XP Daily Plain comparisons of personal productivity tools

QuickDictate vs Superwhisper in 2026

Compare QuickDictate and Superwhisper for busy people who need voice dictation, transcription, and app writing tools.

By XP Daily ยท

XP Daily is published by the makers of DaysAid, QuickDictate and YTSort, which are compared here alongside other tools.

QuickDictate lets a busy person speak and have words typed into the active app. [1] Superwhisper lets a busy person dictate across apps and work offline for transcription. [2] [3]

OptionIts own priceCloud provider fee
QuickDictateFree for personal and other noncommercial use, with no subscription or account [4]Providers bill separately for their service [4]
Superwhispernot publishednot published

The short answer

QuickDictate lets a busy person speak and have words typed into the active app, such as an editor, chat box, terminal, or web form. [1] Superwhisper lets a busy person use voice dictation in Slack, Gmail, and other sites or apps. [2] QuickDictate can send your speech to an online speech service such as ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, DashScope or Google, and that service bills you directly. [5] It can also run on your own computer with no internet. [6] Superwhisper works offline for transcription. [3] It can remember names, abbreviations, and specialized terms entered by the user. [7] It supports more than 100 languages and dialects. [8] It also provides meeting notes and file transcription. [9] [10] The choice depends on which of these listed features match how a busy person wants to use voice input.

What Superwhisper is built for

Superwhisper works in Slack, Gmail, and other sites or apps. [2] It works offline, so a person can transcribe anytime, according to its page. [3] A person can enter names, abbreviations, and specialized terms once, and Superwhisper remembers them. [7] It has predefined modes that optimize tone, structure, and formatting. [11] Its Super Mode is an AI-enhanced mode that adapts to the user's screen. [12] Its Custom Mode lets users define how it thinks, writes, and formats. [13] Superwhisper supports more than 100 languages and dialects and can translate them to English. [8] It automatically pastes the edited transcript into the app being used. [14] It records and digests meetings with automatic notes. [9] It can also transcribe uploaded video and audio files. [10] Users can set custom shortcuts to launch, dictate, and control it. [15]

What QuickDictate is built for

QuickDictate is made by the team that publishes this site. A busy person holds a hotkey while talking, or taps it to start and stop, and both keys can be changed. [16] What the person says is typed into whichever window has focus, such as an editor, chat box, terminal, or web form. [1] It can send speech to an online speech service such as ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, DashScope or Google, and that service bills the person directly. [5] It can also run on the person's own computer with no internet. [6] With some of those online services, words appear while the person is still talking. [17] A person can list words and phrases to help the provider recognise them, and a replacement table fixes spellings such as Chat GPT to ChatGPT. [18] While dictating, other apps' audio is muted or turned down, then returns to its old level. [19]

Pricing and fees

Superwhisper's price is not published in the facts gathered for this page, so check its own pricing page. QuickDictate is free for personal and other noncommercial use, with no subscription or account. [4] Cloud providers bill separately for their service. [4] That means a person using cloud dictation pays the chosen provider directly. [5] From version 0.9.0 on, QuickDictate is free for personal use, and commercial use needs a separate licence. [20] The licence price for commercial use is not published here. Local dictation needs no internet. [6] The table below sets the two side by side.

Setting it up and daily use

QuickDictate is a download that updates itself. [21] It runs only on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, with no Mac or Linux version. [22] In daily use, profiles can change the provider, language, vocabulary, and formatting depending on which app is in focus. [23] A person can browse and filter the last 50 dictations in Settings, and the history survives a restart or self-update. [24] Saying scratch that undoes what was just dictated. [25] Superwhisper's install steps are not covered in its facts here. For daily use, it lets users set custom shortcuts to launch, dictate, and control it. [15] Users can set formatting rules, structure preferences, and specialized prompts for different tasks. [26] Its edited transcript is pasted into the app being used. [14]

Things to check before you choose

Ask which computer the tool must run on, and whether that system is supported. Ask what the full cost will be, including any provider bills or a licence for work use. Ask whether dictation must work without internet. Ask which languages and special terms you need, and whether the tool lets you enter them. Ask whether you need meeting notes or transcripts of recorded files. Ask which apps you write in each day, and whether settings can differ by app. Ask how easily you can undo a wrong sentence, and whether past dictations can be found again. Ask how the tool handles your audio, and who receives it when a cloud service is used.

How to choose

QuickDictate types spoken words into whichever window has focus. [1] Superwhisper's page says it works in Slack, Gmail, and any other site or app. [2] For dictating with no internet, both sources say they can. [6] [3] For settings that change by app, QuickDictate offers profiles. [23] For meeting notes, Superwhisper records and digests meetings with automatic notes. [9] For transcripts of uploaded files, Superwhisper says it can transcribe video and audio files. [10] For more than 100 languages, Superwhisper's page says it supports them. [8] For a choice of online speech services, QuickDictate names ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, DashScope and Google. [5]

Frequently asked questions

Is QuickDictate free for personal use?

QuickDictate is free for personal and other noncommercial use, with no subscription or account. [4] Cloud providers bill separately for their service. [4] Online speech services bill separately, so a person should check their costs first. [4]

Can QuickDictate type into any app?

QuickDictate types what a person says into whichever window has focus, such as an editor, chat box, terminal, or web form. [1] A person holds a hotkey while talking, or taps it to start and stop. [16] Profiles can change settings depending on which app is in focus. [23]

Does Superwhisper work offline for transcription?

Superwhisper works offline for transcription, according to its page. [3] Its page also says it works in Slack, Gmail, and any other site or app. [2] A person should check how that matches their own device and daily workflow before choosing.

Can Superwhisper help with meetings and files?

Superwhisper records and digests meetings with automatic notes. [9] It can also transcribe uploaded video and audio files. [10] A person who needs either should check the current details on its own pages before relying on them.

Can QuickDictate use different speech providers?

QuickDictate can use the online speech services ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, DashScope or Google, and that service bills the person directly. [5] With some of them, words appear while the person is still talking. [17] People should check each provider's own costs first.

QuickDictate is free for personal and other noncommercial use, with no subscription or account. Cloud providers bill you separately for their service. [4]

Try QuickDictate

Sources

  1. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  2. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  3. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  4. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  5. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  6. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  7. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  8. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  9. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  10. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  11. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  12. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  13. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  14. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  15. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07
  16. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  17. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  18. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  19. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  20. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  21. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  22. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  23. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  24. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  25. QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)
  26. Superwhisper, superwhisper.com, read 2026-10-07

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