VoiceInk
Hacker ApprovedRanked 10 of 26 dictation apps by recommenders
Mac dictation app that types at the cursor in any app; people like its speed, accuracy and local, one-time-fee model. Some find its UI annoying.
Mac dictation app that types at the cursor in any app; people like its speed, accuracy and local, one-time-fee model. Some find its UI annoying.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 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 locally and offline
“offline-running software called VoiceInk for macos. No need for groq or external AI.”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Free Alternative to Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, and Monologue” “this is the future of AI pricing - local models and one-time fee.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Free Alternative to Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, and Monologue” “I am big fan of VoiceInk which is also local and open-source.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API” Open-source free alternative
“I am big fan of VoiceInk which is also local and open-source.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API” “I personally use VoiceInk which is open-source.”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)” “good free/OSS alternatives: Handy, VoiceInk”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft VibeVoice: Open-Source Frontier Voice AI” Parakeet model works well
“my experience improved quite a bit when I switched to the parakeet model”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Free Alternative to Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, and Monologue” “My favorite too. I use the parakeet model”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Free Alternative to Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, and Monologue” “Unlimited free Parakeet on iOS”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Ghost Pepper – 100% local hold-to-talk speech-to-text for macOS” Near-instant transcription
“it’s stunningly fast (near-instant) and accurate enough to talk to LLMs/code-agents”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Handy – free open source speech-to-text app” “transcription is basically instant”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Claude Code On-the-Go”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Needed patches to compile
“needed some patches to get it to compile but Claude figured it out”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: How can I get better at using AI for programming?”
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 | — | — |
| VoiceInkThis page | 14 | 2 | 88% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
19 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I got annoyed by various UI and other things in tools like VoiceInk, Handy etc”
“working flawlessly for the three people that use it now”
“pretty good if you're on a Mac”
“It works great and has decent latency.”
“I am big fan of VoiceInk which is also local and open-source.”
“It's like night and day comparing Apple's to Voiceink.”
“good free/OSS alternatives: Handy, VoiceInk”
“I personally use VoiceInk which is open-source.”
“Unlimited free Parakeet on iOS”
“working great for a long time now”
“The workflow is just: hold shortcut, speak, release, text appears at cursor and works in terminal, editor, chat, wherever.”
“this is the future of AI pricing - local models and one-time fee.”
“I used to use VoiceInk, but I found Spokenly to be easier to use”
“My favorite too. I use the parakeet model”
“my experience improved quite a bit when I switched to the parakeet model”
“offline-running software called VoiceInk for macos. No need for groq or external AI.”
“it’s stunningly fast (near-instant) and accurate enough to talk to LLMs/code-agents”
“transcription is basically instant”
“needed some patches to get it to compile but Claude figured it out”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.