The best Voibe alternatives for Mac

Voibe is a private dictation app for Mac and Windows, made by Essence AI. On an Apple silicon Mac its on-device mode runs offline, and its paid plans have no word limit. Voibe Work adds meeting notes without a bot in the call. It's a solid app, and people who leave it usually have one of these reasons:

• Price. Voibe Dictation is $99 a year or $199 once. Several apps do local dictation for $25 once, or for free.
• Meeting notes cost more. Voibe Work is $149 a year or $399 once, on top of the dictation price.
• An Intel Mac. Voibe's on-device mode needs Apple silicon (M1 or later). On Intel, and on Windows, it uses cloud mode.
• The free plan is limited. Voibe Free has a word limit and covers one device.
• Open source. Voibe says it uses open-source models, but its site doesn't say the app itself is open source.

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

Every new account gets a 7-day trial of Voibe Work with no card, then drops to Free unless you pay. Paid plans have a 30-day refund guarantee. Voibe's cloud mode runs on Groq and Cerebras with zero data retention, it says, and transcripts are saved on your device. The current numbers are on Voibe's pricing page.

One thing we couldn't pin down: how many languages the on-device mode handles. Voibe's pages give different answers, from a short list of European languages to 100+. If you dictate in a smaller language, test it in the trial.

Over three years, Voibe Work on the yearly plan is $447 and its lifetime license $399. Koi Pro paid yearly is $576, and Koi Lifetime is less than Voibe Work's lifetime at every step of its price ladder. For dictation alone, VoiceInk's $25 or the free apps beat both. See Koi's pricing for what each plan includes.

A lifetime price only makes sense next to how long you'll keep the app. Here are three years of each, from the prices above, with no discounts or taxes.

If you're staying with Voibe, its lifetime licenses beat the yearly plans after about two years for Dictation and under three for Work. If you're not sure you'll stay, the 30-day refund gives you room to decide. And if meetings are the reason you'd buy Work, check whether you need its summaries or just the recording: Koi records on every plan, and its documents keep the transcript on your Mac.

1. Copy out your custom vocabulary and spoken shortcuts. Voibe calls the shortcuts Memory; a new app won't know them.
2. Export any meeting notes you want to keep. Voibe offers copy and PDF export.
3. Install the new app and dictate the same email, chat reply and jargon-heavy paragraph in both.
4. If you paid in the last 30 days and you're leaving, email Voibe for its refund.
5. In Koi, add your words in Settings, Dictation, Your words, and spoken shortcuts as snippets in the same place.

Then allow the microphone and Accessibility, pick a plan, and tap Fn + ⌥. Our guide to recording a meeting on a Mac shows the meeting side.

• Want dictation and meeting recording in one Mac app, local on Intel too? Koi.
• Want local dictation for as little as possible, paid once? VoiceInk.
• Want free, with no account? Spokenly or Handy.
• Need every platform on one license? Superwhisper.
• Happy in the cloud? Wispr Flow.

For more local options, see offline dictation apps for Mac.