Last verified: October 4, 2026. Prices change often, so every number below links to its source and shows the date we checked it.

The short answer: if you dictate up to about 40 hours a month, pay-per-hour or a cheap flat plan costs the least. Above that, a flat monthly price wins. Voca (usevoca.net) charges $0.10 per hour of audio on pay-as-you-go, after 5 free hours a month. Wispr Flow and Willow cost $15 a month. Dragon costs about $699 up front.

We make Voca, so we have a stake in this. That is why we show our sums, link every price, and say where other apps are cheaper.

The short answer: what 15 dictation apps cost

Here is each app's main paid price, its free tier, and where it runs. "Cost per hour" assumes you speak for 40 hours a month and pay monthly. All prices are in US dollars.

  • Voca: 5 hours free each month, then $0.10 per hour (packs from $2), or Pro at $6 a month for unlimited use. Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and web. About $0.09 per hour on pay-as-you-go. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Wispr Flow: $15 a month, or $144 a year ($12 a month). Free: 2,000 words a week on desktop. macOS, Windows, iOS, Android. About $0.38 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Willow: $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly. Free: unlimited dictation on a smaller model. macOS, Windows, iOS. About $0.38 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Aqua Voice: $10 a month, or $8 a month billed yearly. Free: 1,000 words, one time. macOS, Windows, iOS. About $0.25 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Superwhisper: $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 lifetime. Free: unlimited with local models. macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, plus an early Linux beta. About $0.21 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Voibe: $7.50 a month (a discount from $9.90), $75 a year, or $149 lifetime. No free tier, 7-day trial. macOS, Windows. About $0.19 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • OpenWhispr: $8 a month or $80 a year. Free: 2,000 cloud words a week, plus unlimited local models. macOS, Windows, Linux. About $0.20 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Typeless: $30 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly. Free: 2,000 words a week. macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android. About $0.75 per hour monthly, $0.30 yearly. Partly verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • DictaFlow: $7 a month or $69 a year. Free: 2,000 cloud words a month. Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. About $0.18 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • AirTypes: $3.99 a month. No free tier, 7-day trial. macOS and Linux. About $0.10 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • GladiaFlow: the app is free and open source. You pay Gladia $0.75 per hour of audio with your own API key. macOS, Windows. $0.75 per hour. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Laxis: free for 300 minutes a month. Premium is $9.99 a month billed yearly. macOS, Windows, iOS, Android. About $0.50 per hour, because 40 hours needs the $19.99 Business plan. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • VoiceInk: $25 one time for 1 Mac ($39 for 2, $49 for 3). macOS only. About $0.05 per hour in year one. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

  • Dragon Professional v16: about $699 one time from resellers. Windows only. About $1.46 per hour in year one. Reseller price, Oct 4, 2026.

  • Windows Voice Typing (Win+H) and Apple Dictation: free and built in. $0 per hour. Windows Voice Typing needs an internet connection. Verified Oct 4, 2026.

You can download all of this as a CSV file, with source links and check dates for every row.

How we turn prices into cost per hour

Apps sell dictation in different units: words a week, minutes a month, or flat plans. To compare them, we convert everything to hours of speech.

  • Words to hours: we assume you speak 150 words a minute. That is 9,000 words an hour.

  • Weeks to months: a month has about 4.33 weeks.

  • Flat plans: monthly price divided by hours used. A $15 plan used for 40 hours costs $0.375 an hour.

  • One-time prices: we spread the cost over the first 12 months. Year two is then free.

  • Pay-per-hour: we take off any free hours first, then charge the rest at the hourly rate.

If you speak slower than 150 words a minute, word-capped free tiers last a little longer. At 120 words a minute, 2,000 words is about 17 minutes instead of 13.

Cost per hour at 10, 40 and 100 hours a month

As a rough guide, 10 hours a month is about 30 minutes of speaking each workday. 40 hours is about 2 hours a day. 100 hours is close to 5 hours a day, which is heavy use.

Each line shows the cost per hour at 10, 40 and 100 hours a month, sorted by the 40-hour price. Monthly billing unless noted.

  • Windows Voice Typing, Apple Dictation: $0, $0, $0.

  • VoiceInk (year one): $0.21, $0.05, $0.02.

  • Voca pay-as-you-go: $0.05, $0.09, $0.10. That is $0.50, $3.50 and $9.50 for the month.

  • AirTypes: $0.40, $0.10, $0.04.

  • Voca Pro: $0.60, $0.15, $0.06.

  • DictaFlow: $0.70, $0.18, $0.07. Cloud words are capped at about 100,000 a month (about 11 hours). Past that you use offline dictation.

  • Voibe: $0.75, $0.19, $0.08.

  • OpenWhispr: $0.80, $0.20, $0.08.

  • Superwhisper: $0.85, $0.21, $0.08.

  • Aqua Voice: $1.00, $0.25, $0.10.

  • Wispr Flow: $1.50, $0.38, $0.15. On yearly billing: $1.20, $0.30, $0.12.

  • Willow: $1.50, $0.38, $0.15. On yearly billing: $1.20, $0.30, $0.12.

  • Laxis: $1.00, $0.50, $0.20. Premium covers about 33 hours, so 40 and 100 hours need Business.

  • Superwhisper lifetime (year one): $2.08, $0.52, $0.21.

  • GladiaFlow: $0.75, $0.75, $0.75.

  • Typeless: $3.00, $0.75, $0.30. On yearly billing: $1.20, $0.30, $0.12.

  • Dragon (year one): $5.83, $1.46, $0.58.

Two things stand out. Flat plans get cheaper per hour the more you talk, while pay-per-hour stays the same. And Wispr Flow's $15 a month buys 150 hours of Voca pay-as-you-go.

Price is not the only thing that matters. Wispr Flow has an iPhone app and strong AI editing. VoiceInk and AirTypes run offline. Dragon works without the cloud. Our Voca vs Wispr Flow comparison covers where each one wins, and our list of Wispr Flow alternatives goes through features.

Free tiers in minutes, not words

Most free tiers are counted in words. Here is what each one means in speaking time per month.

  • Unlimited: Windows Voice Typing, Apple Dictation, Superwhisper with local models, OpenWhispr with local models, and Willow on its smaller model.

  • Voca: 5 hours (300 minutes). That is about 45,000 words at 150 words a minute.

  • Laxis: 300 minutes, shared with its meeting recorder.

  • Wispr Flow: 2,000 words a week is about 13 minutes of speech, roughly 58 minutes a month.

  • OpenWhispr (cloud) and Typeless: also 2,000 words a week, so about 58 minutes a month. Typeless's site says it cut its free tier from 8,000 to 2,000 words a week on September 22.

  • DictaFlow: 2,000 words a month, about 13 minutes.

  • Aqua Voice: 1,000 words in total, about 7 minutes, not monthly.

  • No free tier: Voibe, AirTypes and VoiceInk offer trials. Dragon has none.

One detail for Voca: each clip counts as at least 10 seconds. If you dictate many 2-second bursts, you use your hours faster than the clock suggests. On a team, the 5 free hours are shared by all members who are not on Pro. See Voca for teams for how that works.

Subscription, lifetime or pay-per-hour: when each one wins

Pay-per-hour vs a subscription

Voca's free hours are used first, then credits. So pay-as-you-go costs $0.10 for each hour after your fifth. It stays cheaper than a flat plan until these points:

  • AirTypes ($3.99): about 45 hours a month.

  • Voca Pro ($6): 65 hours a month. Below that, Voca pay-as-you-go is cheaper than Voca's own Pro plan.

  • Voibe ($7.50): 80 hours a month.

  • Superwhisper ($8.49): about 90 hours a month.

  • Wispr Flow or Willow ($15): 155 hours a month.

Voca credits never expire, so a slow month costs nothing and unused credit rolls over. Packs start at $2 for about 20 hours.

Lifetime vs a subscription

  • Superwhisper lifetime ($249.99) equals about 29 months of the monthly plan, or about 3 years of the yearly plan.

  • Voibe lifetime ($149) equals about 2 years of the yearly plan.

  • Dragon ($699) equals almost 5 years of Wispr Flow on yearly billing.

  • VoiceInk ($25) equals about 3 months of Superwhisper.

A lifetime license only pays off if you still use the app after the break-even point. If you dictate lightly, compare it with pay-per-hour too. At 10 hours a month, Voca costs $6 a year, so $249.99 would cover about 40 years.

Methodology, sources and update log

We read each price on the vendor's own pricing page on October 4, 2026. Where that was not possible, we say so.

We plan to check every price again each month and note changes here.

  • October 4, 2026: first version. All 15 apps checked.

For how Voca handles your audio, see our trust page.

FAQ

How many words is an hour of dictation?

About 9,000 words, if you speak at 150 words a minute. At 120 words a minute, it is 7,200 words.

What is the cheapest dictation app?

The built-in tools are free: Win+H on Windows and Dictation on Mac and iPhone. For a dedicated app, Voca pay-as-you-go is cheapest up to about 45 hours a month ($3.50 at 40 hours). Above that, AirTypes ($3.99, Mac and Linux) and Voca Pro ($6) cost the least.

How much does Wispr Flow cost per hour?

It depends on how much you use it. At $15 a month, it is $1.50 an hour at 10 hours, $0.38 at 40 hours and $0.15 at 100 hours. On yearly billing ($144), those drop to $1.20, $0.30 and $0.12.

Is a lifetime license cheaper than a subscription?

Only if you keep using the app long enough. Superwhisper's lifetime license breaks even after about 29 months of monthly billing. If you dictate less than about 10 hours a month, pay-per-hour is usually cheaper than either.

Try it at your own volume

If you want to test pay-per-hour, Voca gives you 5 hours free each month with no card needed. You can see plans and credit packs on the pricing page.