Guide

Dragon for Mac was discontinued. Here is what to do now

If Dragon Dictate has stopped opening on your Mac, or you have just found there is no Mac version to buy, you are not missing a download. Nuance ended Dragon for Mac in 2018 and has not replaced it. A Mac can still do what Dragon did for you.

By the SpeechBee team, who make SpeechBee. Checked on 11 November 2026

On this page

What happened to Dragon for Mac
If your copy still works
Can I run Windows Dragon on my Mac?
Dragon did two jobs. A Mac splits them
Where SpeechBee fits
Questions
Keep comparing
Sources

What happened to Dragon for Mac

Nuance stopped selling Dragon Professional Individual for Mac on 22 October 2018. That was version 6, the last Mac version, and the line people knew as Dragon Dictate ended with it. Nuance gave no detailed reason. Press reports at the time quoted the company as saying it was "constantly evaluating its product portfolio". Dragon Medical for Mac had been discontinued two months earlier, in August 2018.

Your licence did not end with the product. Nuance's end-of-life notice says version 6 licences are perpetual, so you may keep using the software. The same notice says Nuance "will no longer provide updates for the Software after 10/22/2018". Phone support ran for 90 days after activation in North America and 180 days elsewhere, so even the newest copies have long been outside it.

Microsoft completed its purchase of Nuance in March 2022, more than three years after the Mac product ended. Dropping the Mac version was Nuance's own decision.

For a while, Mac users had a workaround. Dragon Anywhere, Nuance's iPhone and Android app, let you dictate on the phone and move the text to the Mac. That route has closed too. Since 1 July 2026, Dragon Anywhere can no longer be bought, and existing subscriptions cannot be renewed.

So the only Dragon you can buy for a computer today is Dragon Professional 16, and it runs on Windows.

If your copy still works

Some people have kept Dragon running for years, often by holding back macOS updates or keeping an old Mac just for it. If yours still opens, nothing forces you to stop.

Just don't expect a fix if it breaks. The app was never updated for any macOS release after 2018, and Nuance offers no way back once a system change stops it. Users report Dragon failing after macOS upgrades, and on one long-running blog thread a commenter whose copy had stopped working after a recent upgrade asked whether support could help. With no updates coming, support has nothing to offer.

That leaves two risky moments: the next macOS upgrade, and the day you move to a new Mac.

The most useful thing to save before either is your custom words list. Years of names, places and technical terms are the hardest part of Dragon to rebuild. While the app still opens, copy those words into a document you keep. Plan to type them into your next tool by hand. SpeechBee can't import Dragon's files.

Can I run Windows Dragon on my Mac?

It sounds reasonable: buy Dragon Professional 16, run Windows inside Parallels, and dictate there. Nuance's own support article answers it directly: "Dragon Professional is not supported in Parallels for Mac."

You might get it running. But you would pay for Dragon and a Windows licence to end up on a setup Nuance will not help with when something goes wrong. If you already own a Windows PC, Dragon on that machine is supported. On a Mac, it is a gamble. Our Dragon pricing page covers what the Windows version costs.

Dragon did two jobs. A Mac splits them

Dragon turned your speech into text, and it also let you run the computer by voice: open apps, click buttons, select and fix words. On a Mac today, those are separate tools. Which one you need depends on how you used Dragon.

If you controlled the Mac by voice: Voice Control

Voice Control is built into macOS and free. It lets you move around, click, open apps, dictate and edit, all by voice. It needs a one-time download from Apple, and after that it works without an internet connection.

It also has the closest thing to Dragon's vocabulary: a custom list of up to 1,000 terms per language, which you can import and export. You can build custom commands too, by telling it what to do "when I say" a phrase. Apple suggests command names of two words or more.

One thing catches people out. When Voice Control is on, standard macOS Dictation is not available, so you use Voice Control's own dictation instead.

If you wrote Dragon macros and want something you can script, Talon is built for people prepared to write their own commands.

If you mostly wrote: a dictation app

If Dragon was mainly how you wrote emails, reports or chapters, you need a dictation app more than a command system. Apple's built-in Dictation needs no extra app and is enough for a few sentences. It stops when it hears no speech for 30 seconds, though, which makes long dictation awkward when you pause to think.

We compare the Mac options side by side on our Dragon alternatives for Mac page.

Where SpeechBee fits

SpeechBee is the dictation app we make, and it covers only the writing half of Dragon. You hold a shortcut in any app, talk, and let go, or you can switch it to tap once to start and again to stop. The text appears at your cursor in Mail, Word, a browser or anywhere else you can type.

It takes spoken punctuation and "new paragraph", removes filler words such as "um", and has a dictionary for the names and terms you rebuild from your old Dragon list. Snippets insert text you use often.

Speech recognition runs on your Mac after a one-time model download. It works offline, and your audio is not uploaded. It supports 25 languages, or up to 99 with the optional Whisper model. It can also read selected text aloud, which helps if you used to proofread by listening.

It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later. It does not control your Mac by voice. If you need that, use it alongside Voice Control.

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

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

It costs $9 a month or $79 a year, both starting with 7 free days, or $99 once. The one-time purchase is charged straight away and has a 30-day money-back guarantee. One plan covers your Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Dictate into any Mac app, on your Mac. 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 Mac Get it for iPhone & iPad

Mac, iPhone and iPad. No card needed.

Questions

Is Dragon still available for Mac in 2026?

No. Nuance stopped selling Dragon for Mac in October 2018 and has not released a Mac version since. The current Dragon Professional 16 runs only on Windows.

What about MacSpeech Dictate or Dragon Dictate?

Those are older names people still search for when they mean Nuance's Mac dictation software. The last Mac version Nuance sold was Dragon Professional Individual for Mac 6, and it ended on 22 October 2018.

Should I install an old Dragon disc on a new Mac?

Your licence is still valid, but the software has not been updated since 2018 and Nuance offers no support. It may open or it may not, and nothing will fix it if it doesn't, so do not rely on it for daily work.

Can I still get Dragon Anywhere?

No. Nuance ended sales and renewals of Dragon Anywhere subscriptions on 1 July 2026.

Who owns Dragon now?

Nuance, which has been part of Microsoft since March 2022. Dragon for Mac had been discontinued in 2018, before that purchase.

What replaced Dragon Dictate?

No single app. Voice Control replaces the voice commands and is free on every Mac. A dictation app such as SpeechBee replaces the writing.

Try SpeechBee free for 7 days on your Mac.

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 Mac Get it for iPhone & iPad

Mac, iPhone and iPad. No card needed.

Keep comparing

Sources

Checked on 11 November 2026.