Dictation apps and AI meeting notes, researched.

Apple Dictation stops after 30 seconds of silence, so a pause to think ends the session. Voibe doesn't cut you off when you pause, punctuates as you speak, uses your Dictionary during transcription, and adds Developer Mode, Memory shortcuts, and meeting notes on the Voibe Work plan.

Both offer on-device Whisper transcription. Voibe costs $199 lifetime vs Superwhisper's $249, about 20% cheaper and $50 less. Voibe also offers a zero-retention cloud mode for Intel Macs and Windows, and Developer Mode with file-name resolution in Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf. Superwhisper leads on per-app custom modes; we recommend Voibe if you want privacy without setup, or dictate into an IDE daily.

Wispr Flow processes audio in the cloud on every request. Voibe gives you a fully offline on-device mode on Apple Silicon, or a zero-retention cloud that never stores or trains on your data. Voibe lifetime ($199) costs $233 less than three years of Wispr Flow Pro annual ($432). Wispr Flow does offer AI rewriting and mobile apps, which Voibe does not.

Neither sends a bot into the call. Granola stores notes in its cloud and uses anonymised data for model improvement by default on Free and Business; Voibe Work saves notes on your Mac and never trains on them. Voibe Work is $149/yr, $19 (11.3%) less than Granola Business at $168/yr, and it includes dictation in every app.

That depends on the mode you pick. In on-device mode, nothing leaves your Mac. In cloud mode, audio goes over an encrypted connection to Whisper Large Turbo on zero-retention providers (Groq or Cloudflare) and is deleted the moment transcription completes; formatting runs on GPT-OSS 120B on Cerebras and sees only the text. In both modes your voice and text are never stored, sold, or used to train any AI model, and no OpenAI, Google, Anthropic or Microsoft model is in the audio path.

Yes. Voibe keeps zero retention and never trains on your data, with a fully on-device mode for the most sensitive dictation: in on-device mode nothing leaves your Mac. Cloud mode deletes audio the moment transcription completes. For client meetings, Voibe Work captures the call with no bot, deletes the audio after processing, and saves the notes on your Mac. A BAA is available on request.

Voibe does not claim HIPAA compliance or certification. What it offers is an architecture and a contract: on-device dictation on Apple Silicon, a zero-retention cloud that deletes audio when transcription completes, no training on your data, and a BAA available on request for the app and the API. Your compliance team decides whether that fits your obligations.

No bot joins the call, so nothing announces itself. That is why Voibe reminds you to tell everyone you're taking notes each time you start recording. You are responsible for following the recording-consent rules that apply to you and the people on the call.

Dictation does, in on-device mode on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later): Whisper runs on the Neural Engine with no internet connection, so it works on planes and anywhere without Wi-Fi. Intel Macs and Windows PCs use Voibe's zero-retention cloud, which needs a connection. Voibe Work meeting notes always need an internet connection.

Voibe runs on all Macs, Intel and Apple Silicon (macOS 14.4 or later), and on Windows through a ground-up native app. On-device mode requires an Apple Silicon Mac; Intel Macs and Windows PCs use the zero-retention cloud. Voibe Work meeting notes run on Mac and Windows too. One plan covers both at the same price.

Yes. Voibe Free costs nothing and never expires: dictation in any app with limited words, on one Mac or Windows PC. Every new account starts with a 7-day trial of every Voibe Work feature, then moves to Voibe Free unless you choose a paid plan.

Voibe Free costs nothing, with limited words on one device. Paid plans are priced per seat. Voibe Dictation costs $9.90 per seat per month, $99 per year, or $199 once for lifetime access. Voibe Work, which adds meeting notes, costs $19 per seat per month, $149 per year, or $399 once. Every paid plan includes unlimited usage and a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can try every Voibe Work feature free for 7 days.

Yes. The Voibe speech-to-text API at api.getvoibe.com and an MCP server for agents run on the same zero-retention pipeline as the apps. Pricing runs from $10 for 2,000 minutes to $100 for 24,000 minutes, billed per second and charged only when a job reaches DONE, with 15 free minutes to start. App users never need an API key.