QuickSay vs SuperWhisper: Which Voice-to-Text App Is Right for You?

Price: the deciding factor

Both apps let you stop renting, which already puts them in a small group. The difference is what that costs. SuperWhisper's lifetime plan is $249.99. QuickSay is $49 for the first 500 copies ($69 for the next 500, then $89), which is roughly five times less for the same idea of ownership.

SuperWhisper also sells monthly at $8.49 and yearly at $84.99. QuickSay has one price and no tiers. Whichever price you pay, you pay it once, and every future update is included.

Whose key, whose account

SuperWhisper lets you bring your own API key for the cleanup step only. Speech recognition runs on its own local models. QuickSay uses your own key for both steps, the speech recognition and the cleanup, which is what makes it the only full BYOK app in the category.

In practice that means the running cost is yours to see and yours to control, and there is no middleman who can reprice your dictation later.

Privacy and offline use

SuperWhisper wins on pure privacy. It processes everything locally, so no audio ever leaves your device. That is a genuine advantage if you handle sensitive material or work somewhere without a connection, and no cloud app can match it.

QuickSay sends audio to Groq for transcription and cleanup using your own key. It captures zero screen data and runs zero tracking, and there is no QuickSay server in the path, but the processing is still cloud based. That is the trade for the small install and the lower price, and it does mean you need an internet connection.

Platform

SuperWhisper covers more ground. It runs on Mac and, since December 2025, on Windows, though the Windows build is newer and lags the Mac one in polish. QuickSay runs on Windows 10 and 11 only, with no Mac, Linux or mobile version. If you split your work between a Mac and a PC, SuperWhisper is the one that follows you.

Text cleanup

Both apps use language models to clean up raw transcription, removing filler words, fixing grammar, and formatting output. SuperWhisper runs them locally, so it works without internet and asks more of your hardware. QuickSay runs cleanup through Groq on your key, so it stays light and works on modest machines.

Track record

SuperWhisper has endorsements from well-known developers including Andrej Karpathy and Pieter Levels, and a solid reputation built up over years. QuickSay is newer and has no comparable track record yet. If an established name matters to you, that is a fair reason to pick SuperWhisper.

Who should choose QuickSay

• ✓ Anyone who wants to own it for less. $49 against $249.99 for a permanent license.
• ✓ People who want their own key everywhere. Full BYOK for speech and cleanup, not just cleanup.
• ✓ Users with modest hardware. Cloud processing means your machine never runs a large AI model.
• ✓ Users who want a small install. About 105 MB, with no model downloads.

Who should choose SuperWhisper

• ✓ Anyone who needs true offline dictation. Everything runs locally, with no internet required.
• ✓ Users handling sensitive material. Audio never leaves the device, which is the strongest privacy guarantee available.
• ✓ Mac users, and anyone working across Mac and Windows. QuickSay has no Mac build.
• ✓ Buyers who want an established name. SuperWhisper has years of use and well-known backers behind it.