Voice to text for Windows

Windows has two free options. Voice Typing starts with Win+H and types into the text box you're in. It uses online speech recognition, so it needs an internet connection. You can turn on automatic punctuation in its settings.

Voice Access is a Windows 11 feature (version 22H2 and later) that controls your PC by voice and also dictates text. It uses on-device recognition and works without internet. If you want to open apps and click things by voice, it's a good fit.

Both are free and need no install. If short dictation is all you do, try them first.

Superwhisper for Windows is a dedicated dictation app. You hold or tap a hotkey, talk, and clean text appears in any app. It uses AI modes to format output for the app you're in, and a custom vocabulary for names and jargon.

You can pick the speech model. Whisper Large v3 Turbo and Cohere run locally on a Vulkan-capable GPU. Without one, Parakeet Multilanguage runs on your machine through ONNX. Meeting recording and file transcription are available too.

Looking at another dictation app? See how we compare in Superwhisper vs Willow.

On a PC with a Vulkan GPU you can run the larger local models, and nothing leaves the machine. On a PC without one, Parakeet Multilanguage is the local option. On Windows ARM, Parakeet Multilanguage is the only model that runs locally, so cloud models are the way to get the others.

Setup is short. Install, allow the microphone, and pick a language and model in the wizard. The defaults work well and you don't need an account or API key to start.

The free tier doesn't expire and includes unlimited dictation with local Whisper models. You also get a 3,000-word Pro trial. Pro is $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 once for lifetime, and one license covers all your devices.