Awesome Voice Typing
May 17, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
A curated list of open-source speech-to-text tools for voice typing and dictation across desktop, mobile, and CLI.
These tools let you speak and have text appear wherever you're typing. Some run speech-to-text entirely offline on your own hardware, others use cloud APIs, and many support both. All are open source.
Contents
- Just Tell Me What to Use
- Scope
- Platform Snapshot
- Directory
- Related Projects
- Inclusion Notes
- Contributing
- License
Just Tell Me What to Use
All these tools do the same core thing: transcribe your speech and paste it wherever your cursor is. The differences come down to platform, engine preference, and how much you want beyond basic dictation.
A few starting points:
- Cross-platform default: Handy. Biggest open-source project in this list, runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
- On macOS, want a native feel: VoiceInk or FluidVoice.
- Want cloud providers or AI transformations on top: Whispering or OpenWhispr.
Scope
This list focuses on tools that let you speak and get text into the place where you are actively working.
- Open-source apps, keyboards, menu bar utilities, and CLI tools for dictation or voice typing
- Desktop, mobile, and terminal-first workflows
- Local-only and hybrid tools, as long as the project itself is open source
This list does not try to cover:
- Closed-source products
- General transcription tools that do not support typing or dictation workflows
- Meeting bots, note takers, or speech APIs without a usable typing interface
Browse by platform
- Linux: Buzz, Elograf, Epicenter Whispering, Handy, HNS, hyprwhspr, nerd-dictation, OpenWhispr, Speak to AI, Vibe, Vocalinux, Voquill, VOXD, VoxType, whisper_dictation, whisper-writer
- macOS: Amical, Buzz, Epicenter Whispering, FluidVoice, FnKey, Ghost Pepper, Handy, HNS, OpenSuperWhisper, OpenWhispr, Pindrop, Tambourine Voice, TypeWhisper, Vibe, VoiceInk, VoiceTypr, Voquill, whisper-writer
- Windows: Amical, Buzz, Chirp, Epicenter Whispering, Handy, HNS, OmniDictate, OpenWhispr, Tambourine Voice, Vibe, VoiceTypr, Voquill, whisper-writer
- Android: Offline Voice Input, Transcribro, Whisper IME
- iOS: WhisperBoard
Most tools on this list support offline speech recognition. See Mode and Engine in the directory below for the details.
Directory
Mode: Local means on-device speech recognition. Hybrid means the tool supports both local and cloud or BYO-cloud setups.
| Name | Platforms | Mode | Engine | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Amical | macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper | Context-aware dictation that adapts formatting to the app you are using. |
Buzz | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper, Whisper.cpp, Faster Whisper | Desktop app for microphone or file transcription; text stays in its own UI rather than typing into other apps. |
Chirp | Windows | Local | Parakeet TDT | Dictates into Windows apps, runs on CPU only, and is aimed at locked-down corporate environments. |
Elograf | Linux | Local | Vosk (via nerd-dictation) | GUI tray frontend for nerd-dictation with model switching and timeout controls. |
Epicenter Whispering | Linux, macOS, Windows, Web | Hybrid | Whisper | Local-first dictation with a global shortcut and multiple Whisper providers; also available as a Chrome extension and web app. |
FluidVoice | macOS | Hybrid | Parakeet, Apple Speech, Whisper | macOS dictation app that can type into any app and switch between local speech engines. |
FnKey | macOS | Hybrid | Deepgram Nova-3, Groq Whisper | Rust menu bar app that activates the microphone only while holding Fn, with real-time streaming and batch cloud backends. |
Ghost Pepper | macOS | Local | WhisperKit | Hold-to-talk menu bar dictation with local LLM cleanup of filler words; runs entirely on Apple Silicon. |
Handy | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper.cpp, Parakeet TDT | Shortcut-driven offline dictation built with Tauri and supporting several ASR model families. |
HNS | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Faster Whisper | CLI tool that records from your mic, transcribes locally, and copies the result to the clipboard. |
hyprwhspr | Linux | Hybrid | Whisper.cpp, Parakeet, BYOK cloud | Push-to-talk Linux dictation with a visualizer plus Waybar and systemd integration. |
nerd-dictation | Linux | Local | Vosk | Hackable offline dictation that types into any window via simulated keystrokes. |
Offline Voice Input (Android) | Android | Local | Parakeet TDT | Offline Android voice input keyboard with live subtitles and a privacy-first focus. |
OmniDictate | Windows | Local | Whisper | Desktop dictation tool aimed at type-anywhere workflows. |
OpenSuperWhisper | macOS | Local | Whisper, Parakeet | Native Swift menu bar dictation app optimized for Apple Silicon and global shortcuts. |
OpenWhispr | Linux, macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Whisper.cpp, Parakeet, BYOK cloud | Cross-platform dictation with local models, optional cloud providers, and a custom dictionary. |
Pindrop | macOS | Local | WhisperKit | Offline menu bar dictation app with optional AI-based transcript cleanup. |
Speak to AI | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp | Minimal Linux dictation tool that inserts text into the active window and can also run from the CLI. |
Tambourine Voice | macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Faster Whisper, BYOK cloud | Voice interface for any app with configurable STT and LLM providers. |
Transcribro | Android | Local | Whisper.cpp | Private and on-device speech recognition keyboard and service for Android. |
TypeWhisper | macOS | Hybrid | Whisper (local and/or cloud) | Voice typing app with both local and cloud engine options. |
Vibe | Linux, macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper.cpp | Desktop app to transcribe audio and video offline using OpenAI Whisper. |
Vocalinux | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp, Whisper, Vosk | Linux dictation with distro-specific setup guides and Vulkan acceleration notes. |
VoiceInk | macOS | Hybrid | WhisperKit, BYOK | Native macOS dictation with per-app tuning, a custom dictionary, and optional commercial distribution. |
VoiceTypr | macOS, Windows | Local | Whisper-based | Voice-to-text dictation built with Tauri; the repository is open source, but binaries require a one-time license purchase. |
Voquill | Linux, macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Whisper.cpp, BYOK cloud | Cross-platform voice typing with a personal glossary and AI-assisted cleanup. |
VOXD | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp | Linux dictation with GUI, tray, and CLI modes plus optional LLM post-processing. |
VoxType | Linux | Hybrid | Whisper.cpp, Parakeet, Moonshine, SenseVoice | Push-to-talk Linux dictation with seven engine choices, CJK support, and Wayland-optimized text insertion. |
WhisperBoard | iOS | Local | Whisper.cpp | iOS app for recording speech and producing text with downloadable Whisper models. |
Whisper IME | Android | Local | Whisper.cpp | Android keyboard and standalone app powered by Whisper, fully offline, and available on F-Droid. |
whisper-writer | Linux, macOS, Windows | Hybrid | Faster Whisper, OpenAI API | Hotkey-driven dictation that auto-types into the active window with several recording modes. |
whisper_dictation | Linux | Local | Whisper.cpp | Feature-rich Linux voice keyboard with dictation, voice commands, and webcam integration. |
Related Projects
Speech recognition engines, models, and APIs that power the tools listed above.
- Whisper - OpenAI's ASR model weights; tiny through large, English-only and multilingual.
- whisper.cpp - Pure C/C++ Whisper inference with zero dependencies; runs on Apple Silicon, CUDA, Vulkan, and WASM.
- Faster Whisper - CTranslate2-based Whisper reimplementation; up to 4x faster with lower memory.
- WhisperKit - Swift package for on-device Whisper on Apple Silicon with streaming support.
- Parakeet - NVIDIA's high-accuracy English ASR models in CTC, RNN-T, and TDT architectures.
- Vosk - Lightweight offline ASR with compact models, 20+ languages, and multi-language bindings.
- Apple Speech - Apple's on-device speech recognition framework for iOS, macOS, and watchOS.
- Awesome Whisper - Curated list of Whisper tools and resources.
Inclusion Notes
- Entries are linked to their source repository rather than landing pages or app-store listings.
- Some projects on this list also offer paid binaries or hosted features. They still belong here if the underlying repository is open source.
- Submissions are held to a minimum maturity bar. See CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a PR.
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on adding, updating, or removing entries.