Dictation alternatives that never upload your voice
Most dictation apps send what you say to a server before you get your text back, and bill you monthly for the trip. Mumbly does the work on your own Mac, and it is free.
Recognition runs on your Mac. Your voice is not uploaded, and Mumbly still works with the Wi-Fi off.
Mumbly is free. There is no subscription, no weekly word limit and no account to make.
Mumbly, Wispr Flow and superwhisper
One row for each thing worth checking before you install any of them.
| Mumbly | Wispr Flow | superwhisper | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where your voice is processed | On your Mac. | On Amazon's servers in the United States. | On your Mac, or in their cloud if you pick a cloud model. |
| Works with no internet | Yes. | No. There is no offline mode. | Yes, on the local models. |
| What it costs | Free. No subscription, no word limit, no account. | Free up to 2,000 words a week, then $15 a month. | Free on the small local models. $8.49 a month or $249.99 once for the rest. |
| What it sends back about you | Basic anonymous usage data. Never your voice or your text, and you can turn it off at any time. | Context Awareness can send text and screenshots from the app you are working in. | Their privacy policy says no usage data is collected. |
| Runs on | Mac. | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android. | Mac, Windows. |
The two comparisons in full
A Wispr Flow alternative that never uploads your voice
Wispr Flow has no offline mode. Every word you speak goes to Amazon's servers in the United States, is transcribed there and comes back as text. Mumbly does the same job on your own Mac, and it is free.
A superwhisper alternative with nothing to set up
superwhisper and Mumbly both keep your voice on your Mac, so this is not an argument about privacy. It is about how much you have to configure before you can dictate, and what it costs once you use it every day.