcribes locally and instantly. Text appears as you speak (measured ~100 ms first‑character latency). No accounts, no servers, no tracking. Links: • Website: https://dictly.app • Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/dictly-no-keys-just-clarity/id... • Free download; optional Pro tier (pipelines, unlimited history, etc.) What it does Real‑time transcription — streaming text while you talk, not after you stop. Quick‑Capture Overlay (macOS) — global hotkey, drop text into any app/field.…
Oct 2025 · dictly.app · its alternatives →
- 2
HyNote for Mac▲368Free local transcription that is 100% Private
Aug 2026 · hynote.ai · its alternatives →
- 3
Hold a shortcut, speak, and BetterWispr types clean text into any Mac app. Local speech models, a style for each app, meeting notes and insights. Free and open source, with no account required.
10d ago · betterwispr.com · its alternatives →
- 4
Private, local transcription and system-wide dictation for Apple Silicon. - VladUZH/qwen-scribe
Jul 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 5
Dictatofree tier, from $20.82/mo▲93I built a macOS dictation app where everything runs on-device. Transcription, auto-correct, translation. No audio or text leaves your machine. It ships with 4 transcription engines you can swap between: WhisperKit (99 languages), NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B (25 European languages, fastest of the bunch), Qwen3-ASR 0.6B (30 languages), and Apple Speech on macOS 26+. They all run through CoreML/Metal. Whisper is the most versatile, Parakeet wins on raw latency for European languages, Qwen3 does better with CJK. I went with a protocol-based architecture so you pick the engine that fits your…
Feb 2026 · dicta.to · its alternatives →
- 6
Sayline▲83I built a voice dictation app for macOS mostly because I was tired of how awful Siri is and I didn't want to pay a subscription for cloud tools. The app uses NVIDIA's Parakeet v3 (TDT) as the primary engine. Inference is handled by the FluidAudio library. It's insanely fast on M-series chips. For Intel users, I added local Whisper support ranging from Tiny up to Large v3 Turbo (quantized to save space). The interesting part was the AI integration. I originally tried to pipeline the ASR output into Apple's Intelligence Foundation Model. It was a nightmare, because the content moderation…
Jan 2026 · sayline.app · its alternatives →
- 7
- 8
Spoke▲102Dictate into any Mac app by holding a key. Spoke runs fully on-device using local AI — no cloud, no account, no subscription. $9.99 one-time.
Mar 2026 · usespoke.app · its alternatives →
- 9
Megaphone▲102Open-source Mac dictation App that's 100% on-device
Jul 2026 · megaphone.kuber.studio · its alternatives →
- 10
Yapfree▲140Open-source voice dictation for Mac, fully on-device
Jul 2026 · frigade.com · its alternatives →
- 11
Hi HN, I'm a longtime web dev, but this is my first macOS app. Feedback is very welcome <3 I built TongueType because every dictation app I tried failed at least one of three things: it sent my audio to someone's cloud, it charged me monthly fee, or it felt clunky or enterprisy. The cloud thing kills it for anything sensitive. The subscription thing is insulting for what amounts to "Whisper + a hotkey." TongueType runs Whisper locally on Apple Silicon via CoreML. It's built to feel like a second keyboard: tap the hotkey, talk, let go, words appear. It sits in the menu bar (no dock icon, no…
May 2026 · tonguetype.app · its alternatives →
- 12
- 13
Juno▲167Juno is the local voice layer for Mac with live transcription, Voice Actions, Voice Commands, private offline dictation after setup, and no subscription or paid tier.
Jun 2026 · usejuno.co · its alternatives →
- 14
Codictate▲72I've built an AI dictation tool (like many others), but this time I have taken the time to benchmark all of the 34 models that we provide, so users can actually make a qualified choice on what model should be the daily driver. The best is that it's open source, so if you think we can improve something, please come and help out.
Apr 2026 · codictate.app · its alternatives →
- 15
Whisper Notes▲115Offline AI Speech to Text Transcription for iOS & macOS
2025 · whispernotes.app · its alternatives →
- 16
Hey HN! I wanted to share this OSS project I've been working on. It's called Yap and its a small menu-bar app for macOS that does voice to text for any input. You'll set a hotkey, press it, talk, press it again, and the text gets pasted into whatever field you were in. Everything runs locally and never leaves your computer. Fully OSS and MIT licensed. With macOS 26, Apple recently added two new APIs, SpeechAnalyzer and SpeechTranscriber, that do streaming on-device speech to text using models the OS ships and manages. So the app ships no model of its own and loads nothing before the first…
Jul 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17
- 18
Walkie▲228Dictation + meetings + read aloud in one app on-device
Apr 2026 · trywalkie.com · its alternatives →
- 19
Multilingual transcription & translation for Mac
2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 20
Transcribe & edit privately, w/ unlimited minutes on desktop
2020 · its alternatives →
- 21
- 22
Hey HN! Built this because I was tired of waiting hours for transcription services and didn't want to upload sensitive recordings to the cloud. Real metrics from my M1 Max: 4.5hr video file transcribed in 3 minutes 32 seconds. Works completely offline. First 5 HN users who click the button on the page get it free. Literally promo code straight to the app sore Key differences vs Rev/Otter: - No 2-hour file limits (handles any length) - Timecodes stay accurate on long files (no drift from chunking) - Supports MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV, M4A, FLAC - Exports to SRT, VTT, JSON, PDF, DOCX, CSV,…
2025 · scriberpro.cc · its alternatives →
- 23
MacWhisper▲123High quality text transcription with OpenAI's whisper on Mac
2023 · goodsnooze.gumroad.com · its alternatives →
- 24
TalkFlowy▲75Local real-time voice transcription for Mac
Apr 2026 · talkflowy.com · its alternatives →
Also compare
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →