Mac dictation apps with no subscription, compared

As of 2026-09-27, these Mac dictation apps can be bought once instead of rented: MacWhisper (€64), Nota ($79, $59 early bird), Voibe ($149 lifetime) and Superwhisper ($249.99 lifetime). They differ in how many Macs one licence covers, whether you can use cloud models on your own key, and how long you have to ask for a refund. All four run speech models locally.

Pay-once apps table (as of 2026-09-27)

App	Price	Macs per licence	Local models	Cloud on your own key	Refund window
MacWhisper Pro	€64	1	Yes	Yes	7 days
Nota	$79 / $119 / $149	1 / 2 / 3	Yes	Yes, 11 providers	14 days
Voibe Lifetime	$149	1 seat (per person)	Yes	No, by design	30 days
Superwhisper Lifetime	$249.99	All your devices	Yes	Yes	30 days

Nota’s early bird prices are $59, $89 and $109. All other figures come from each vendor’s own site on 2026-09-27.

What “lifetime” means at each

“Lifetime” always means you do not pay again to keep using the version you have. Whether new versions are included is where they differ.

• MacWhisper says its Pro licence includes lifetime updates.
• Nota includes updates for life with the licence, and the licence never expires. It is checked once when you activate it, then Nota works offline and never checks again.
• Voibe sells a lifetime plan next to its monthly plans; its hosted, zero-retention cloud mode is part of the product.
• Superwhisper sells lifetime next to monthly and yearly Pro. Check its plan page for which hosted cloud models are included over time.

One question worth asking any vendor before you buy: does the licence cover the next major version, or only updates to this one? Where the wording is unclear, the refund window is your protection.

The practical test: if the company stops selling the app, does your copy keep working? A licence that is checked once and then works offline does. One that phones home on every launch may not.

How many Macs per licence

This is the column most comparisons skip, and it changes the price.

Activation (seat) is one Mac registered to your licence key. Moving to a new Mac means deactivating the old one first, usually in the app or a web portal.

• One Mac: MacWhisper (€64 per licence), Nota Personal ($79).
• Two Macs: Nota Duo ($119), or two MacWhisper licences.
• Three Macs: Nota Studio ($149).
• Per person, not per Mac: Voibe.
• As many devices as you like: Superwhisper.

If you work on a desktop and a laptop, compare the two-Mac price, not the headline price.

Moving to a new Mac should not cost a new licence. In Nota you click Deactivate this Mac on the old one and activate the same key on the new one. If the old Mac is gone, you remove it in the licence portal from any browser.

Hidden running costs: cloud minutes

A one-time price covers the app. It does not cover a cloud speech model, because someone has to pay for the servers.

With local models, running cost is $0. The model runs on your Mac, with no internet.

With a cloud model on your own key, you pay the provider per minute of audio. At list prices as of 2026-09-27, that is about $0.04 an hour on Groq, about $0.27 an hour on OpenAI’s GPT Transcribe, and about $0.22 an hour on ElevenLabs Scribe. Four hours of speech a month on GPT Transcribe is about $1.08.

Nota adds nothing on top of that bill, and shows it: the Models page lists the cost per hour of every cloud model, and Home adds up what each one cost you this month.

Break-even against $144 a year

Wispr Flow Pro, Willow Pro, Typeless Pro and Monologue Pro each cost $144 a year billed yearly, as of 2026-09-27. Against that:

• MacWhisper at €64 in about 5 to 6 months.
• Nota at $79 in about 6.6 months (about 5 at the $59 early bird price).
• Voibe at $149 in just over a year.
• Superwhisper lifetime at $249.99 in about 21 months.

Add a cloud model at about $1.08 a month and each break-even moves by days, not months.

Price is not the only way to pick. A short guide by need, as of 2026-09-27:

• Mostly files, meetings and subtitles: MacWhisper.
• Cloud models on your own key, with the cost shown, and styles by app and by website: Nota.
• No keys and no model choices, for a regulated office: Voibe.
• The same licence on iPhone and Windows too: Superwhisper lifetime, which covers all your devices.

What some subscriptions buy: phone apps, Windows and team billing. Meeting notes are also available in some pay-once apps, including Nota Notebook. If you need those, the break-even is not the right question. Wispr Flow alternatives covers that trade.

Nota’s tiers are on /pricing, the refund terms on /refund, and activation and moving Macs in the licence docs.

Sources

• MacWhisper, Voibe pricing, Superwhisper, Wispr Flow pricing, checked 2026-09-27.
• Nota pricing and licence docs, checked 2026-09-27.
• Groq speech-to-text, ElevenLabs API pricing, checked 2026-09-27.