Dictato vs MacWhisper

Dictato

• Mac users who want dictation that never leaves the device
• Buyers who prefer a low one-time price to a subscription
• People who switch language or tone between apps and websites

MacWhisper

• Transcribing interviews, lectures and podcasts without uploading files
• Mac users who prefer a one-time purchase to a subscription
• Producing .srt or .vtt subtitles from audio and video

Dictato

• It runs only on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later; Intel Macs are not supported and there are no Windows or mobile apps.
• It is live dictation only and does not transcribe existing audio files.
• A license covers one Mac at a time, with up to 3 moves per 30 days, and the price is listed in euros only.
• Auto-translate needs macOS 26, and tone rewrites need a one-time 3.4 GB model download.

MacWhisper

• Mac only on the desktop, and it needs macOS 14 or later. The iPhone and iPad app is a separate App Store product called Whisper Transcription.
• The Pro price is set in euros, and checkout runs through Gumroad.
• License keys work only in the direct-download version; the App Store edition is sold by subscription and has fewer AI provider options.
• Speaker recognition (with local models, M-series Macs only), batch transcription, integrations and most export formats require Pro.

Dictato

Hold-to-talk dictation at the cursor

Hold a hotkey, or tap to toggle, and the finished text is pasted wherever the cursor is in any app that accepts a paste. Recording continues until the key is released, with no time limit.

On-device proofreading

Punctuation, capitals, paragraph breaks and filler words are handled before the text is pasted, and dates, times and amounts are formatted, so a spoken amount comes out as 25 €.

Four speech engines

Parakeet covers 24 mostly European languages, Whisper covers 99 and Qwen3 covers 26, while Apple SpeechAnalyzer is used on macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence. Dictato picks a default for the Mac.

Profiles per app and website

Rules set the tone, language and engine for each app, and for individual websites in Safari, Chrome, Brave, Edge, Arc, Vivaldi and Opera. Nine tones are built in, and custom ones can be written.

Tone rewrites, translation and vocabulary

Tones rewrite a dictation as an email, note or list using a Gemma model stored on the Mac. Auto-translate uses Apple's Translation framework, and a vocabulary plus voice commands fix names and jargon.

Local history with audio

Each dictation is kept on the Mac with its audio, the raw transcript and the cleaned text, and can be searched in full or replayed. History is never synced and can be switched off.

MacWhisper

Local file transcription

Transcribes audio and video files such as mp3, wav, m4a, mov and mp4 with models that run on the Mac, so recordings are processed offline and do not leave the computer.

System-wide dictation

Dictate into any text field on the Mac. Free includes dictation; Pro adds a higher-quality mode, automatic grammar improvement and dictation with AI prompts.

Meeting and app audio recording

Records Zoom, Teams, Webex, Skype and Discord calls in the background, or the audio of any Mac app, and transcribes the result.

Speaker recognition and batch jobs

Pro labels different speakers automatically, transcribes many files in one batch and can transcribe YouTube and other media URLs.

Subtitle and document export

Free exports .txt plus .srt and .vtt subtitles. Pro adds .md, .pdf, .html and .docx and can translate subtitles automatically.

AI summaries and chat

Summarize or chat with a transcript by connecting your own provider, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, xAI or local models through Ollama.

Dictato

• Dictato€19.99

  one-time payment, one Mac at a time

  Lifetime license with all four engines, proofreading, tones, translation, profiles and updates. VAT is included, and the license can move Macs up to 3 times per 30 days.

MacWhisper

• MacWhisper Free€0

  Microphone recording, file transcription in 100 languages, system-wide dictation and export to .txt, .srt and .vtt.

• MacWhisper Pro€65

  one-time payment, 1 license for personal use

  Lifetime updates. Adds speaker recognition, batch transcription, more export formats, higher-quality dictation and integrations.

• 5 licenses (Pro)€269

  one-time payment (€54 per license)

  Five Pro licenses bought together. Larger packs of 10, 20 and 50 licenses are also sold.

Dictato

• Lifetime license

  One-time lifetime license for €19.99

  A single payment of 19.99 € including VAT buys a lifetime license with updates and no renewal. It follows a 7-day free trial and carries a 14-day refund.

MacWhisper

• Lifetime license

  Pro is a one-time €65 license

  MacWhisper Pro is a pay-once license at €65 that includes lifetime updates, with no subscription on the direct-download version. The Gumroad listing promises a refund if you ask within 7 days.

• Education

  25% off for students on request

  The Gumroad listing says students, journalists and nonprofits can email support, describe their work and get 25% off.

• Nonprofit

  25% off for nonprofits on request

  Nonprofits are covered by the same offer as students and journalists: email support with details of your work to get 25% off.

• Other savings

  Volume packs from €54 per license

  Pro license packs lower the unit price: 5 licenses for €269 (€54 each), 10 for €490 (€49 each), 20 for €899 (€45 each) and 50 for €2,199 (€44 each).