Why Offline?
Cloud dictation sends your voice to remote servers. Whisperer keeps everything on your Mac.
Privacy
Voice data stays on your Mac. No cloud servers, no third-party processing, no data collection.
No Latency
No network round-trip. Whisperer processes speech locally with ~300ms live preview.
Works Anywhere
Airplane mode, coffee shop without WiFi, secure network. Works after the initial model download.
No Accounts
No sign-up. No API keys. No quotas. Download and start dictating.
No Per-Minute Charges
Cloud services charge per minute. Whisperer is $14.99 once. Dictate as much as you want.
Apple Silicon Optimized
Metal GPU for Whisper, Neural Engine for NVIDIA. Built for Apple Silicon.
Three Transcription Engines
Switch between engines without restarting. Each uses different hardware.
Whisper
DefaultOpenAI's Whisper model. Best accuracy and broadest language support. Uses Apple Silicon Metal GPU for fast inference.
NVIDIA
FastestNVIDIA model via CoreML. Runs on the dedicated Neural Engine, leaving GPU free. Supports CTC vocabulary boosting from your dictionary.
Apple Speech
NativeApple's SpeechAnalyzer framework. Zero setup, no model downloads. Best for quick dictation when you don't need maximum accuracy.
Offline vs. Cloud Dictation
How Whisperer compares to cloud-based and other offline options.
| Feature | Whisperer | Wispr Flow | Google Voice | Apple Dictation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% Offline | Yes* | |||
| Price | $14.99 once | $10–15/mo | Free | Free |
| 3-Year Cost | $14.99 | $360–540 | Free | Free |
| Code Mode | ||||
| Per-App Profiles | ||||
| Multiple Engines | 3 | Cloud | 1 | 1 |
| Personal Dictionary | ||||
| File Transcription |
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Whisperer really 100% offline?
Yes. After the model download (75MB-2.9GB), it never contacts any server. Transcription, AI post-processing, text insertion all happen on your Mac.
What is the best offline dictation app for Mac?
Whisperer has three engines, Code Mode, per-app profiles, personal dictionary. $14.99 one-time. No competitor offers this combination.
How does offline dictation compare to cloud-based?
Offline is faster (no network latency), more private, and cheaper (no per-minute charges). For English and major languages, Whisper matches cloud quality.
Does offline dictation work on Intel Macs?
Yes, but Apple Silicon is better. Whisper runs on CPU for Intel (slower). NVIDIA and Apple Speech need Apple Silicon. M1 and later work well.
How much storage do the models require?
75MB (Tiny) to 2.9GB (Large V3). Recommended model is about 500MB. NVIDIA is 100-200MB. You choose what to download.
Can I use offline dictation in any app?
Yes. Whisperer inserts into any focused field: VS Code, Cursor, Slack, Gmail, Notion, Terminal, anything else.
Is there a free offline dictation app for Mac?
Apple Dictation is free on Apple Silicon. But it lacks Code Mode, per-app profiles, personal dictionary, file transcription. Whisperer base is $2.99.
Does Whisperer support multiple languages offline?
Yes. Whisper: 99+ languages. NVIDIA: 25. Set different languages per app. AI translation available offline.