There is a lot of software described as free dictation software that is nothing of the sort. A 1,000-word lifetime allowance is a demo. A seven-day trial is a demo. A free tier that stops at three minutes per file is a demo with a longer leash.
This list is the tools that are actually free: no card, no cap you'll hit in normal use, no clock running down. Most of them are free because they're open source and run on your own machine, which also means they work offline.
Short answer: Apple Dictation if you're on a Mac or iPhone, Handy if you want a free app on any of the three desktop platforms, and Fireflies.ai if what you actually need is free meeting transcription.
| Tool | Platforms | Offline | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Dictation | macOS, iOS | Yes | No custom vocabulary |
| Handy | macOS, Windows, Linux | Yes | You manage the models |
| Whispering | Browser + desktop | Yes (desktop) | Bring your own keys for cloud |
| OpenWhispr | macOS, Windows, Linux | Yes | Cloud models cost extra |
| Amical | macOS, Windows | Yes | Needs Ollama for cleanup |
| Parrot | macOS (Apple Silicon) | Yes | No business model behind it |
| Buzz | macOS, Windows, Linux | Yes | Files only, not live typing |
| Vibe | macOS, Windows, Linux | Yes | Files only |
| Windows Voice Typing | Windows | Fallback only | Cloud, no custom vocabulary |
| Google Docs Voice Typing | Chrome | No | Only inside Google Docs |
Apple Dictation runs fully on-device on Apple Silicon, has no time limit, and gained automatic capitalisation, punctuation, and formatting in 2026. Enable it in System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation and download your language for offline use.
Windows Voice Typing is Win+H on Windows 10 and 11. Free, works in any text field, roughly 85–90% accurate on conversational English. It's cloud-based via Azure, with a weaker local fallback when you're offline, and there's no custom vocabulary.
Gboard Voice Typing is Android's built-in option and works offline once you download the on-device model, at roughly 80MB per language. Turn it on under Gboard settings → Voice typing → Faster voice typing.
Google Docs Voice Typing is free and unlimited in 120+ languages, with formatting and editing commands - but only inside Google Docs and Slides speaker notes, and only in Chrome or Edge.
These four cover more people than any paid product does, and most people who buy a dictation app never seriously tested the one they already had.
This is where the free tier stops being a compromise. These apps run the same Whisper-family models the paid apps run.
Handy - MIT-licensed, macOS, Windows, and Linux, with Whisper Small through Large, GPU acceleration, and Parakeet V3. It's the best free option if you want dictation at the cursor on any desktop OS.
Whispering - free in the browser or as the Epicenter desktop app, with local GGUF models on desktop and optional cloud providers if you bring your own keys. AGPL-3.0.
OpenWhispr - MIT, macOS, Windows, Linux, switchable between local and cloud per job. Whisper Tiny through Turbo plus NVIDIA Parakeet locally, cloud APIs if you want them.
Amical - MIT, pairs local Whisper for speech with a local Ollama model for text cleanup, so you get filler-word removal and formatting without anything leaving the machine. macOS and Windows, with Linux planned.
Parrot - free for life on Apple Silicon, no account, no paid tier. Both transcription and cleanup happen on-device. Be aware there's no visible business model funding it.
VoiceInk - $29 one-time as a binary, but the source is GPL v3, so you can build it yourself for nothing.
For Linux specifically, Vocalinux, VOXD, and nerd-dictation are all free and offline. See the best dictation software for Linux.
Browse everything in the open-source collection.
If you have recordings rather than live speech, two free tools beat most paid services outright.
Buzz handles audio files, video files, YouTube links, and live microphone input, with CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan acceleration. About 20,900 GitHub stars.
Vibe adds speaker diarization, batch processing, and exports to SRT, VTT, TXT, HTML, PDF, JSON, and DOCX.
Both run locally, so there's no per-minute charge and no upload. Against Sonix at $10 an hour or Rev at $0.25 a minute for AI transcription, a free local tool pays for the electricity within the first file.
The meeting category has unusually generous free tiers, but they're capped in different places - and the cap is the whole story.
| Tool | What's free |
|---|---|
| Fireflies.ai | Unlimited transcription and unlimited AI summaries; a shared pool of 20 AI credits |
| Fathom | Unlimited recording, transcription, and storage; 5 AI summaries a month |
| tl;dv | Unlimited recordings and transcription; 10 AI uses a month |
| Grain | 1 notetaker seat, unlimited viewers and recordings; 3 hours a month of AI highlights |
| Otter.ai | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation |
| Granola | Unlimited meetings, limited history |
Fireflies.ai is the standout: unlimited transcription on every tier including free is not something anyone else offers. Fathom wins if you want unlimited recording and don't need many summaries.
Worth naming, because these appear on other "free dictation software" lists and shouldn't.
Free tools are competitive on raw accuracy because they run the same models. Where paid apps still win:
Apple Dictation if you're on Apple hardware, Handy for a free cross-platform app, Fireflies.ai for meetings, and Buzz for transcribing files.
Yes. Handy, Whispering, OpenWhispr, Amical, Parrot, Buzz, Vibe, Vocalinux, and Apple Dictation all run without a connection. See the works offline collection.
On raw transcription, close - the free open-source tools run the same Whisper models. The gap is in what happens after transcription: custom vocabulary, formatting, and cleanup.
Usually one of three: you manage the models and setup yourself, there's no support, or the project may not be maintained in two years. None of those matter much if the app works today and your data never leaves your machine.
There's a free tier at 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute cap per conversation. Fireflies.ai and Fathom both offer more at $0 - see Otter.ai alternatives.
Last verified: 10 August 2026.