TechCrunch | May 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM PDT

AI dictation apps have come a long way in a short time. For years they were slow and inaccurate — unless you spoke with a particular accent and enunciated clearly. Advances in large language models (LLMs) and speech-to-text models have changed that, producing systems that can decipher speech more accurately while retaining enough context to format the text correctly. Developers have also built in features to automatically remove filler words, fix stumbles, and handle punctuation — outputting text that needs far fewer edits. With dozens of such apps now on the market, the best options include Wispr Flow, which offers custom words and instructions for dictation with native apps for macOS, Windows, and iOS; Willow, which uses LLMs to generate full passages from just a few dictated words and stores transcripts locally for privacy; and Monologue, which lets users download its AI model directly to their device for fully offline transcriptions. Each app offers different pricing tiers, with free tiers typically allowing 1,000-2,000 words per month and paid plans starting at $10-15 per month.

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