A free, on-device alternative to Wispr Flow

Updated 2 October 2026

Wispr Flow made hold-to-talk dictation popular: press a key, speak, and polished text appears wherever your cursor is. JustScribe does the same job on a Mac with two differences that matter to some people. It is free, and it never sends your voice anywhere.

How they compare

Wispr Flow details are from its pricing and data controls pages as of October 2026; check them for current plans and limits.

When JustScribe is the better fit

• You do not want your voice on someone else’s servers. Wispr Flow states that “transcription always happens in the cloud”. JustScribe has no server: the speech model runs on your Mac’s own chip, and it keeps working with Wi-Fi off.
• You dictate a lot and do not want a meter. There is no weekly word limit and nothing to upgrade to.
• You want to see what the software does. The whole app is on GitHub, and you can build it yourself.
• You cannot install cloud dictation at work. With no account and no data leaving the machine, there is nothing to send through a security review beyond the app itself.

When Wispr Flow is the better fit

• You need the same dictation on Windows or on your phone.
• You want your text edited by large cloud language models. JustScribe’s clean-up uses only models that run on your Mac.
• You want team features such as a shared dictionary, or a meeting notetaker.
• Your Mac is an Intel model. JustScribe needs Apple silicon.

Switching takes a minute

1. Download JustScribe and drag it into Applications.
2. Pick a transcription model on first launch. Parakeet v3 is the recommended one and understands many languages.
3. Grant Microphone and Accessibility permission.
4. Hold Control Shift Space and speak. You can change the shortcut, including to a single modifier key, in Settings.

If you want the tidy-up that cloud tools do, turn on Clean-up in Settings. It runs on your Mac as well: see dictation with grammar correction.

Questions

Is JustScribe a free alternative to Wispr Flow?

Yes. JustScribe is free and open source under the GPL-3.0 licence, with no word limit, no account and no subscription. It covers the core of Wispr Flow on a Mac: hold a shortcut, speak, and the text is typed into the app you are using.

Does JustScribe send my voice to the cloud like Wispr Flow?

No. JustScribe transcribes on your Mac with Parakeet or Whisper models, so your audio never leaves the machine. Wispr Flow's own documentation says its transcription always happens in the cloud.

What does Wispr Flow do that JustScribe does not?

Wispr Flow runs on Windows, iOS and Android as well as Mac, adapts its formatting to the app you are in, and has team features and a meeting notetaker. JustScribe is Mac only and does all its work on your Mac: transcription and clean-up run on-device, where Wispr Flow sends your voice to the cloud.