Growth · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Steno
Type 4x faster, with your voice - powered by whisper.cpp
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Steno launched in 2023; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1Stenox▲72
Your voice, perfectly transcribed in every app & browser
Jan 2026 · stenox.app · its alternatives →
- 2
Stet▲68Smart open-source dictation that sounds like you, not AI.
Apr 2026 · stet.me · its alternatives →
- 3WO
Hey HN! Braden here, creator of Whispering, an open-source speech-to-text app. I really like dictation. For years, I relied on transcription tools that were almost good, but they were all closed-source. Even a lot of them that claimed to be “local” or “on-device” were still black boxes that left me wondering where my audio really went. So I built Whispering. It’s open-source, local-first, and most importantly, transparent with your data. Your data is stored locally on your device, and your audio goes directly from your machine to a local provider (Whisper C++, Speaches, etc.) or your chosen…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 4
Typeless▲589AI voice dictation that's actually intelligent
Nov 2025 · typeless.com · its alternatives →
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Local dictation for macOS without the subscription
May 2026 · tonguetype.app · its alternatives →
- 9
Effortlessly convert your speech into clear, written content
2024 · its alternatives →
- 10
Whispering▲195Open-source, local-first dictation you can trust
2025 · epicenter.so · its alternatives →
- 11
Whisper Notes▲115Offline AI Speech to Text Transcription for iOS & macOS
2025 · whispernotes.app · its alternatives →
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
dictate.▲103Replace your iPhone keyboard with AI voice typing
Mar 2026 · usedictate.app · its alternatives →
- 17
Multilingual transcription & translation for Mac
2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 18
SpeakoFlow▲95Free, open-source voice dictation and AI assistant, offline
Aug 2026 · speakoflow.com · its alternatives →
- 19
- 20
- 21SA
Hey HN, I built superwhisper out of frustration with the native dictation capabilities of macOS. Inaccurate, required manual punctuation, didnt activate in some contexts or would have audio capture issues. I wanted a replacement that worked offline, had cross language support, was configurable and worked in any application. Under the hood the app is using whisper.cpp, which runs really well on the Apple Silicon chips. You can use the base and standard size models for free, larger models sizes and languages other than english are paid. Let me know what you think! For context, I launched this…
2023 · superwhisper.com · its alternatives →
- 22
- 23
I wanted a voice-to-text app but didn't trust any of the proprietary ones with my privacy. So I decided to see if I could vibe code it with 0 macOS app & Swift experience. It uses a local binary of whisper.cpp (a fast implementation of OpenAI's Whisper voice-to-text model in C++). Github: https://github.com/richardwu/openwhisper I also decided to take this as an opportunity to compare 3 agentic coding harnesses: Cursor w/ Opus 4.6: - Best one-shot UI by far - Didn't get permissioning correct - Had issues making the "Cancel recording" hotkey being turned on all the…
Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24
Professional voice typing and dictation in 99+ Languages
2025 · dict247.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 →