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The best Willow Voice alternatives

Willow has one of the more generous free plans in cloud dictation, with unlimited use of its smaller model. Pro moves you to its best model and costs $144 a year. If you want your voice to stay on your Mac or to pay once, these are the apps to look at.

By the SpeechBee team. Prices checked on 12 October 2026

  • SpeechBee
  • Wispr Flow
  • superwhisper
  • VoiceInk
  • Spokenly
  • Typeless
On this page
  1. What Willow does well
  2. Willow alternatives at a glance
  3. 1. SpeechBee
  4. 2. Wispr Flow
  5. 3. superwhisper
  6. 4. VoiceInk
  7. 5. Spokenly
  8. 6. Typeless
  9. Questions
  10. Keep comparing
  11. Sources

What Willow does well

Willow is AI dictation for Mac, Windows and iPhone, where it works as a keyboard. Its free Basic plan includes unlimited dictation on a smaller model, Frontier Mini, limited personalisation, and 20 uses a week of Scribe, its AI writing feature. Pro is $15 a month or $12 a month billed yearly and moves you to Frontier Pro, its most accurate model, with memory of your writing style, unlimited Scribe and longer dictation. Business at $28 to $35 per user enforces zero data retention and HIPAA.

Willow says Privacy Mode is on by default, audio is discarded after processing, and transcripts are not logged on its servers by default. Normally processing runs on its cloud infrastructure in the United States. Willow also lists an offline mode that dictates without an internet connection, powered by your device.

Willow alternatives at a glance

AppPriceProcessingReads text aloudPlatforms
WillowFree Basic, Pro $15/mo or $144/yrCloud, with an offline modeNoMac, Windows, iPhone
SpeechBee$9/mo, $79/yr, or $99 onceOn deviceYesMac, iPhone, iPad
Wispr Flow$15/mo or $144/yr, free 2,000 words a weekCloudNoMac, Windows, iPhone, Android
superwhisper$8.49/mo, $84.99/yr, or $249.99 onceLocal or cloudNoMac, Windows, iPhone, Android
VoiceInk$25 once for 1 MacLocalNoApple silicon Mac, iPhone
SpokenlyFree, Pro $99.99/yrLocal, cloud optionalNoMac, Windows, Linux, iPhone
Typeless$30/mo or $144/yrCloudNoMac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android

1. SpeechBee

Voice to text
New message

Hi Maya, I'll send the revised proposal tomorrow morning.

SpeechBee's listening indicator on Mac
Hold your key, talk, let go. The text lands at the cursor.
Text to speech
Article

Most people read faster than they speak. SpeechBee reads the sentence you selected out loud, while you keep working.

SpeechBee's Read Aloud player on Mac
Select text, press your reading key, listen.

SpeechBee is ours. Where Willow is cloud first with an offline mode, SpeechBee is on-device only. Speech recognition always runs on your Mac, iPhone or iPad, audio is never uploaded or recorded, and dictation works offline after a one-time model download. Hold a key and talk on the Mac, or switch to the SpeechBee keyboard on iPhone and iPad. Filler words are removed, and a dictionary and snippets handle names and repeated text.

It also reads selected text aloud with natural local voices, which Willow does not. One plan covers all your Apple devices. 7 days free, then $9 a month, $79 a year, or $99 once.

2. Wispr Flow

The most direct rival: cloud dictation with polished cleanup, context awareness, and a meeting Notetaker on Mac and Windows, plus Android. The free plan has 2,000 words a week on desktop. Pro is the same price as Willow Pro, $15 a month or $144 a year. See our Wispr Flow review.

3. superwhisper

Local Whisper models offline, cloud models when you want them, and modes that set tone and model per app. It also records meetings and transcribes files. Free tier with unlimited local Whisper models, Pro from $8.49 a month or $249.99 for life, on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.

4. VoiceInk

Local dictation on your Mac for $25 once, with custom words, replacements and voice editing of selected text, and open-source code. Needs Apple silicon and macOS 14.4 or later. There is an iPhone app.

5. Spokenly

Free local models with no word cap and no account, free bring-your-own-key cloud models, and a local-only mode, on Mac, Windows, Linux and iPhone. Pro is $99.99 a year.

6. Typeless

Cloud AI dictation like Willow, with heavier rewriting, translation as you speak, voice editing of selected text, and Linux and Android apps. Pro is $12 a month billed yearly or $30 monthly. See Wispr Flow vs Typeless.

Try SpeechBee free for 7 days.

Voice to text and Read Aloud on your Mac, iPhone and iPad. After the week, $9 a month, $79 a year, or $99 once. Every plan has every feature.

Download for MacGet it for iPhone & iPad

Questions

Is Willow Voice free?

Willow's Basic plan is free, with unlimited dictation on its smaller Frontier Mini model and 20 Scribe uses a week. Pro is $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly.

Does Willow work offline?

Willow lists an offline mode that dictates without an internet connection, powered by your device. By default it processes on its cloud in the United States. SpeechBee always transcribes on your device.

Is Willow private?

Willow says Privacy Mode is on by default, audio is discarded after processing, transcripts are not logged by default, and voice and text are not used to train AI models. Business enforces zero data retention.

Keep comparing

Sources

All checked on 12 October 2026.