VoiceInk vs Hearsy: Open Source Dictation vs Local LLM

VoiceInk is an open-source local dictation app for macOS. Press a hotkey, speak, and text appears system-wide in any app. Transcription runs entirely on your Mac via Whisper (whisper.cpp) and Parakeet (FluidAudio).

VoiceInk's signature feature is Power Mode: it detects which app is in focus and applies pre-configured settings automatically. Switch from Notion to Gmail to a code editor, and your dictation settings for each context load without manual intervention.

The app is fully open source on GitHub under the MIT license. You can read every line of code, verify privacy claims, and compile it yourself at no cost. The pre-built version costs $39.99 one-time with no subscription.

VoiceInk is available on the Mac App Store and as a direct download, with a free trial before purchase.

Hearsy is a menu-bar dictation app that runs entirely on your Mac. Press a global hotkey from any app, speak, and transcribed text is pasted at your cursor. No internet connection is used during transcription. Audio is processed in local RAM by one of two AI engines: Parakeet TDT for English (under 50ms latency) or Whisper Large V3 for 99 languages. Optional AI cleanup runs locally via Qwen 2.5 by default, with no API call required.

VoiceInk is open source under the MIT license. You can read the entire codebase on GitHub and verify exactly what happens to your audio. This is the strongest privacy guarantee available — independent auditability rather than trust.

Both VoiceInk and Hearsy process transcription locally with no audio leaving your device. The difference is verifiability: VoiceInk's open source lets you confirm this at the code level. Hearsy is closed source — you can verify network behavior with Little Snitch, but you're trusting the implementation rather than reading it.

For AI cleanup, Hearsy's local LLM (Qwen 2.5) runs on-device. VoiceInk's AI-enhanced features should be checked against current documentation for on-device vs cloud processing specifics.

Both apps use the same transcription engines: Parakeet TDT for English (under 50ms) and Whisper Large V3 for other languages (1-2 seconds). There is no meaningful speed difference between VoiceInk and Hearsy for raw transcription.

The difference is in post-processing. VoiceInk's Power Mode applies per-app settings with negligible overhead. Hearsy's local LLM cleanup adds processing time for the AI step, though this runs on Apple Silicon and completes in 1-3 seconds for typical dictations.