Where Aqua Voice is the better pick
You need Windows or a phone as well as a Mac, a team plan with single sign-on, or a vendor with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports. Aqua covers those; Nota is a personal Mac app.
Nota vs Aqua Voice
Aqua Voice is a subscription dictation app for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, with a team plan. Nota is a Mac app you pay for once, and it can run entirely on your Mac.
Side by side
| Feature | Nota | Aqua Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $59 once for 1 Mac. $89 for 2, $109 for 3. | Pro $10 a month, or $8 a month billed yearly. Max $30 a month, or $24 billed yearly. |
| Three years | $59, plus your provider if you use cloud models ($0 on local models). | $288 on Pro billed yearly. $864 on Max billed yearly. |
| Free use | First 5,000 words, with every feature. | 1,000 words. |
| Refund | 14 days. | Their terms say fees are non-refundable. |
| Local models | Yes: Parakeet, Whisper, Nemotron and others run on your Mac, no internet needed. | Not stated on their site. |
| Your own API keys | Yes, in every license. | Not offered on their pricing page. |
| Your transcripts | With a local model they never leave your Mac. Nota has no server of its own for your audio or text. | Their privacy policy says transcripts may be stored on their servers when Privacy Mode is off. |
| Names and terms | Dictionary with replacements and snippets; it learns from your corrections. | Custom dictionary, larger on Pro; shared dictionaries on Business. |
| Platforms | Mac. | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android. |
| Teams and compliance | None. | Business plan with SSO. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, per their site. |
Competitor details come from their own websites, checked on October 8, 2026. Prices change; follow the link for today's. If something here is wrong, tell me and I'll fix it. Product names are trademarks of their owners; Nota is not affiliated with them. Aqua Voice pricing · Nota pricing
Where Nota is the better pick
You would rather pay once than every month, you want dictation that works offline with a local model, or you want to use your own API keys. Over three years Nota costs $59 against $288 for Aqua Pro on the yearly plan.
Try Nota next to it.
The first 5,000 words are free. No account, no key needed.
5,000 words free
No account needed.
macOS 14.4 or later · Apple silicon and Intel