AI Dictation Keyboards and Dictation Apps in 2026 — An Honest Comparison

At a glance

Product	Where it runs	Platforms	Price	Best at
Wispr Flow	Menu-bar app, plus phone app	Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android	Free (2,000 words/wk); Pro $15/mo ($12 annual); Growth $23/mo ($18 annual)	Polished writing across any desktop app; teams
superwhisper	Menu-bar app	Mac, Windows, iPhone	Free tier; Pro $8.49/mo	Offline, on-device transcription; custom AI modes
Willow Voice	Menu-bar app	Mac, Windows, iPhone	Free (20 uses/wk); Pro $12–15/mo; Business $28–35/mo	Style-matching accuracy; compliance
Aqua Voice	Menu-bar app	Mac, Windows, iPhone	Free (1,000 words/mo); Pro $8/mo; Max $24/mo	Coding and technical dictation
CleverType	Phone keyboard, browser extension	iOS, Android, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Mac	Free tier; Premium $4.99/mo or $35.99/yr	Text rewriting — not a dictation tool
MacWhisper	Standalone Mac app	macOS only	Free; Pro €64 one-time	Local, offline transcription of recordings
Voicy	Menu bar, phone keyboard, browser ext.	Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome	Free trial (30 min); Pro $8.49/mo; Lifetime $260	Broadest platform coverage, incl. Linux
Gboard voice typing	Built into Android's keyboard	Android (also in Gboard for iPhone)	Free	Zero-setup default on Android
Apple dictation	Built into iOS, iPadOS, macOS	iPhone, iPad, Mac	Free	Zero-setup default on Apple devices
Qenzo	Replaces the phone keyboard; desktop app	Android, macOS, Windows, Linux; iPhone (iOS 17+)	Free (20+50 actions, one-time); Pro $9.99/mo or $79/yr (from $1.99/mo)	Speak one language, send another per message; tone/role rewriting

The products

Wispr Flow

Wispr Flow runs as a menu-bar app on Mac and Windows and as an app on iPhone and Android, working inside any text field with no plugin. It supports over 100 languages with automatic detection, learns a user's vocabulary and jargon, and adapts phrasing to the app it's typing into. The free tier gives 2,000 words a week; Pro is $15/month ($12/month annual); Growth/Enterprise runs $23 down to $18/user/month with SSO and HIPAA controls. Its meeting notetaker is Mac-only for now. For long-form drafts and Slack threads at a desk, in one language at a time, it's the most complete general-purpose option here.

superwhisper

superwhisper is a macOS, Windows and iPhone app — no Android or web build — built around offline speech recognition: base transcription can run entirely on-device, which matters to anyone dictating names or health details they don't want leaving the machine. It plugs into Slack, Gmail, Notion, Cursor and 30-plus other apps, supports 100-plus languages, and switches between preset modes (casual, formal, legal) or routes cleanup through GPT, Claude or Llama. The free plan includes meeting recording; Pro is $8.49/month with API-key access and file transcription; superwhisper also offers translation, though its pricing page didn't load to confirm which tier gates it. It suits someone who wants privacy-first dictation on a desktop with no need for a phone keyboard.

Willow Voice

Willow runs on Mac, Windows and iPhone — no Android app — and works inside Slack, Gmail, Cursor, Notion and iMessage, much like Wispr Flow and superwhisper. Its pitch is speed and accuracy: it claims a 3x accuracy edge over built-in OS dictation and a 200ms response time, plus a writing-style memory that carries across apps and an offline mode for when the network drops. Pricing is Basic (free, 20 "Scribe" uses a week), Pro at $15/month or $12/month annual, Business at $35 or $28/month with zero-data-retention and SOC 2/HIPAA compliance, and custom Enterprise pricing. It's aimed at professionals and teams on a laptop, not at phone typing.

Aqua Voice

Aqua Voice runs on macOS, Windows and iOS; app.aquavoice.com is an account, billing and sign-in portal rather than a separate browser-based dictation product. It integrates with Gmail, Docs, Slack, ChatGPT, VS Code, Notion and Teams. It supports 49 languages, offers modes tuned for coding, prompting and documentation, and a real-time "Avalon" model that refines text as you speak using what's on screen for context. The free Starter plan gives 1,000 words a month; Pro is $8/month unlimited; Max is $24/month with a faster real-time mode; team pricing starts at $12/user/month. Its coding-specific modes suit a developer dictating into an editor, less so someone who just wants to text a friend.

CleverType

CleverType is a keyboard and browser-extension app for iOS, Android, Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Mac, but its own site positions it as a text-based writing assistant — grammar correction, tone rewrites, an AI "Clever Reply" for messages — not as a speech-to-text product. Its homepage never mentions voice input, so it belongs here as an adjacent AI-keyboard category rather than a genuine dictation app; its free plan is the plain keyboard without AI, and Premium is $4.99 a month or $35.99 a year after a stated 2000-word trial. Someone who types fine but wants AI-rewritten replies might want it; someone who wants to talk instead of type should look elsewhere.

MacWhisper

MacWhisper is a Mac-only app — no Windows, Linux, iOS or Android build — that transcribes recordings, meetings, YouTube videos and system audio locally using Whisper- and Parakeet-family models, plus a live dictation mode across Mac apps. Because transcription runs on-device, nothing has to leave the machine, and it supports 100-plus languages with translation. The free version is fully usable; Pro is a one-time €64 with lifetime updates, no subscription. It's the strongest choice for transcribing existing audio or meetings on a Mac with a single purchase instead of a monthly bill; it isn't built as a phone keyboard or a tone-rewriting tool.

Voicy

Voicy, at usevoicy.com, covers more platforms than anything else here: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and a Chrome extension, claiming over 99% accuracy in 50-plus languages at roughly 3x typing speed. (This is a different company from the unrelated conversational-commerce chatbot platform at voicy.ai.) It markets itself as privacy-first, storing neither recordings nor transcripts, and layers AI rewriting on top of the raw transcript. Pricing is a 30-minute free trial, Pro at $8.49/month billed annually, a $260 lifetime license, and $6.79/user/month for teams of three or more. Its Linux build is rare, useful to a Linux desktop user who also wants iOS and Android coverage under one account.

Gboard voice typing

Gboard's voice typing is how most Android phones already dictate: tap the microphone on the built-in keyboard and Google's speech recognition writes what's said, with spoken punctuation commands ("period", "new line") and, on newer Pixel phones, automatic detection between whichever languages are already enabled. Google's support pages don't specify which of Gboard's languages have voice support at all — "talk-to-text doesn't work with all languages" — nor do they state whether it works offline. It costs nothing and needs no install: right for anyone who dictates occasionally and doesn't want another app, wrong for anyone who wants tone rewriting, cross-language sending, or a personal dictionary.

Apple dictation

Dictation is built into iOS, iPadOS and macOS system-wide: tap the microphone on any keyboard, including the system one, and text appears using Siri's speech recognition engine, with automatic language detection since iOS 13. It needs no separate app or account, and a setting controls whether recordings are stored to help improve the service. Apple's documentation doesn't publish a language count or confirm offline operation for everyday Dictation — on-device processing is documented for the separate Voice Control accessibility feature, not standard dictation. Like Gboard, it's a free default worth knowing about first, but it doesn't rewrite tone, translate between spoken and sent language, or learn a personal vocabulary the way the paid tools above do.

Where Qenzo fits

Qenzo replaces the phone keyboard itself on Android and ships as a separate desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. On iPhone, Qenzo requires iOS 17 or newer; there is no iPad version. It differs from every product above in one specific way: language is chosen twice. A user can speak Armenian and choose Russian, or speak German and choose English, per message, in any of 42 output languages — none of the tools above separate the language sent from the language spoken; they clean up whatever language you spoke in. Its second distinct feature is rewriting rather than re-dictating: seven tones and eight recipient types, plus 100 professions (or a typed-in role) that adjust vocabulary, applied by tapping a button on text already dictated instead of recording it again.

Qenzo is also honest about what it isn't. Everything the AI does — recognition, the tone rewrite, the re-listening pass that catches misheard names and numbers — needs a connection; only typing, offline word suggestions and autocorrect work without one, which puts it behind superwhisper and MacWhisper for dictation on a plane or somewhere without signal. There's no iPad version, no swipe typing, and no built-in emoji panel — ordinary keyboard features Gboard already has.

Pricing: 20 actions with no account, 50 more once an email is linked, one-time and non-renewing, no card required. Pro is $9.99/month or $79/year on qenzo.ai ($79.99/year inside the app stores), and most countries pay a lower regional price, down to $1.99/month.

Who should pick what: someone drafting long emails and Slack messages at a desk, in one language, wants Wispr Flow or Willow Voice. Someone transcribing meetings or recordings on a Mac, especially anything sensitive, wants MacWhisper or superwhisper's offline mode. A developer dictating into an editor or an AI chat wants Aqua Voice. Someone on Linux who also wants phone coverage under one account wants Voicy. Someone content with the free default wants Gboard or Apple's dictation. Someone who speaks one language and needs the message in another, or who changes tone and audience per message, is who Qenzo was built for — a narrower job than "dictate text," not a bigger one.