Worth Installing · 01 · 13-09-2026

Handy

That message you keep putting off? Say it instead.

What it is

Free, open source dictation for your computer. Press a shortcut, say what you need, and the text appears wherever you were typing: an email, a note, a long prompt.

One sentence, no typing

An empty message box before dictating — Shortcut, "Send the invoice by Friday and copy the whole team", shortcut. Recorded in real time.

The same box holding the dictated sentence: Send the invoice by Friday and copy the whole team — Shortcut, "Send the invoice by Friday and copy the whole team", shortcut. Recorded in real time.

That's the whole trick, and it's why it's worth installing. It works in any app, because it simply puts the text where your cursor already is. Hold the key while you talk, or tap to start and tap to stop.

Why this one

You download a speech model once, and from then on dictation works offline, on your own machine. There's no account and no subscription, and it's the same app on Mac, Windows and Linux.

Before you install

Costs: Nothing
Licence: MIT, open source
Runs on: Mac, Windows and Linux
Offline: Yes, once you've downloaded a speech model
Worth knowing: There's an optional cloud clean-up step that sends your transcript to an outside provider. Leave it off and everything stays on your machine.
Checked: 12-09-2026