Free voice dictation for Mac

Typing is slow. Your voice isn't.

Most people type 40 words a minute. You probably speak closer to 130. Say it rough, say it fast — we'll fix the rest.

Download for macOS

✓ No account ✓ Free ✓ macOS 13+

Live comparison

Manual typing
0wpm
starting…
Whispa voice
0wpm
starting…
or hold your real right ⌥ key
standby 00:00.0 ∼1.2s avg
heard

"uh hey team, i'll send the report by end of day thanks"

typed

Hey team — I'll send the report by end of day. Thanks!

● Features

Everything it does,
demonstrated.

01

Hold to record right ⌥

Key down, speak, key up. No window to open, nothing to click, no app to switch to. Transcription starts the instant you let go.

02

Cleans as it types

A fast AI pass strips the ums, fixes punctuation, and formats naturally — without changing what you actually said. Your words, minus the static.

03

If a cursor blinks there, Whispa types there

Email, Slack, Notion, a terminal, a code-review comment — no copy-paste step. If you can type there, Whispa can too.

04

Snippets

Say "my email" and the whole address types itself. Set a trigger phrase for anything you find yourself repeating.

05

Works your way remappable

Right Option is just the default. Remap to any modifier or function key, switch to a hands-free toggle, or add a paste-last hotkey — whenever you feel like it.

06

Nothing to manage

No account, no sign-in, no settings you're forced to touch. Download, allow the mic, talk.

● Setup

Five minutes,
once.

From download to your first dictation. After that there's nothing to maintain — it just sits in your menu bar and waits for the key.

  1. Download and open

    Open Whispa.dmg, drag to Applications.

    macOS may show a one-time "unidentified developer" notice. If it does: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Once only.

  2. Allow two permissions

    Microphone, so Whispa can hear you. Accessibility, so it can type for you. macOS prompts for both — that's the whole setup.

  3. Hold Right ⌥ and talk

    Click into any app — wherever you'd normally type. Hold the key, say your sentence, release.

  4. Read it back

    Clean, punctuated text appears at your cursor in about a second. That's the entire loop.

● Pricing

Free.
That's the pricing.

Everything included. Nothing held back. Download it, hold the key, and get on with your day.

For context

Wispr Flow$15 / month
Superwhisper$9.99 / month
Apple Dictationbuilt-in, limited
WhispaFree

Every feature included. No sign-up. Competitor prices as listed on their websites, June 2026.

● Privacy

Where your
voice goes.

01 — Your mic

Records only while the key is down. Silent the rest of the time — no wake words, no always-on listening.

02 — Transcription

Audio goes to OpenAI or Deepgram, comes back as text, and is immediately discarded. Whispa has no servers of its own.

03 — Your cursor

The text is typed where you were working. Your history lives only on your Mac.

No accounts, no analytics, no tracking. There is nothing to log into and nothing watching you.

No background network calls, no auto-updates. Nothing leaves your Mac except the audio you deliberately record.

● Questions

Asked & answered.

Will it always be free?
It's free right now — every feature, no trial, no credit card, no sign-up. If that ever changes, you'll hear from us directly before anything else changes.
Why does macOS say "unidentified developer" on first launch?
Whispa is an indie app distributed outside the App Store, so macOS shows a one-time notice. To open it: launch Whispa once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the "Whispa was blocked" message, and click Open Anyway. (Right-click → Open no longer works on recent macOS.) You do this exactly once.
Why does Whispa need Accessibility permission?
It's how Whispa types into other apps: it places your text on the clipboard and simulates ⌘V. That is the only thing the Accessibility permission is used for.
How accurate is it?
Very — Deepgram Nova-3 and OpenAI's Whisper are both state-of-the-art models. Your mic, background noise, and how clearly you speak all matter. The cleanup pass also catches many small transcription slips before anything is typed.
What hotkeys can I use?
Default is Right Option to hold-record. Remap it to any modifier key (Right Control, Left Shift…) or function key (F5–F12) in Settings. There's also a hands-free toggle mode and a paste-last hotkey — all remappable, all independent.
Does it run on Apple Silicon?
Yes — natively on Apple Silicon (M1 through M4) and on Intel Macs, on macOS 13 Ventura or later.
I found a bug. Where do I report it?
Email jasonroylancer@gmail.com — a real inbox, read by a human, usually within a day.

● Free  ·  1.1 MB  ·  macOS 13+

Fumble, ramble, mumble. We'll fix it.

Hold a key, say whatever comes out, let go. Whispa strips the fillers, fixes the punctuation, and pastes a clean message at your cursor. Speak like a human. Sound exactly like you intended.

Download for macOS

✓ Free✓ No account✓ Uninstall anytime