FluidVoice
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 12 of 26 dictation apps by recommenders
Free dictation app that people recommend for private, fully local speech-to-text with a useful feature set and a real-time view of speech.
Free dictation app that people recommend for private, fully local speech-to-text with a useful feature set and a real-time view of speech.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs fully locally on device
“They are cooking up smaller and smaller dictation polish models to do everything locally.”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Anyone using a Wispr Flow alternative that is non-cloud?” “its a 100% local voice model that works really well and really fast.”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “SnippAI – Screenshot, speak, straight into your Claude Code session” Richer UI and feature set
“The UI is much better and offers a better and more comprehensive feature set”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: BetterWispr – Free, open-source dictation for Mac” “seems privacy focused with a bit more enhancements like custom dictionary”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Anyone using dictation with coding agents?”
Other dictation apps people recommend
The four most recommended other dictation apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handy | 150 | 20 | 88% | 12 | 1 mo5 owners | Approved |
| Wispr Flow | 52 | 33 | 61% | 12 | — | — |
| MacWhisper | 31 | 9 | 78% | 12 | — | Approved |
| macOS Dictation | 26 | 44 | 37% | 10 | — | — |
| FluidVoiceThis page | 11 | 4 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
15 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Sadly fluidvoice is mac only.”
“can't compete with them honestly but do give it a try”
“The UI is much better and offers a better and more comprehensive feature set”
“They are cooking up smaller and smaller dictation polish models to do everything locally.”
“works a bit better on tech jargon than vanilla parakeet”
“has been working well enough for me on my laptop”
“So privacy focused that it sends telemetry”
“seems privacy focused with a bit more enhancements like custom dictionary”
“its a 100% local voice model that works really well and really fast.”
“I tried FluidVoice (found it buggy)”
“Comes close to those 2 imo.”
“FluidVoice is incredible and developing quickly”
“Offers a unique feature, a real-time view of your speech as you talk!”
“Its vibe coded UI feels too complicated.”
“FluidVoice for macOS is pretty handy as well.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.