Compare

How Rekody compares.

Rekody next to Apple Dictation, Wispr Flow, MacWhisper and Superwhisper. Every competitor cell comes from that vendor's own site, docs, or privacy policy; the pages we used are linked at the bottom. Where a vendor doesn't publish a fact, the cell shows a dot instead of a guess. And where a competitor is better at something, the table says so.

Checked July 2026 against each vendor’s official pages. Corrections welcome: hi@rekody.com

Full comparison of Rekody, Apple Dictation, Wispr Flow, MacWhisper and Superwhisper
Featurerekody.Apple DictationWispr FlowMacWhisperSuperwhisper
PriceFree. The Mac app is free; the CLI is MIT open source.Included with macOS.$15/mo, or $12/mo billed annually. Free tier: 2,000 words/week. 14-day Pro trial.Free version. Pro is €64 once, with lifetime updates.$8.49/mo, $84.99/yr, or $249.99 once. Free tier that doesn’t expire.
Account requiredNoNoYes, sign-in requiredPro unlocks with a license key5Pro unlocks with a license key5
Works offlineYes. Models download once at setup.Mostly. On Apple silicon, general dictation runs on-device in many languages with no internet. Intel Macs and other languages use Apple servers.1No. Internet connection required to transcribe.Yes, with local models.Yes, with local models. Their docs note offline models run best on Apple Silicon.
Where your speech is processedOn your Mac by default. Optional cloud engines exist; they are labeled and only run if you pick one.3On-device on Apple silicon for supported languages, otherwise Apple servers. Keyboard settings shows which applies to you.1In the cloud. With cloud sync off, audio is processed in real time and discarded after each request.On your Mac. Optional cloud services via your own API keys.Your choice per mode: local models on-device, or cloud models.
Do they keep your audioNever. No audio saved, no analytics, no Rekody server involved.Not unless you opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation. Transcripts of server requests can be kept up to two years under a rotating random identifier.2Configurable. Zero-retention combo is Privacy Mode on plus cloud sync off; with cloud sync on, dictation data is stored on their servers.4No. Processing is local; their words: “without data ever leaving your Mac.”No. Their policy: no audio recordings collected, nothing stored on their servers, no usage data.
Speech engine, as publishedLocal Whisper plus a local streaming engine. Models download once.Apple’s built-in dictation. On-device languages use downloadable speech models; the model itself is unnamed.Cloud AI. Models not named publicly.Local Whisper and Parakeet models. Optional cloud speech services (Deepgram, ElevenLabs, Gladia).Local Whisper-family and Parakeet models. Optional cloud models (Ultra, Nova, Scribe, S1-Voice).
Custom dictionaryYes. Personal dictionary, built in.Yes. Auto-learns your words; personal dictionary plus snippets.Yes, as a Pro feature.
Works in any appYes. Text lands at your cursor.Yes. Anywhere you can type.Yes. Every application on your computer or phone.Yes. System-wide dictation.Yes. Any site or app.
ActivationHold ⌥ Space and talk; release to insert. Quick-tap to latch hands-free, tap again to stop.Mic key, a customizable shortcut, or Edit > Start Dictation.Hold fn to talk; double-press to lock hands-free. Sessions cap at 20 minutes.A keyboard shortcut you configure in settings.Press ⌥ Space to start; push-to-talk hold also available.
Words appear as you speakYes. Streaming preview in the pill while you talk.No, by design. Their docs: no live transcription; text is inserted after processing.
PlatformsmacOS. App needs macOS 13+ on Apple Silicon; the CLI also runs on Intel.Built into macOS.macOS, Windows, iPhone, Android.macOS, plus a separate iOS app.macOS, Windows, iOS.
LanguagesEnglish today. If you dictate in another language, the others serve you better right now.About 50 on Apple’s published list; about 35 of them on-device.7100+ with automatic detection.100.100+ languages and dialects, with translation to English.
yesno not published by the vendor

Notes

  1. 1Apple: “On a Mac with Apple silicon, general text dictation requests… are processed on the device in many languages and no internet connection is required.” Dictating on an Intel-based Mac, in a language without on-device support, or into a search box sends utterances to Apple or the search provider.
  2. 2Apple: “Unless you opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation, your audio data is not stored by Apple.” Transcripts of server-processed requests “may be retained… for up to two years” under “a random, device-generated identifier” not tied to your Apple Account.
  3. 3Rekody’s default engine is local (stt_engine = "local"). The CLI config also offers an optional cloud engine (Groq Whisper); it never runs unless you pick it, and there is no Rekody server in either path.
  4. 4Wispr Flow documents two independent controls: Privacy Mode (whether your data trains models) and Private Cloud Sync (whether dictation data is stored on their servers). Their docs call Privacy Mode on plus Cloud Sync off “Zero Data Retention.” Defaults are not published.
  5. 5Neither MacWhisper nor Superwhisper publishes whether the free tier needs a sign-in, so we leave that unclaimed. Both sell Pro as a license key.
  6. 6MacWhisper’s homepage calls the feature “Real-time dictation” but does not say whether words render while you are still speaking, so we leave the cell unclaimed.
  7. 7Counted from the Dictation sections of Apple’s macOS Feature Availability page, July 2026. The on-device subset is listed as “Dictation: On-Device and Modeless Dictation.”
  8. 8Apple’s current Mac User Guide describes dictation feedback (the pulsing cursor) but does not state whether words render while you speak, so we leave the cell unclaimed.

Sources

The official pages every cell was checked against, accessed July 2026. If one of them changes and a cell above is stale, tell us:hi@rekody.com.

Apple

Wispr Flow

MacWhisper

Superwhisper

Rekody

Ready in about a minute.

Download the app, drag it to Applications, then hold⌥ Space and say something.

Download for Mac · freeView source on GitHub

macOS 13+ · Apple Silicon · auto-updates · free

Live in the terminal? The open-source CLI installs with Homebrew and also runs on Intel Macs.

Runs on-device by default. Cloud engines are optional and labeled. Prefer curl, make, or cargo? See the README.