Dictato vs Wispr Flow

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

Wispr Flow

• People who write a lot of email, chat and documents and prefer to speak
• Developers dictating into a terminal, code editor or AI tool
• Students and educators, who get 50% off Pro with an education email

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.

Wispr Flow

• Free dictation is capped at 2,000 words a week on desktop and 1,000 a week on mobile.
• The Notetaker runs on Mac and Windows only; the vendor says mobile is on the roadmap.
• SAML SSO and org-wide HIPAA enforcement need Growth, and SCIM and audit logs need Enterprise.
• Growth is listed at a discounted price next to a crossed-out $26 a month (annual); no end date is given.

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.

Wispr Flow

Dictation in any app

Speech-to-text works wherever you can type, including Gmail, Slack, Notion, a terminal or a code editor, in 100+ languages with automatic language detection.

Automatic cleanup

Removes filler words, repetitions and mid-sentence corrections, then adds punctuation and formatting so the output reads like written text.

Personal dictionary

Learns unusual words and names automatically, and you can add your own. Paid plans add a dictionary shared across the team.

Snippets

Store text you type all the time, such as email replies, links, addresses and bios, and reuse it instead of dictating or typing it again.

Notetaker for meetings

On Mac and Windows, the Notetaker captures meetings and voice memos, identifies speakers and answers questions across meetings. Notes can be used in Claude and ChatGPT through MCP.

Security and admin controls

Wispr states SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and ISO 27001 certification. Growth adds SAML SSO and usage reporting; SCIM and audit logs are on Enterprise.

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.

Wispr Flow

• Free$0

  Dictation in 100+ languages with weekly word limits, dictionary and snippets, and a weekly limit on Notetaker meetings.

• Pro$12

  per user / month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)

  Unlimited dictation, higher Notetaker limits with longer history, shared team dictionary and snippets, and priority support.

• Growth$18

  per user / month, billed annually ($23 billed monthly)

  Shown against a crossed-out $26. Adds SAML SSO, org-wide HIPAA enforcement with a signed BAA, admin controls and usage reporting.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Annual contracts only. Adds SCIM provisioning, audit logs, MDM deployment and dedicated support with SLAs.

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.

Wispr Flow

• Annual discount

  Save 20% with annual billing

  The pricing page shows a 20% discount for annual billing: Pro is $12 per user per month instead of $15, and Growth is $18 instead of $23.

• Education

  50% off Flow Pro for students and educators

  Students and educators with an education email get 50% off Flow Pro. The student page lists $6 a month billed annually, with 3 months free for new subscribers.

• Nonprofit

  Discounted Flow Pro for nonprofits

  Wispr says it offers discounted Flow Pro to nonprofit organizations. The amount is not published; applicants use a verification form linked from the student page.