Dictato vs VoiceInk

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

VoiceInk

• Mac users who want speech transcribed on their own machine
• Buyers who prefer a one-time license to a subscription
• People who want to pick their own transcription and AI providers

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.

VoiceInk

• A Mac license does not cover the iPhone and iPad app, which is licensed separately and is free while in beta.
• Vendor pages disagree on requirements: the pricing page says Apple Silicon and macOS 14.4 or later, the install docs say macOS 15 or later.
• AI enhancement and cloud transcription need your own provider API keys, and those requests leave the Mac.
• Licenses are capped by device count: 1, 2 or 3 Macs on the personal plans and 10 on the Startup License.

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.

VoiceInk

Local transcription

Speech is transcribed by models that run on the Mac, including Parakeet and Whisper, so audio is processed on the device. Onboarding starts with the Parakeet V3 model.

Modes and triggers

A Mode sets the transcription model, language, AI enhancement and output, and can switch automatically by app, website, spoken trigger phrase or shortcut.

AI enhancement with your own keys

Optionally send the transcript to a provider you connect, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini or Groq, to clean up, rewrite or draft a reply. VoiceInk Refine does cleanup locally.

Dictionary and Smart Replace

Add names and custom vocabulary, expand a short spoken phrase into exact text, and let Auto Learn pick up corrections you make.

File transcription and history

Queue existing audio and video files for transcription, and search, replay, export or retry earlier results in a history stored on the Mac.

Assistant Mode

Ask a question by voice and carry on the conversation inside the recorder window, using the AI provider you have connected.

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.

VoiceInk

• Solo$25

  one-time payment, 1 Mac

  Lifetime access on 1 macOS device, with lifetime updates and a 14-day money-back guarantee.

• Personal$39

  one-time payment, up to 2 Macs

  The same lifetime license on up to 2 macOS devices, aimed at a desktop Mac plus a MacBook.

• Extended$49

  one-time payment, up to 3 Macs

  The same lifetime license on up to 3 macOS devices.

• Startup License$159

  one-time payment, up to 10 Macs

  A team license bought in one checkout that works on up to 10 Macs.

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.

VoiceInk

• Lifetime license

  One-time license from $25

  Every plan is a single payment with lifetime updates and a 14-day money-back guarantee: $25 for 1 Mac, $39 for 2, $49 for 3 and $159 for 10.

• Education

  Student discount on request

  The site's FAQ says student discounts are available by contacting the developer with a student ID. The amount is not published.

• Other savings

  Creator Bonus: up to 100% back for sharing

  Public posts about VoiceInk earn 30% back at 1,000 total views, 50% at 2,000 and a full refund at 10,000. People who have not bought yet get a 30% discount instead.