Amical vs Aqua Voice

Amical

• People who want free, unlimited offline dictation on Mac or Windows
• Users who want a hosted cloud model without managing API keys
• Small teams that want to share a custom vocabulary

Aqua Voice

• Developers dictating prompts into Cursor, Claude Code or a terminal
• Writing long messages and documents by voice on Mac or Windows
• Teams that need SSO, SCIM and Zero Data Retention

Amical

• The Free plan caps cloud dictation at 2,000 words a week; once reached, cloud transcription pauses until the weekly reset while local models keep working.
• The mobile apps are betas: Android is a public beta on Google Play, iOS is distributed through TestFlight, and the pricing page still labels mobile apps as coming soon.
• The desktop app supports macOS and Windows only; the README says Linux is not supported.
• AI formatting is labelled Alpha, and the docs list MCP integrations and custom prompts as planned, not yet shipped.

Aqua Voice

• The free allowance is a one-time 1,000 words; continued use needs a paid plan.
• Audio is processed in the cloud, and cloud dictation needs an internet connection.
• Realtime Mode and the Send It command need Max or Business, and Android is waitlist-only.
• Subscribing inside the iPhone app costs more: the App Store lists Pro at $12.99 a month or $119 a year.

Amical

Dictation in any app

Hold a key for push-to-talk, or click the floating widget for hands-free recording, and the words are typed into the focused app. The site lists 100+ languages with automatic detection.

Local Whisper models

Whisper variants from Tiny (about 78 MB) to Large v3 (about 3.1 GB) download inside the app and run on the computer, with no account and no data leaving the machine.

Amical Cloud

After sign-in, audio can be streamed to Amical's hosted speech model instead. Vocabulary and preferences follow the account across devices, and the vendor says audio is not stored or used for training.

App-aware AI formatting

A language model adds punctuation and structure and fits the output to the focused app, such as email or chat. It is marked Alpha and runs on Amical Cloud or a local model through Ollama.

Custom vocabulary and snippets

Add names and jargon the recognizer should know, and define trigger phrases that are replaced inline with saved plain text such as an address or signature.

Notes panel

A built-in notes panel holds notes with a title and a rich-text body to dictate or type into, plus a floating notes window that stays above other apps.

Aqua Voice

Dictation in any text field

Hold Fn on Mac or Alt on Windows, speak, and release to insert text at the cursor system-wide, with no per-app setup or browser extension. 49 dictation languages, with auto-detect.

Avalon speech model

Dictation runs on Avalon, a speech-recognition model the company trained on how people talk to computers: prompts, code and email. A language model then cleans up and formats the output.

Deep Context

An optional setting, off by default, that reads what is on screen so names, code identifiers and technical terms are transcribed correctly.

Edit Mode

Select text in any Mac or Windows app, hold the Aqua key and say the change, and the selection is rewritten in place. It is included for every desktop user.

Realtime Mode and Send It

On Max, words appear as you speak, and ending a hands-free dictation with "send it" inserts the message and presses Return for you.

Dictionary, Replacements and instructions

Teach it names and technical terms, expand short spoken phrases into longer text, and set plain-language style rules with Custom Instructions, which start on Pro.

Amical

• Free$0

  Unlimited local dictation on unlimited devices, 2,000 words a week of cloud dictation, custom vocabulary, AI formatting and community support.

• Premium$7

  per month, billed annually ($84), or $10 billed monthly

  Unlimited cloud dictation, plus shared vocabulary, team management, email support and priority access to new features.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Private model hosting, custom models, SSO/SAML, centralized billing, seat-based licenses and volume discounts. SOC 2 is listed as in progress.

Aqua Voice

• Free$0

  A one-time allowance of 1,000 words with the Avalon transcription model. No credit card required.

• Pro$8

  per month, billed annually ($96), or $10 billed monthly

  Unlimited words, Custom Instructions and an expanded custom dictionary.

• Max$24

  per month, billed annually, or $30 billed monthly

  Everything in Pro, plus Realtime Mode that shows words as you speak, the "Send it" voice command and early access to new features.

• Business$19

  per seat / month, billed annually ($228), or $24 billed monthly

  Everything in Max, plus centralized billing, SSO/SAML and SCIM, advanced reporting, Zero Data Retention and team dictionaries. 2-seat minimum.

Amical

• Annual discount

  Save 30% with yearly billing

  Premium costs $7 a month when billed annually at $84, against $10 a month billed monthly. The pricing page describes this as 30% off.

Aqua Voice

• Annual discount

  About 20% less with annual billing

  Pro is $8 a month billed annually against $10 month-to-month, and Max is $24 against $30. Business is $19 a seat against $24.

• Education

  70% off Pro and Max for students

  Signing up with a school email address (.edu or academic domains such as .ac.uk) gives 70% off: Pro from $2.40 a month and Max from $7.20 a month, both billed annually.

• Other savings

  Volume discounts above 20 users

  The pricing page invites teams with more than 20 users to contact Aqua for volume discounts and billing by active user.