Free, open source speech to text for Mac. Runs entirely on your Mac, with on-device AI cleanup.
YapToText turns your voice into text in any app on your Mac. Press one key, talk, and your words land wherever your cursor is, cleaned up and punctuated, with the speech model and the cleanup model running on the Mac itself. Nothing ever leaves your machine: no account, no cloud, no subscription, no word cap.
It is the no-subscription alternative to Wispr Flow, superwhisper, and MacWhisper, built by someone who cannot type and dictates everything, including this.
Made by Ryleigh Newman, one person who dictates everything with it. The about page has the facts for the record, and the privacy policy says what the app does and does not collect.
Or with Homebrew: brew install --cask ryleighnewman/yaptotext/yaptotext (the Homebrew build downloads its
speech model on first launch; see install).
Website: yaptotext.com, with install steps, help for every page of the app, release notes, how it compares and the privacy policy.
Tap Right Command anywhere on your Mac, say what you want to write, and tap again. The speech model (Whisper Large v3 Turbo) and the cleanup model (Phi-3.5 Mini) both ship inside the app, so it works offline from the first launch. Auto mode reads each dictation and shapes it for where it is going, Quick Edit rewrites any selected text by voice, and everything else in the sidebar is optional.
- The dictation pop-up and the Quick Edit pop-up can be dragged again on macOS 27
- Rebuilt media pausing: a paused video stays paused when you dictate, and videos in Safari and web-based apps now pause and resume too
Full release history in CHANGELOG.md, and the notes for every version are in the release notes on yaptotext.com.
Open YapToText and the whole app is on one screen: your dictation and Quick Edit keys, Intelligent Insert, the after-transcription switches, and your stats. The floating panel shows your voice as a live wave while you talk, in whichever layout and color you like.
YapToText is an accessibility tool first. One key runs everything, that key can be any key, and dictation can fully replace typing. It works alongside VoiceOver and Voice Control, and it was built by someone who depends on it every day.
Select some text in any app, tap your Quick Edit key, and say the change: shorten it, fix the tone, capitalize it, translate it. The result lands right where the selection was. Small, exact requests like "change this to hearing aids" are instant and skip the AI.
Background noise is removed before transcription, quiet voices are lifted to full clarity by measuring your voice against the room, and the decoder digs deeper when the room gets loud. Whispering next to a running 3D printer transcribes cleanly.
Click the capybara to start a dictation, switch mode or microphone, transcribe a file, regenerate your last dictation as any mode, or insert it again. His speech bubble turns red while recording, spins while transcribing, and flashes green when your text lands.
Every mode is its own pipeline: transcription, dictionaries, cleanup model, output style. Raw Transcription, Clean Up, Note, Email, Message, and Code Comment are built in, every one is editable in plain language, and you can press 1 to 9 mid-dictation to switch, or let Auto pick for you.
Every dictation keeps its receipts: the audio, what the speech model heard, what the AI delivered, and the model, mode, and timings behind it. Nothing is a mystery.
On-device speech recognition, local AI models built in, no analytics, no tracking, no accounts. The code is open source under GPL-3.0, so every one of those claims can be checked instead of trusted.
Dictionaries fix the names it mishears, and fixing the same word twice makes the app offer to remember it. Commands type anything you say: "insert phone number" types your real number, "insert smiley face" types the emoji.
Every dictation is saved on your Mac with playback, search, and export. If the app or the Mac dies mid-sentence, the audio survives and is transcribed on the next launch, so the words are waiting for you in History.
| YapToText | Wispr Flow | superwhisper | MacWhisper | Apple Dictation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, forever | Subscription | Free tier, paid tiers | Paid, one time | Free |
| Where your voice goes | Never leaves your Mac | Cloud | Local or cloud | Local | Local |
| Open source | Yes, GPL-3.0 | No | No | No | No |
| Works offline | Yes, from first launch | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI cleanup of what you said | Yes, on device | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Edit selected text by voice | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Account required | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Built for accessibility | Yes, VoiceOver and Voice Control | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Yes |
Checked August 2026. The paid apps are good software and some of them do things I don't do yet. Prices and features change, so check for yourself before you switch.
The dated comparison lives at yaptotext.com/compare, with one page each for Wispr Flow, superwhisper, MacWhisper and VoiceInk.
- Dictate anywhere. One tap of Right Command starts dictation in any app, and the text is typed right at the cursor. Tap to toggle or hold to talk, pause with Space, cancel with Esc, and remap the key to anything.
- Intelligent Insert. Dictate into the middle of a sentence and the case, spacing, and punctuation adapt to the text around your cursor. Dictate over a selection and the replacement takes its shape. Turn it off per app if an app dislikes it.
- Quick Edit. Select text in any app, tap your Quick Edit key, and say the change. Rewrite, shorten, fix tone, translate, or swap a word exactly as you say it.
- Auto mode. It reads each dictation and picks the right format on its own: an email comes out as an email, a quick message stays casual, everything else is cleaned up. End with "make that formal" or "as a bullet list" and it follows the instruction.
- Modes for everything. Raw Transcription, Clean Up, Email, Note, Message, Code Comment, or write your own with custom instructions and give each app its own default. Press 1 through 9 mid-dictation to switch.
- Send it for me. Choose a key per app (Return or Command Return) that is pressed the moment your words land, so a dictated message goes out on its own.
- Hears you through anything. Background-noise removal, adaptive amplification that measures your voice against the room, and deeper decoding when it gets loud. Bluetooth hearing aids and headsets keep their full sound quality.
- Fully on device. The speech model and the cleanup model ship inside the app. It works offline from the first launch. Bring your own Whisper or GGUF model if you like, and let the models follow your power source on the Energy page.
- Teach it your words. Dictionaries fix the names it mishears. Commands type anything you say. Say "add this to my dictionary" over a selection and it is learned.
- Never lose a word. Crash recovery rescues interrupted dictations. Full history with playback, search, export, and statistics, all computed locally.
- Transcribe any file. Drop in audio or video, get the text.
- Built for accessibility. Works with VoiceOver and Voice Control, one key runs everything, and dictation can fully replace typing.
- macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, Apple Silicon. On macOS 26 the interface picks up the new Liquid Glass look.
- Xcode 26+ to build from source.
- AI modes use the bundled Phi-3.5 Mini model. On macOS 26 you can choose Apple Intelligence for cleanup instead. Raw Transcription needs neither.
- Full requirements and both install routes: yaptotext.com/install.
- Microphone (required): so it can hear you.
- Accessibility (required for automatic pasting): macOS only lets apps with this permission type into other apps. Without it, YapToText still transcribes everything and copies the result to your clipboard.
The formal policy is in PRIVACY.md; the short version:
- Audio is processed on device and is never uploaded.
- History stores your transcripts as JSON in the app's own container on your Mac, and (by default) the audio of each dictation next to them so you can play a recording back. The audio stays on your Mac like everything else; turn off "save audio with history" in Settings to keep text only, choose how much history is retained, or delete any entry, and its audio is removed with it.
- No network calls in normal use. The only exception is a model download you start yourself. No analytics, no account, no tracking of any kind.
- The entire source is here, so none of this has to be taken on faith.
The bullet points above are the promise; this is exactly where every byte lives and travels.
- Audio. Captured from the microphone, transcribed in memory on your Mac. While a dictation is running, the audio is also written to a file inside the app's sandboxed container as a crash-recovery net. With "save audio with history" on (the default) that file is kept alongside the History entry for playback; with it off, the file is deleted the moment the dictation ends. Deleting a History entry deletes its audio, and the history retention setting prunes old audio automatically. Nothing is ever sent anywhere.
- Raw transcript. What the speech model heard, before any cleanup. Kept in History
(alongside the cleaned text) so you can always compare the two: each entry has a
"Show what was heard" toggle. History is a plain JSON file in the app's container:
~/Library/Containers/.../Data/Library/Application Support/YapToText/history.json. - Cleaned text. Produced on device by the bundled local model, or by Apple Intelligence if you choose it on macOS 26. The prompt and your text never leave the machine.
- Model downloads. The ONLY network traffic the app can generate, and only when you explicitly click a download button: models are fetched over HTTPS from Hugging Face and stored in the app's container. No request carries anything about you or your dictations. The recommended models can also ship inside the app bundle, in which case even this traffic never happens.
- Crash logs. Standard Apple crash reporting only, governed by your macOS analytics settings. The app has no crash SDK of its own and phones home to nothing.
- Update checks. None. Updates come from the Mac App Store (or you rebuild from source); the app itself never checks a server.
- Settings, dictionaries, modes. JSON files in the same sandboxed container. Deleting the app deletes all of it.
git clone https://github.com/ryleighnewman/YapToText.git
open YapToText/YapToText.xcodeprojSelect the YapToText scheme and press Cmd-R. The app is sandboxed and builds the same way it ships.
Is there a free alternative to Wispr Flow? This is one. YapToText does the same job, costs nothing, and runs on your Mac instead of a server, so there is no subscription and no account. More on the Wispr Flow alternative page.
Is there an open-source superwhisper alternative? Yes. The whole app is here under GPL-3.0, including the speech and AI pipeline, so you can read exactly what happens to your voice. More on the superwhisper alternative page.
What is the best free dictation app for Mac? I am biased, so here is the honest version: Apple's built-in dictation is free and fine for short bursts. If you want AI cleanup, modes, custom vocabulary, and editing text by voice without paying monthly, that is what I built this for. The longer answer is the best free dictation apps for Mac.
How is this different from Apple's built-in dictation? Apple's transcribes what you say. This transcribes it, then formats it: an email comes out as an email, a note as a note. It also fixes words it mishears, remembers your history, and lets you edit any selected text by speaking. The guide to speech to text on a Mac sets the two side by side.
Does it work offline? Yes, from the first launch. The speech model and the AI cleanup model are inside the app. Offline dictation for Mac shows how to test it.
Does my voice get sent anywhere? No. There are no network calls at all unless you click a button to download an optional model. The Privacy section below documents every byte.
Is it really free? What is the catch? No catch. No paid tier, no locked features, no ads, no data collection. There is a tip jar in the app if you want to, and that is it. I built it because I need it, and charging disabled people for the ability to type felt wrong.
Which Macs does it run on? macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later on Apple Silicon.
The help articles and guides live on yaptotext.com, one page per question:
- Your first dictation and keys and shortcuts
- Intelligent Insert, Quick Edit, Auto mode, modes and dictionaries
- Speech and cleanup models, energy and battery, history and troubleshooting
- YapToText compared with Wispr Flow, superwhisper, MacWhisper and VoiceInk
- Dictate on a Mac with one key, dictation for carpal tunnel, Mac dictation with hearing aids and typing on a Mac without your hands
- Dictation for coding, in Word, in Google Docs and into any app
- Transcribe an audio or video file and Whisper on a Mac
YapToText is free with no locked features. If it helps you, there's a tip jar in the app, and that's it. Bug reports and ideas are welcome in Issues.