The best Handy alternatives for Mac

Handy, from handy.computer, is a free, open source dictation app under the MIT license. Press a shortcut, speak, and the text is pasted into the field you're in. It runs Whisper or Parakeet on your own computer, so your voice isn't sent to the cloud, and it has builds for Apple silicon and Intel Macs, Windows and Linux. Its site puts the idea plainly: accessibility tools shouldn't sit behind a paywall.

That's a lot for nothing, so people who switch usually want something Handy deliberately leaves out:

• Cleanup. Handy has an optional post-processing switch, but it isn't built around removing filler words, fixing spoken corrections or formatting lists the way paid apps are.
• A word list and snippets. Handy's README doesn't list a dictionary for names or text replacements.
• Typing, not pasting. Handy pastes through the clipboard, and its README notes that under load your previous clipboard can be pasted instead.
• The Fn key. The README says fn and Globe shortcuts work only on Apple keyboards.
• A finished app. Handy is at version 0.9.8, and its README lists known issues, mostly on Linux.
• More than dictation: calls, files, or an assistant.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Prices and features come from each app's own site or GitHub page, checked October 21, 2026, in USD.

• Models: Whisper Small, Medium, Turbo and Large, Parakeet V3 with automatic language detection, and a recommended English Parakeet model. You can add your own Whisper GGML file.
• Shortcuts: hold to record, toggle, or either one only. Push-to-talk is the default.
• Silence filtering with Silero VAD, so pauses aren't sent to the model.
• Command-line flags and a Raycast integration, for people who script their setup.
• Code on GitHub under MIT. The Handy name and logo aren't open source.

It's a good app, and for many people the right one. If you just want to talk and have words appear, and you don't mind tidying a little yourself, stay. The source is on Handy's GitHub page.

Handy and FluidVoice cost nothing over three years. VoiceInk costs $25. Koi Pro paid yearly is $576, and Lifetime is paid once. If you only want raw local dictation, stay free. If you want the tidy-up, the word list and call recording in one app, see Koi's plans.

Handy proves you don't need to pay for good local speech to text. The models it runs, Whisper and Parakeet, are the same families the paid apps use. What money buys is everything around the model:

• Cleanup, so you don't fix every "um" and restart by hand.
• A word list, so names and jargon come out right the first time.
• Snippets, so a short phrase types your address or a standard reply.
• Styles per app: no full stop in Slack, a proper sentence in Mail.
• Other jobs in the same app: recording calls, transcribing files, an assistant.

If you read that list and none of it would save you time, Handy is the right app and you should keep your money. If two or three would, try a paid app for its trial and count the fixes. Our offline dictation apps list compares more of them.

1. Change Handy's shortcut, or quit it, so the new app can have the keys you like.
2. Dictate the same three things in each: a long email, a chat reply and a paragraph full of names.
3. Count the fixes. If you made the same correction three times, the new app's word list is worth setting up.
4. In Koi, add those names in Settings, Dictation, Your words, and save repeated phrases as snippets.
5. Keep Handy installed for a week. It's free, so there's nothing to cancel.

• Want cleanup, a word list and snippets, plus call recording? Koi.
• Want more features and still free and open source? FluidVoice, on macOS 15.
• Want an open source app with modes, paid once? VoiceInk, on Apple silicon.
• Want a free plan with a vocabulary and an iPhone app? Superwhisper or Spokenly.

Our list of Whisper apps for Mac has more apps that run speech models locally.