Dictation Software reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 189 Reddit reviews across 40 subreddits and 57 posts to rank the best Dictation Software brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/software, r/AskAcademia, r/medicine, r/auslaw, r/therapists. Top-rated brands include Dragon (3.8/5), Nuance (4.4/5), Microsoft (3.8/5).
Stats
Reviews189
Subreddits40
Posts57
Brands74
Products33
189 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Dragon
3.8
(37)
"Honestly, Dragon is the best I've tried."
"Have you considered Dragon? No joke..."
"Its the original and the best voice dictation software."
"I've used dragon for a lot of my writing."
"Dragon is the best I've found, because it can be loaded with specialty specific vocabulary."
"One of the best on the market is called the Dragon 2."
"Highly recommend, just watch those professional services $$$$."
"Dragon, is amazing software."
"I used dragon before (almost 10 years ago now) for a time when I had a broken wrist."
"The dragon dictation app is pretty decent"
#2
Nuance
4.4
(24)
"I use dragon for work, it doesn't go through a server, it gets trained to your voice so it becomes more accurate the longer you use it, and I won't use anything else. Love it."
"Dragon Naturally Speaking was def the OG back in the day."
"Dragon naturally speaking would be my go to."
"Dragon is the best, if you can afford it."
"Dragon works reasonably well with Windows 11 provided you have the current version. I'm using DPI 16.1 VLA."
"I third Dragon, it works very well."
"I second Dragon. It's a popular choice for voice captioners."
"Dragon NaturallySpeaking: This is a popular dictation software that is highly accurate and easy to use."
"Nuance Dragon is the best bet unless you want to learn coding for Talon or Serenade."
"Nuance is ridiculously good, and it learns your voice as you use it. It's pretty expensive, but you can find it if you know where to look."
#3
Microsoft
3.8
(15)
"Word's dictation is pretty decent for the price, especially if you're already paying for 365."
"Oddly enough, Microsoft Word 365: ($69/year)"
"MS Word (Office 365) dictation works perfectly for me."
"Win11 has it built in and its very good. Its using the same engine as Teams."
"Voice Access is part of Win11 Accessibility settings. It works offline once set up..."
"Microsoft Word has excellent dictation and good documentation of what to say to get punctuation, new line, delete, etc."
"I actually use the dictation tool built into Word for Mac. I really liked it when I was using it."
"I like Word dictation a lot, actually."
"My go to dictation software is the dictation tool natively available on Microsoft word (works great)."
"I "
#4
Apple
4.0
(6)
"Just use the Mac voice dictation feature. Hit the function key twice."
"Also, apple has an option for text phrases. This is hugely helpful for review of systems and other common phrases you might use."
"On iPhone 6s or later, and iPad, you can use dictation without being connected to the Internet."
"The free built in dictation that’s part of macOS."
"You can use offline dictation where your Mac does the transcribing."
"Apple latest OS have it build in."
#5
4.2
(5)
"The voice recorder app on Pixel phones uses Google's AI to encode speech and there's honestly nothing that can beat it."
"Google Docs when using the Chrome browser"
"I'm typing this reply using Google voice, which I find to be pretty accurate and can even insert punctuation in the appropriate places by itself."
"I tried it with google docs voice. It works way better than you'd expect at getting the words right."
"My wife says she would start with Google."
#6
OpenAI
4.0
(5)
"Most use an open-source thing called Whisper from OpenAI, and they’re way better than older stuff like Microsoft’s dictation or Dragon Dictate."
"I use WhisperTyping. Since I started using dictation I use it all the time. It's free and it works really well for me as a non-native English speaker."
"Whisper is also a good option. It’s open-source and does a solid job with voice dictation."
"I recently stumbled on Whisper Typing, which uses OpenAI's speech to text api, it's currently FREE."
"If you want cheap or free try Whispertyping."
#7
Otter.AI
4.0
(5)
"Otter was built from the ground up to not just be a dictation service but to actually transcribe entire conversations between multiple people."
"Otter.ai. Put your phone next to the speaker and it will record/transcribe the hearings automatically."
"I've had luck with Otter.ai for voice to text transcription and they have lots of free tools on the web and mobile devices."
"I've been using Otter.ai in a work context, and had good results."
"If its causing trouble, you can also try Otter."
#8
Dragon Medical One
4.8
(4)
"Dragon Medical One offers high accuracy and extensive medical vocabulary but can be pricey at $100/month."
"Nothing compares to the efficiency of dragon medical one."
"Dragon Medical One is far and away - and I mean FAR and away - the dictation leader."
"They were also pushing them to use Dragon Medical One directly in the EHR."
#9
SpeechPulse
4.0
(4)
"I use Speechpulse, it allows you to download and use local AI models so it works offline."
"Take a look at SpeechPulse.com. Not free, but one off reasonable payment after a 30 day trial."
"It also supports text formatting in Microsoft Word."
"It works fully offline and doesn’t require any internet connectivity."
#10
WillowVoice
4.0
(4)
"I have also heard good things about willowvoice."
"My friend tried willowvoice and liked it for the privacy aspect."
"A friend tried willowvoice for something similar and said it was good for offline use and privacy, tho!"
"A friend tried WillowVoice recently and said it's pretty good, esp if you're worried about privacy."
#11
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
3.2
(5)
"I use dragon and love it."
"Dictating, rather than typing made it so, so much easier and painless."
"Dragon is not perfect, and Otter could work fine for just your own dictation."
"Frankly, it's overpriced trash and Google voice to text works much better."
"I've had Dragon and the like, but they're overpriced with very little benefit."
#12
Speakeasy AI Dictation
4.0
(3)
"We use the latest AI to provide 2x better accuracy than Apple’s built-in dictation."
"We use the latest AI to provide 2x better accuracy than Apple’s built-in dictation."
"We use AI from OpenAI and Deepgram to provide 2x better accuracy than Apple’s built-in dictation."
#13
Mac
3.7
(3)
"The native dictation on Mac works very well for me in several languages"
"Wouldn’t it be best to use the built in dictation utility on the Mac rather than a third party piece of software?"
"The built-in dictation feature on a Mac might be ok for short pieces, but it’s more annoying since upgrading OSX to Monterey."
#14
Dictanote
3.3
(3)
"I paid for Dictanote a while back and that's always the one I fall back on. I recommend."
"[Dictanote.co] I don't personally use the service, but caught my eye."
"There's also Google Chrome apps like Dictanote"
#15
PowerMic
4.0
(2)
"Thats what we use for dictation. You can then dictate in anything on the computer"
"Thats what we use for dictation. You can then dictate in anything on the computer"
#16
Microsoft Word
4.0
(2)
"Microsoft word has a dictation feature."
"I used the dictate feature in Microsoft word to draft parts of my dissertation"
#17
VoiceBase
4.0
(2)
"You can get an AI transcript or you can hire them to get something more accurate."
"I've used it before and it's actually a pretty good and quick way to get the idea out there and transcribed."
#18
Talon
4.0
(2)
"Use Talon, it's much better and free."
"Talon could probably be made to work but I bet it would be a lot of effort."
#19
Utterly Voice
4.0
(2)
"Try Utterly Voice. It is highly configurable and designed specifically for people with hand issues."
"Try Utterly Voice. The free default recognizer does not support medical dictation"
#20
LilySpeech
3.0
(2)
"If you can't afford it, try LilySpeech. It is very basic but it"
"Https://lilyspeech.com/lilyspeech-free-version/"
#21
Krisp
5.0
(1)
"I've had very good noise canceling results with a software called "Krisp"."
#22
Dictation Software
5.0
(1)
"I am an engineer, and I've created dictation software that I believe is superior to Dragon in terms of speech recognition and post-processing."
#23
UseVoicy
5.0
(1)
"It's the most accurate and simple one I found so far and it's free."
#24
Dictalogic
5.0
(1)
"Try dictalogic digital dictation. it is a cloud based application and has brilliant accuracy."
#25
Dictation Daddy
5.0
(1)
"I found this Chrome extension Dictation Daddy. It's very reliable and does the job very well for me. I'm very happy with it."
#26
3M Fluency
5.0
(1)
"3M Fluency is significantly superior to Dragon."
#27
Revolv
4.0
(1)
"Rev.com (cheap/not free, but more accurate, user-friendly). I find this a *lot* more accurate than any real-time software."
#28
Clinicians Reports
4.0
(1)
"It's pretty reasonable. It does summarize the notes but seems to be accurate."
#29
Amazon
4.0
(1)
"If yes then use amazon Polly with Maja voice."
#30
Watson
4.0
(1)
"This might help - apparently you can try Watson."
#31
Windows 10 Speech Recognition
4.0
(1)
"Windows 10 has built-in speech recognition that should help a lot with writing reports."
#32
Philips Speechlive
4.0
(1)
"I've been on the receiving end of recordings via Philips Speechlive"
#33
Voicy Voice to Text
4.0
(1)
"I built a little chrome extension to help my dad with typing and he likes it:)"
#34
Apple, Microsoft
4.0
(1)
"Both Apple and Microsoft offer this natively if all that’s required is the ability to dictate emails."
#35
Mobius Converter
4.0
(1)
"It’s just an app for your phone and computer and was super easy to use and accurate."
#36
Heidi
4.0
(1)
"Heidi is an AI medical scribe but has a dictation option that's really good."
#37
Olympus
4.0
(1)
"There is an iPhone app. You don’t need an actual dictaphone."
#38
Ottr
4.0
(1)
"It’s far more accurate than Dragon, and the monthly subscription fee is cheap."
#39
FridayGPT
4.0
(1)
"Uses OpenAI Whisper, which has up to 5 times fewer errors than macOS dictation."
#40
Google Keyboard
4.0
(1)
"You can download 'Google keyboard' from your app store."
#41
iPhone
4.0
(1)
"Honestly the Dictation function on an iPhone is really good."
#42
The Great Dictation
4.0
(1)
"My friend recommended a service called the great dictation."
#43
Drafts
4.0
(1)
"I use the note app Drafts on all types of Apple devices."
#44
MacOS
4.0
(1)
"MacOS has dictation built in natively."
#45
Office Online
4.0
(1)
"Office Online has dictation now, I believe."
#46
Microsoft Office
4.0
(1)
"The dictation software on Microsoft office actually helped me get back into writing."
#47
Automatic Transcribing Apps
4.0
(1)
"I've had success using what are essentially automatic transcribing apps."
#48
Julius
4.0
(1)
"Julius is very good."
#49
VoiceITT
4.0
(1)
"Its web based, works on everything,"
#50
Gboard
4.0
(1)
"For android the standard Gboard dictation works well for me."
#51
Voicy
4.0
(1)
"I built a Speech To Text extension for my dad to help him with his typing."
#52
Tactiq
4.0
(1)
"I found Tactiq to be the most reliable choice for handling my meeting and lecture transcriptions."
#53
Say
4.0
(1)
"It uses Deepgram API, which beats Whisper in accuracy according to my tests."
#54
Tatertalk
4.0
(1)
"Works in Windows, Mac, & Linux because it's just a web app."
#55
Talkatoo
4.0
(1)
"It works for Mac and dictates into any text field."
#56
MModal
4.0
(1)
"I would recommend it; at the time we bought it they were much less expensive than Nuance/Dragon."
#57
Windows
4.0
(1)
"Windows key + h brings up the automatic Windows dictation software. It's pretty easy to use and reasonably accurate."
#58
Whisper AI
4.0
(1)
"Apparently Whisper AI is pretty good."
#59
MacWhisper
4.0
(1)
"I use MacWhisper because I often record while traveling."
#60
JustPressRecord
4.0
(1)
"If you want to take offline audio notes and transcribe them later: JustPressRecord."
#61
Otter
4.0
(1)
"Otter has a free version."
#62
Sonix.ai
4.0
(1)
"I have used Sonix.ai with very good results."
#63
Audiopen.ai
4.0
(1)
"It does dictation and summarizes at the same time with various prompts."
#64
Hedy AI
4.0
(1)
"Hedy AI could be a great fit. Currently you can capture hearings without time limits on your phone, and the Windows app for Hedy will be released in the coming weeks."
#65
VOMO AI
4.0
(1)
"If you’re looking for something with built-in organization, summaries, and an AI assistant, VOMO AI is great too!"
#66
Dictation for Gmail
3.0
(1)
"There's a speech to text extension for Gmail"
#67
Dragon Medical Advisor
3.0
(1)
"Integrating Nuance with Cerner for a radiology workflow"
#68
Speech recognition software for Linux
3.0
(1)
"There is a list of speech to text software for Linux on wikipedia"
#69
Philips
3.0
(1)
"They've tried Philips SpeechExec Cloud, and Olympus Dictation trials thus far."
#70
SpeechTexter
3.0
(1)
"SpeechTexter"
#71
Voicetyper
3.0
(1)
"Here are some options I found that may work for you. Good luck. https://www.voicetyper.com/"
#72
Listen N Write
3.0
(1)
"Https://elefantsoftware-en.weebly.com/listen-n-write.html"
#73
Vibe
3.0
(1)
"Try Vibe https://github.com/thewh1teagle/vibe https://thewh1teagle.github.io/vibe/"
#74
Speechnotes
3.0
(1)
"Have you tried this https://speechnotes.co/dictate/"
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