Superwhisper is probably the most famous Mac dictation app. It costs $249 lifetime or $8/month. Whisperer costs $14.99 once and has features Superwhisper doesn't. Here's how they compare.
Price Comparison#
| Whisperer | Superwhisper | |
|---|---|---|
| Base app | $2.99 one-time | N/A |
| Full version | $14.99 one-time (Pro Pack) | $249 lifetime or $8/mo |
| Subscription required | No | Optional ($8/mo alternative) |
| 1-year cost | $14.99 | $96–249 |
| 3-year cost | $14.99 | $249–288 |
| 5-year cost | $14.99 | $249–480 |
Whisperer costs about 1/17th of Superwhisper's lifetime license. At $8/month, Superwhisper exceeds Whisperer's total cost in two months.
Feature Comparison#
| Feature | Whisperer | Superwhisper |
|---|---|---|
| Live dictation | Yes | Yes |
| Inserts into any app | Yes | Yes |
| Code Mode | Yes (Pro) | No |
| Per-app profiles | Yes (Pro) | No |
| Casing commands (camelCase, snake_case) | Yes | No |
| Symbol dictation (20+ commands) | Yes | No |
| Personal dictionary | Yes (Pro) | No |
| AI post-processing | Yes (10 modes, offline) | Yes (cloud-based) |
| 100% offline | Yes | Partial (some modes use cloud) |
| Streaming preview | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple transcription engines | 3 (Whisper, NVIDIA, Apple) | 1 (Whisper) |
| File transcription | Yes | Yes |
| Transcription history | Yes | Partial |
| Filler word removal | Yes | Yes |
| Languages | 100+ | 100+ |
Where Whisperer Wins#
Code Mode
No other Mac dictation app has this. Say "user ID camel case" and get userID. Say "open paren" and get (. Superwhisper can't dictate code syntax. If you're a developer, this alone decides it. See Code Mode.
Per-App Profiles
Whisperer switches modes based on the active app. VS Code gets Code Mode, Slack gets normal text. Superwhisper doesn't do this.
Price
$14.99 once vs $249 lifetime. Or $8/month that adds up forever. Hard to justify the difference when Whisperer has features Superwhisper lacks.
Fully Offline
Whisperer processes everything on your Mac. Superwhisper has cloud modes, which means audio goes to external servers in some configurations.
Three Engines#
Whisper (GPU), NVIDIA (Neural Engine), Apple Speech. Switch between them without restarting. Superwhisper has Whisper only. The NVIDIA engine is fastest on Apple Silicon and supports vocabulary boosting from your personal dictionary.
Offline AI#
Ten AI modes run on your Mac: rewrite, translate, format, summarize, fix grammar, and more. Superwhisper's AI uses cloud for some modes, so you need internet and your text goes to servers.
Where Superwhisper Wins#
Brand and Polish#
Superwhisper has been around longer. More people know it. The UI is slick with smooth animations. They've had more time to refine the experience.
Better AI Rewriting#
Superwhisper's cloud AI can use GPT-4-class models. Whisperer's on-device AI is smaller and less capable at complex rewrites. If you need powerful text transformation and don't mind cloud processing, Superwhisper is better at that.
Bigger Community#
More users means more tips, workflows, and shared knowledge online.
Total Cost#
| Period | Whisperer Pro | Superwhisper (lifetime) | Superwhisper (monthly) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | $14.99 | $249 | $96 |
| 2 years | $14.99 | $249 | $192 |
| 3 years | $14.99 | $249 | $288 |
| 5 years | $14.99 | $249 | $480 |
Three years of Superwhisper monthly costs $288. Whisperer is still $14.99.
Which One#
Whisperer if:
- You write code and need Code Mode
- You want fully offline processing
- $14.99 vs $249 matters to you
- You want per-app profiles
- You want to pick between multiple engines
Superwhisper if:
- You want the most polished UI
- You need GPT-4-class AI rewriting and are okay with cloud
- Budget isn't a constraint
- You don't need Code Mode
More: vs Voibe, vs Wispr Flow, vs Apple Dictation. See all comparisons and pricing.
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