# Ghost Pepper

26 Hacker News commenters recommended Ghost Pepper and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source, fully local hold-to-talk dictation for Mac, with a corrections feature that handles jargon well. Critics mainly note it is Mac-only.

## Why people recommend it

- Fully local, on-device processing (3 comments): "its like superwhisrp but oss/free and local" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48369845)) "nice work on keeping it all on device" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47669791)) "nice to see this running fully local" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47671794))
- Accurate with technical jargon (2 comments): "the "corrections" feature works well for most of the jargon and misspelling use cases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47667306)) "Way more accurate, especially with technical jargon." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47671099))
- Fits into existing workflows (2 comments): "I really like the project and am eager to try and fit this into some of my workflows." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47673835)) "This is ideal for my use case, yeah. No need to fiddle around with another app's UI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47669444))
- Customizable to your own needs (2 comments): "you can actually create a skill.md with the features you need to build your own" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47669727)) "But I did it because I wanted it to work exactly the way I wanted it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47668449))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Handy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/handy.md): 150 recommend
- [Wispr Flow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wispr-flow.md): 52 recommend
- [MacWhisper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macwhisper.md): 31 recommend
- [macOS Dictation](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos-built-in-dictation.md): 26 recommend
- [Hex voice-to-text app for macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hex.md): 26 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Ghost Pepper", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ghost-pepper/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).