On-device dictation
Superscribe Lite. Free dictation on your Mac or PC.
Speak, and the text goes where your cursor is, in any app. Speech recognition runs on the computer itself, so your voice is never sent anywhere. No account, no sign-in.
Mac: macOS 13 or later, Apple silicon, about 14 MB. Windows: Windows 10 or 11, about 118 MB.
How it works
Set it up once, then just speak.
Download and open it
Install Superscribe Lite on your Mac or PC and open it. There is no account to make and nothing to sign in to.
Download a speech model
Choose the language you speak and download its model, 29 MB to 339 MB. After that, dictation in that language works offline.
Press the shortcut and speak
Click where you would type, then press Option+Space on a Mac or F9 on Windows. Speak, and the text goes in where your cursor is.
What you get
What it does, with no AI key and no account.
Dictate into any app
Email, chat, documents, the browser: the text goes into the app you are using.
Recognition on your computer
Speech recognition runs on your Mac or PC, not on a server, and the audio never leaves it.
Works offline
Download a speech model once for each language. After that, dictation needs no internet.
Paste when done, or type as you speak
Option+Space pastes the text when you stop. Option+Shift+Space types it as you speak. On Windows the shortcuts are F9 and Shift+F9.
Hold to talk, or tap
Hold the shortcut while you speak, or tap it once and talk hands-free. Esc cancels. You can change the shortcuts.
Teach it your words
Add a name or a term, how you want it spelled and how the app hears it. The list stays on your computer.
Languages
16 languages, recognised on your computer.
Pick the language you speak, and download its model once. Lite does not detect the language by itself.
- English
- Estonian
- German
- French
- Spanish
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Dutch
- Swedish
- Russian
- Arabic
- Indonesian
- Japanese
- Thai
- Vietnamese
- Chinese
Arabic, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese share one model of 339 MB, which downloads from Hugging Face. The other models come from the Superscribe download server.
Privacy
What stays on your computer, and what goes out.
Lite has no account and no sign-in. Nothing you say or type is sent to Superscribe.
Stays on your computer
- Your voice. Speech recognition runs on your computer, and the audio is never sent anywhere.
- The text you dictate. Without your own AI key, Lite sends it nowhere.
- Your list of words and spellings.
What Lite sends, and where
- Requests to the Superscribe download server, for the model list and the models you choose.
- A request to Hugging Face, only if you pick Arabic, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese. Their model comes from there.
- On a Mac, small settings requests to superscribe.io. They carry nothing you said or typed.
- With your own AI key, the dictated text, straight from your computer to the provider you chose.
Optional
Cleanup with your own AI key.
Lite can also tidy and rewrite what you dictate. For that it needs your own AI key (an API key) from Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI or Google. Without a key, none of this runs, and dictation works the same.
- Auto clean tidies every dictation for you.
- After each dictation you get a few seconds to pick Improve, Shorter, Formal, Friendly or Clean.
- Translate what you said into 18 languages.
Only the text goes, straight from your computer to the provider you chose. The provider bills you for it, and Superscribe never sees the text or the key.
Your key stays in the macOS Keychain, or encrypted for your Windows account.
Compare
Lite, the Superscribe app and Pro.
All three dictate on your computer for free. The Superscribe app also has cloud dictation when you sign in. Pro is the subscription that adds cleanup on every dictation without your own AI key, plus templates, history and time tracking.
Superscribe Lite
- Price
- Free
- Account
- None
- Dictation on your computer, 16 languages, offline
- Yes
- Cloud dictation that detects your language
- No
- Cleanup, Auto clean and corrections
- With your own AI key
- Templates, history and time tracking
- No
- Checks for updates
- No, download it again
Superscribe app (free)
- Price
- Free
- Account
- Optional. Cloud dictation needs one after a 5-minute trial.
- Dictation on your computer, 16 languages, offline
- Yes
- Cloud dictation that detects your language
- With an account
- Cleanup, Auto clean and corrections
- Included with cloud dictation. With your own AI key for dictation on your computer.
- Templates, history and time tracking
- No
- Checks for updates
- Yes
Superscribe Pro
- Price
- €18 a month or €172 a year
- Account
- Yes
- Dictation on your computer, 16 languages, offline
- Yes
- Cloud dictation that detects your language
- Yes, 30+ languages
- Cleanup, Auto clean and corrections
- Included, no AI key needed
- Templates, history and time tracking
- Yes
- Checks for updates
- Yes
Questions
Before you download.
Is Superscribe Lite really free?
Yes. There is no account, no sign-in and no trial period. If you add your own AI key, the provider you chose bills you for what you use there.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Download the speech model for your language once, 29 MB to 339 MB, and dictation works without the internet. Cleanup with your own AI key needs the internet, because the text goes to your provider.
Which languages can I dictate in?
16: English, Estonian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Arabic, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese. You pick the language you speak. Lite does not detect it by itself.
What do I need on a Mac and on Windows?
Mac: Apple silicon and macOS 13 or later. Intel Macs are not supported. Windows: Windows 10 or 11, on x64 or ARM64. One installer covers both and needs no admin rights. The download is about 14 MB for Mac and 118 MB for Windows. Speech models are separate downloads. On a Mac, Lite asks for access to the microphone and to Accessibility, so it can type into other apps. The Mac app is signed by us and checked by Apple (notarized). The Windows installer is signed.
How is it different from Superscribe Pro?
Lite is dictation on your computer, with no account. Pro is a subscription that adds the Superscribe cloud: automatic language detection in 30+ languages, cleanup and corrections without your own AI key, templates, history and time tracking.
How do I update it?
Lite does not check for updates. For a new version, download it again from this page.
What happens to my voice?
Speech recognition runs on your computer, so your voice is never sent anywhere. If you add your own AI key, only the text goes, straight from your computer to the provider you chose.
Can I use it in any app?
In almost any app where you can type: email, chat, documents, the browser. Click where you would type, press the shortcut and speak. On Windows, apps that run as administrator are the exception.