Spokenly vs Hearsy: Which Parakeet Dictation App Is Better?

Spokenly and Hearsy are the two Mac dictation apps built around the same core engine: NVIDIA Parakeet TDT, which runs entirely on-device and transcribes English in under 50ms on Apple Silicon. If you're comparing these two, you're looking at apps that are technically more similar than different — which makes the real differences worth examining closely.

One disclosure upfront: Hearsy is our product. I've tried to write this comparison honestly, including cases where Spokenly is the better fit.

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What Spokenly is#

Spokenly is a Mac and iPhone dictation app that uses Whisper and Parakeet for local transcription at no cost. It launched on the Mac App Store with a clear model: the speech-to-text engines that run locally are free, forever, with no usage limits.

The app's growth has been real. It went from roughly 10 monthly brand searches in early 2025 to approximately 2,400 by January 2026 — 240x growth in under a year. It carries a 4.9-star rating with 100,000+ active users reported.

Spokenly supports three usage modes:

• Local (free): Parakeet and Whisper run on your Mac. Nothing is transmitted. No cost.
• BYOK (free): Bring your own API keys from OpenAI, Deepgram, Groq, or Anthropic. Spokenly provides the app; you pay the API providers directly per call.
• Pro ($9.99/month): Cloud models included, no API keys required, priority support.

The app also includes Agent Mode, which lets you control your Mac with voice commands — search the web, launch apps, run Shortcuts, all hands-free. That's a distinct capability beyond pure transcription.

What Spokenly is: A Mac and iPhone dictation app that offers free local transcription with Parakeet and Whisper, optional BYOK AI enhancement, and an Agent Mode for voice-controlled Mac commands.

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What Hearsy is#

Hearsy is a macOS menu-bar dictation app that also runs Parakeet and Whisper locally. Press a global hotkey from any app, speak, and transcribed text is pasted at your cursor.

Where Hearsy differs from Spokenly is in the AI cleanup layer. Hearsy ships with a local language model — Qwen 2.5 3B via MLX — that runs entirely on your Mac. When you apply a template (Clean & Format, Email, Code Comment, Summary), that processing happens locally with no API keys and no external calls. You can also configure Claude or OpenAI for cleanup if you prefer, but the local option means AI-enhanced transcription costs nothing beyond the one-time app purchase.

Hearsy is a paid app with a one-time purchase, no subscription.

What Hearsy is: A macOS dictation app with local Parakeet and Whisper transcription, an on-device AI cleanup LLM, and structured AI templates for formatting output. One-time purchase. macOS only.

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At a glance#

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Transcription quality and speed: same engines#

Both apps use Parakeet TDT for English and Whisper Large for other languages. This means transcription accuracy and raw speed are, in practice, the same. Parakeet processes English audio in under 50ms on Apple Silicon. Whisper Large V3 achieves a 4.2% word error rate on the LibriSpeech clean benchmark, according to OpenAI's published evaluations.

There's no transcription quality advantage to claim for either app. They share the same underlying models. Where they differ is in everything around transcription: AI processing, pricing, platform, and additional features.

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Privacy: both are local, but AI enhancement tells different stories#

In local mode, both Spokenly and Hearsy are equally private. Audio is processed in RAM on your Mac. Nothing is transmitted.

The comparison gets more interesting when you add AI enhancement.

Spokenly's AI enhancement:

Spokenly's local models handle transcription only. For AI-powered cleanup — grammar correction, context-aware formatting, text rewrites — you need either a BYOK API key or the $9.99/month Pro subscription. When you use a BYOK key with OpenAI or Anthropic, your transcribed text leaves your Mac and goes to that provider's API. This is opt-in and documented, but it means text does leave your device.

Spokenly Pro uses cloud models where Spokenly manages the API calls. The privacy posture shifts: transcribed text goes to Spokenly's cloud service for AI processing.

Hearsy's AI enhancement:

Hearsy ships Qwen 2.5 3B via MLX, which runs locally. Choosing "Clean & Format," "Email," or "Code Comment" from the AI templates doesn't trigger an API call — it runs the LLM on your Mac. No text leaves your device unless you explicitly configure Claude or OpenAI as your cleanup provider.

For users dictating sensitive content — medical notes, legal documents, confidential business communication — this matters. Hearsy's local LLM means the full pipeline, from audio to formatted text, stays on your device without any API keys.

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Pricing: free vs one-time#

This is the most substantive difference for many users.

Spokenly (as of March 2026):

• Local transcription (Parakeet + Whisper): free, no word limits, no usage caps
• BYOK mode: free, you pay API providers per call
• Pro: $9.99/month (cloud models, no API keys, priority support)

For pure dictation with no AI cleanup, Spokenly costs nothing. That's a real advantage.

Hearsy:

• One-time purchase — no subscription, no word limits

The math depends on what you need. If you want local transcription only — no AI cleanup, no formatting — Spokenly is free and there's no financial reason to choose Hearsy over it. If you want AI-enhanced transcription with local LLM processing (no ongoing API costs, no API keys), Hearsy's one-time price covers the full pipeline including the AI layer.

At Spokenly Pro's $9.99/month, two years of fully-featured use costs roughly $240. Hearsy's one-time purchase becomes cheaper within that window for heavy AI-cleanup users. But for users who only need the free local tier of Spokenly, that comparison never applies.

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Features: where they diverge#

What Spokenly has that Hearsy doesn't:

Agent Mode is Spokenly's most distinctive feature. You can issue voice commands to your Mac — launch apps, search the web, run Shortcuts — without touching the keyboard. This makes Spokenly a broader voice control tool, not purely a dictation app.

iPhone support. Spokenly has an iPhone app. Hearsy is macOS-only.

Mac App Store distribution. Easier installation and managed updates through Apple's system.

100+ language support with auto-detection. Hearsy supports 99 languages via Whisper and English via Parakeet. The practical difference is minor for most users.

What Hearsy has that Spokenly doesn't:

On-device AI cleanup with no API key. Hearsy's local Qwen 2.5 model handles grammar correction, email formatting, code comment generation, and prose cleanup entirely on-device. This is the core value proposition for Hearsy over Spokenly's free tier: if you want AI-enhanced transcription without any cloud APIs, Hearsy provides it with a local LLM.

Structured AI templates. Hearsy's templates (Clean & Format, Email, Code Comment, Summary) apply consistent, predictable processing to transcribed text. You choose the template before dictating; the LLM applies it. Spokenly's AI prompts via BYOK are more open-ended but require external API access.

Local transcription history. Hearsy stores transcription history locally via SwiftData for search and review.

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Spokenly vs Hearsy vs SuperWhisper#

Users comparing Spokenly often also look at SuperWhisper. Here's where they differ:

SuperWhisper has an established user base and a free tier, but uses Whisper models only — no Parakeet. English latency is typically 1–2 seconds vs Parakeet's sub-50ms for both Spokenly and Hearsy.

Spokenly's free local tier makes it the lowest-cost entry point among the three if you want Parakeet speed. SuperWhisper's free tier provides Whisper-based transcription at no cost. Hearsy requires a one-time purchase but includes the local AI enhancement pipeline.

For a detailed three-way comparison, see Wispr Flow vs SuperWhisper vs Hearsy.

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Which to choose#

Choose Spokenly if:

• You want free, unlimited local dictation — Spokenly's local tier costs nothing
• You need Agent Mode for voice-controlled Mac commands (app launching, web search, Shortcuts)
• You use an iPhone and want dictation that works across both devices
• You prefer Mac App Store installation
• You already have OpenAI, Anthropic, or Groq API keys and want BYOK AI enhancement

Choose Hearsy if:

• You want fully local AI enhancement — transcription plus cleanup — without any API keys or cloud calls
• You dictate sensitive content and need the complete pipeline (transcription + AI formatting) to stay on your Mac
• You prefer one-time pricing and plan to use AI templates regularly (Email, Code Comment, Summary)
• You're a macOS-only user who doesn't need iPhone support or Agent Mode

Choose macOS built-in dictation if:

• Your dictation needs are occasional and under 30 seconds at a time
• You don't want to install a third-party app

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For more on local Mac dictation options, see the best dictation software for Mac guide. For how local and cloud transcription differ, see AI transcription: local vs cloud. For privacy implications of voice data, see the voice data privacy guide. For a broader look at Parakeet-based apps, see Whisper vs Parakeet.

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Frequently asked questions#

Is Spokenly free?#

Spokenly's local transcription tier — using Parakeet and Whisper models on your Mac — is free with no word limits or usage caps. BYOK mode (bring your own API keys from OpenAI, Deepgram, Groq, or Anthropic) is also free. The Pro subscription, which includes cloud-managed models and priority support, costs $9.99/month.

Does Spokenly work offline?#

Yes. Spokenly's local models (Parakeet and Whisper) run entirely on your Mac without an internet connection. AI enhancement features — grammar correction, formatting, text rewrites — require either a BYOK API key (which does need internet) or the Pro subscription. Pure transcription works fully offline.

How does Spokenly compare to Hearsy for privacy?#

In local mode, both apps process audio on-device with nothing transmitted. The difference is in AI enhancement: Hearsy ships with a local LLM (Qwen 2.5 3B via MLX) for grammar correction and formatting that runs on your Mac without any API keys or cloud calls. Spokenly requires a BYOK API key or Pro subscription for AI enhancement, which sends transcribed text to external servers. For the full pipeline — transcription and AI cleanup — to stay on-device, Hearsy provides that without additional configuration.

Does Spokenly use Parakeet?#

Yes. Spokenly uses NVIDIA Parakeet TDT for English transcription and Whisper for other languages — the same engines as Hearsy. Both apps achieve under 50ms latency for English on Apple Silicon via Parakeet. This is why transcription accuracy and speed are essentially the same between the two apps.

What is the best Spokenly alternative for Mac?#

Hearsy is the closest technical alternative — same Parakeet and Whisper engines, fully local processing, one-time purchase with local AI cleanup. SuperWhisper uses Whisper only (no Parakeet), so English latency is higher. For cloud-based dictation with cross-platform support, Wispr Flow and Aqua Voice are options, though both process audio on remote servers. For a detailed look at the local alternatives, see best whisper apps for Mac.