The best Letterly alternatives for Mac

Letterly is a voice notes app first. You talk, it writes the note down, and its rewrite library turns the ramble into an email, a post or a summary. It runs on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, the web and Apple Watch, recognizes 90+ languages, and on Mac and Windows it can also dictate into any app from a shortcut. People look for something else for a few reasons:

• The free plan is small. Letterly's help center lists 10 notes, recordings up to 3 minutes and 20 dictations on Free.
• It needs the internet. Letterly records offline, but its help center says transcription and rewriting need a connection.
• Dictation has a time cap. Pro dictation runs up to 15 minutes a session.
• The price is hard to find. Letterly's site doesn't list prices, and its App Store page shows several Pro options at different prices.
• You mostly dictate on a Mac. Then a local dictation app types faster into the app you're already in, offline.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Facts below come from each app's own site, help center or App Store page, checked October 21, 2026, in USD.

Letterly has Free and Pro. Pro removes the limits: unlimited notes, recordings up to 90 minutes, uploading audio, unlimited dictations up to 15 minutes each, and every rewrite option. One subscription covers all your devices, and there's a 7-day Pro trial on the App Store, Google Play and the web.

Letterly's own site doesn't show prices. Its US App Store page lists Pro at $19.99 a month, yearly options from $69.99 to $99.99, and lifetime at $199.99 or $249.99, so what you pay depends on where and when you buy. Limits are from Letterly's help center.

Before you pay for anything, try what's already on your Mac. Apple's Dictation is free and types into any app. It has no notes and no rewrites, so it only replaces Letterly if dictating into apps is what you use it for on the Mac. These steps follow Apple's guide.

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar.
2. Go to Dictation, turn it on, then click Enable.
3. Click into a text field in any app and press the Microphone key, your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.
4. Talk. Press Escape or the shortcut again when you're done.

It adds punctuation in supported languages, and on Apple silicon those languages work without internet. It has no word list and no rewrite, and it stops after 30 seconds of silence. If it's enough, you're done. If it isn't, our guide to fixing Mac dictation that isn't working and the Apple Dictation alternatives cover the next step.

Letterly sits between two kinds of app. If what you love is talking into your phone and getting a tidy note back, look at other voice notes apps rather than dictation tools. We cover those in AudioPen alternatives, Voicenotes alternatives and the best voice notes apps for Mac.

If what you mostly do is type by voice into Mail, Slack or a doc on your Mac, a dictation app is the better tool: it types where you are, and the local ones work offline with no session limit.

Paid once, Koi's Lifetime plan tops out at $199, against $199.99 or $249.99 for Letterly's lifetime on the App Store. For phone notes, Letterly or another notes app still does more.

1. Export the notes you want to keep. Letterly includes export on both plans.
2. Copy your Letterly dictionary and text replacements somewhere. A new app starts empty.
3. Turn off Letterly's dictation shortcut on the Mac, or change it, so it doesn't clash.
4. Install the new app and dictate a long email and a chat reply into your real apps.
5. In Koi, add names in Settings, Dictation, Your words, and replacements as snippets.

You can keep Letterly on your phone for notes and use a Mac dictation app at your desk. Our guide on how to dictate on a Mac covers the built-in option too.