A curated list of open-source speech-to-text tools for voice typing and dictation across desktop, mobile, and CLI.
These tools let you speak and have text appear wherever you're typing. Some run speech-to-text entirely offline on your own hardware, others use cloud APIs, and many support both. All are open source.
This list focuses on tools that let you speak and get text into the place where you are actively working.
- Open-source apps, keyboards, menu bar utilities, and CLI tools for dictation or voice typing
- Desktop, mobile, and terminal-first workflows
- Local-only and hybrid tools, as long as the project itself is open source
This list does not try to cover:
- Closed-source products
- General transcription tools that do not support typing or dictation workflows
- Meeting bots, note takers, or speech APIs without a usable typing interface
Browse by platform
- Linux: Buzz, Elograf, Epicenter Whispering, Handy, HNS, hyprwhspr, nerd-dictation, OpenWhispr, Speak to AI, Vibe, Vocalinux, Voquill, VOXD, whisper_dictation, whisper-writer
- macOS: Amical, Buzz, Epicenter Whispering, FluidVoice, Handy, HNS, OpenSuperWhisper, OpenWhispr, Pindrop, Tambourine Voice, TypeWhisper, Vibe, VoiceInk, VoiceTypr, Voquill, whisper-writer
- Windows: Amical, Buzz, Chirp, Epicenter Whispering, Handy, HNS, OmniDictate, OpenWhispr, Tambourine Voice, Vibe, VoiceTypr, Voquill, whisper-writer
- Android: Offline Voice Input, Transcribro, Whisper IME
- iOS: WhisperBoard
Most tools on this list support offline speech recognition. See Mode and Engine in the directory below for the details.
Mode: Local means on-device speech recognition. Hybrid means the tool supports both local and cloud or BYO-cloud setups.
| Name | Platforms | Mode | Engine | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amical | macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper | Context-aware dictation that adapts formatting to the app you are using. |
| Buzz | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper, Whisper.cpp, Faster Whisper | Desktop app for microphone or file transcription; text stays in its own UI rather than typing into other apps. |
| Chirp | Windows | Local | Parakeet TDT | Dictates into Windows apps, runs on CPU only, and is aimed at locked-down corporate environments. |
| Elograf | Linux | Local | Vosk (via nerd-dictation) | GUI tray frontend for nerd-dictation with model switching and timeout controls. |
| Epicenter Whispering | Linux, macOS, Windows, Web | Hybrid | Whisper | Local-first dictation with a global shortcut and multiple Whisper providers; also available as a Chrome extension and web app. |
| FluidVoice | macOS | Hybrid | Parakeet, Apple Speech, Whisper | macOS dictation app that can type into any app and switch between local speech engines. |
| Handy | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper.cpp, Parakeet TDT | Shortcut-driven offline dictation built with Tauri and supporting several ASR model families. |
| HNS | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Faster Whisper | CLI tool that records from your mic, transcribes locally, and copies the result to the clipboard. |
| hyprwhspr | Linux | Hybrid | Whisper.cpp, Parakeet, BYOK cloud | Push-to-talk Linux dictation with a visualizer plus Waybar and systemd integration. |
| nerd-dictation | Linux | Local | Vosk | Hackable offline dictation that types into any window via simulated keystrokes. |
| Offline Voice Input (Android) | Android | Local | Parakeet TDT | Offline Android voice input keyboard with live subtitles and a privacy-first focus. |
| OmniDictate | Windows | Local | Whisper | Desktop dictation tool aimed at type-anywhere workflows. |
| OpenSuperWhisper | macOS | Local | Whisper, Parakeet | Native Swift menu bar dictation app optimized for Apple Silicon and global shortcuts. |
| OpenWhispr | Linux, macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Whisper.cpp, Parakeet, BYOK cloud | Cross-platform dictation with local models, optional cloud providers, and a custom dictionary. |
| Pindrop | macOS | Local | WhisperKit | Offline menu bar dictation app with optional AI-based transcript cleanup. |
| Speak to AI | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp | Minimal Linux dictation tool that inserts text into the active window and can also run from the CLI. |
| Tambourine Voice | macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Faster Whisper, BYOK cloud | Voice interface for any app with configurable STT and LLM providers. |
| Transcribro | Android | Local | Whisper.cpp | Private and on-device speech recognition keyboard and service for Android. |
| TypeWhisper | macOS | Hybrid | Whisper (local and/or cloud) | Voice typing app with both local and cloud engine options. |
| Vibe | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper.cpp | Desktop app to transcribe audio and video offline using OpenAI Whisper. |
| Vocalinux | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp, Whisper, Vosk | Linux dictation with distro-specific setup guides and Vulkan acceleration notes. |
| VoiceInk | macOS | Hybrid | WhisperKit, BYOK | Native macOS dictation with per-app tuning, a custom dictionary, and optional commercial distribution. |
| VoiceTypr | macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper-based | Voice-to-text dictation built with Tauri; the repository is open source, but binaries require a one-time license purchase. |
| Voquill | Linux, macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Whisper.cpp, BYOK cloud | Cross-platform voice typing with a personal glossary and AI-assisted cleanup. |
| VOXD | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp | Linux dictation with GUI, tray, and CLI modes plus optional LLM post-processing. |
| WhisperBoard | iOS | Local | Whisper.cpp | iOS app for recording speech and producing text with downloadable Whisper models. |
| Whisper IME | Android | Local | Whisper.cpp | Android keyboard and standalone app powered by Whisper, fully offline, and available on F-Droid. |
| whisper-writer | Linux, macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Faster Whisper, OpenAI API | Hotkey-driven dictation that auto-types into the active window with several recording modes. |
| whisper_dictation | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp | Feature-rich Linux voice keyboard with dictation, voice commands, and webcam integration. |
Speech recognition engines, models, and APIs that power the tools listed above.
- Whisper - OpenAI's ASR model weights; tiny through large, English-only and multilingual.
- whisper.cpp - Pure C/C++ Whisper inference with zero dependencies; runs on Apple Silicon, CUDA, Vulkan, and WASM.
- Faster Whisper - CTranslate2-based Whisper reimplementation; up to 4x faster with lower memory.
- WhisperKit - Swift package for on-device Whisper on Apple Silicon with streaming support.
- Parakeet - NVIDIA's high-accuracy English ASR models in CTC, RNN-T, and TDT architectures.
- Vosk - Lightweight offline ASR with compact models, 20+ languages, and multi-language bindings.
- Apple Speech - Apple's on-device speech recognition framework for iOS, macOS, and watchOS.
- Awesome Whisper - Curated list of Whisper tools and resources.
- Entries are linked to their source repository rather than landing pages or app-store listings.
- Some projects on this list also offer paid binaries or hosted features. They still belong here if the underlying repository is open source.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on adding, updating, or removing entries.
