Push-to-talk voice typing for Windows that lands in any app — your terminal, editor, browser, chat box. Your voice never leaves your PC. No account. No subscription. Ever.
one-click install · bring your own key · or run 100% offline
The honest comparison
The popular dictation apps are Mac-first, cloud-only, and cost up to $144/year. Here's the trade you're actually making.
| Pipevoice | Wispr Flow | Windows built-in | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | $15/mo · $144/yr | Free |
| Your voice | Stays on your PC (offline option) | Uploaded to the cloud | Sent to Microsoft |
| Built for Windows | Native | Mac-first port | Basic |
| Types into any app | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Works offline | Yes · local Whisper | No | No |
| Open source · auditable | Yes | No | No |
Comparison from public pricing & reviews, 2026. Bring your own key (cents/day) or run fully offline, free.
What it does
It types real keystrokes into the app you're already in — not a special box you paste from.
Terminal, editor, browser, chat box. Real keystrokes go to the focused window — nothing to copy or paste.
Pick the offline engine and your voice never leaves your machine. No account, no telemetry, no servers of ours. Open source — verify it.
Dictate prompts straight into Claude Code, Cursor, or any terminal — 3–5× faster than typing them. Talk the way you think.
Whisper for accuracy, Deepgram for live words as you speak, local for fully offline. Swap any time from the tray.
A quiet tray app, not a memory hog. No Electron, no background bloat — it waits in the tray until you hold the key.
Custom hotkey, vocabulary boosting for your jargon, word-fixes, auto-send, optional AI cleanup. Open source — fork it.
Made for the terminal
Anthropic shipped /voice in 2026 — but it only types inside the Claude CLI. Your editor, browser, Slack, Jira and terminal panes are still keyboard-only.
Pipevoice types your words into all of them. Hold a key, say the prompt, release — it lands wherever your cursor is. You think at ~150 wpm and type at ~40. Close the gap.
Setup
Download, run the installer. It opens quietly to your system tray.
Paste an OpenAI or Deepgram key — or choose offline and skip keys entirely.
Hold the hotkey, speak, release. Your words type where your cursor is.
Stay in the loop
I ship updates often — new engines, better accuracy, and a managed-key Pro for people who'd rather not touch an API key. Drop your email and I'll keep you posted. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
no spam · just shipping updates
Good to know
Yes — free forever. Use the offline engine at zero cost, or bring your own OpenAI/Deepgram key and pay the provider directly (cents a day). A managed-key Pro is coming later for people who want zero setup, but the core tool stays free.
Pipevoice is free (no $144/yr subscription), runs offline so your voice can stay on your PC, is built Windows-first instead of a Mac port, and is fully open source — you can read every line. The trade-off: you bring your own key for the cloud engines.
Yes. Pipevoice types real keystrokes into whatever window is focused — a terminal running Claude Code, Cursor's chat, your editor, the browser. Anything you can type into, you can talk into.
Yes. That SmartScreen warning shows for any app without a paid code-signing certificate. Click More info → Run anyway. It's open source — read every line on GitHub.
Only to the engine you pick. Cloud engines send audio to OpenAI/Deepgram to transcribe. The local engine sends nothing off your computer. Pipevoice has no servers and no telemetry.
Whisper for accuracy, Deepgram for live words as you speak, local for privacy and offline use. Switch any time from the tray.