HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing: Which Voice-to-Text App Is Better in 2026?

Speechify is one of the most recognized names in text-to-speech, with over 55 million users and widespread brand awareness. In late 2025, they added Voice Typing to their platform — a speech-to-text dictation feature bundled into their existing Speechify Premium subscription. But brand recognition doesn't mean it's the best tool for voice dictation. When you compare HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing on what actually matters — privacy, pricing, offline capability, and dedicated focus — the differences are significant.

This comparison of HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing breaks down every dimension so you can make an informed decision.

Privacy: HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing

Privacy matters deeply when choosing a voice dictation app. You're speaking your emails, meeting notes, medical records, and confidential business discussions out loud. Where that audio goes — and what happens to it — should be your top concern.

HyperWhisper: Verifiable Privacy

HyperWhisper takes a privacy-first approach that you can independently verify:

• True offline mode: HyperWhisper includes local Whisper and NVIDIA Parakeet models for transcription, plus Gemma models for post-processing, all running entirely on your device. When using offline mode, zero data leaves your machine.
• User-controlled cloud: When you opt into cloud transcription, you choose your provider (Deepgram, Groq, ElevenLabs, OpenAI, and others). You know exactly where your audio goes and which company processes it.
• No account required: Download and use HyperWhisper without creating an account or providing personal information.
• Open source backend: HyperWhisper Cloud's backend source code is publicly available on GitHub, so anyone can audit exactly what happens when audio reaches the cloud service.
• Verifiable claims: Because HyperWhisper offers genuine on-device processing, anyone can confirm audio stays local by monitoring network traffic with tools like Proxyman or Little Snitch.

Speechify Voice Typing: Cloud-Only with Limited Transparency

Speechify Voice Typing takes a cloud-only approach with several transparency gaps:

• Cloud-processed audio: All audio is sent to Speechify's servers for processing. There is no local or offline transcription option for Voice Typing.
• Undisclosed ASR model: Speechify does not publicly disclose which automatic speech recognition model powers Voice Typing. You don't know which third party is processing your voice data.
• Claims SOC 2 Type II certification, but this doesn't change the cloud-only architecture.
• No retention clarity: Speechify states audio is "encrypted during processing," but provides no clear statement on whether recordings are retained after transcription or used for model training.

When comparing HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing on privacy, HyperWhisper gives you provable, auditable privacy with zero data leaving your device in offline mode. Speechify sends all audio to the cloud using an undisclosed ASR model, leaving you to trust their assurances without any way to verify them.

Pricing: HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing

Cost is where the HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing comparison gets dramatic. Speechify Voice Typing is not available as a standalone product — it's bundled into Speechify Premium, which includes text-to-speech, AI podcasts, and a voice AI assistant. If all you need is dictation, you're paying for a suite of features you may never use.

Feature	HyperWhisper	Speechify Voice Typing
Free tier	3 minutes/day (offline + cloud)	No free Voice Typing
Paid plan	$39 one-time (lifetime)	$29/month or ~$139/year
Standalone purchase	Yes	No (bundled with Premium)
Subscriptions	None, ever	Required
Offline transcription	Free, forever	Not available at any price
1-year cost	$39	$139–$348
3-year cost	$39	$417–$1,044

HyperWhisper's one-time $39 payment gives you lifetime access to unlimited transcription, all modes, custom vocabulary, and cloud credits. There are no recurring charges, no upsells, and no subscription traps.

Speechify Premium costs $29/month billed monthly or roughly $139/year on an annual plan. Over three years, that's $417 to $1,044. For the same period, HyperWhisper costs $39 total — that's up to 27x less over three years.

The free tier comparison is even more stark. HyperWhisper's free plan gives you 3 minutes per day of transcription across both offline and cloud modes — enough to experience the full product daily. Speechify offers no free access to Voice Typing at all — you must subscribe to Premium to even try the dictation feature.

Features: HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing

Both apps promise fast, accurate voice-to-text, but they differ significantly in focus and flexibility. HyperWhisper is a dedicated dictation tool built from the ground up for speech-to-text. Speechify Voice Typing is an add-on feature within a broader text-to-speech platform.

Offline Transcription

This is the single biggest feature gap between HyperWhisper and Speechify Voice Typing.

HyperWhisper ships with a complete offline pipeline:

• 11 Whisper models ranging from Tiny (39 MB) to Large v3 (3.1 GB), including the fast Large v3 Turbo (809 MB)
• NVIDIA Parakeet models optimized for Apple Neural Engine, supporting 25+ European languages
• Gemma 3 models (1B, 4B, or 12B parameters) for offline post-processing, so even text cleanup happens locally
• Silero VAD for local voice activity detection

Every step of the pipeline — recording, voice detection, speech-to-text, and post-processing — runs fully on-device with zero network calls.

Speechify Voice Typing has no offline capability whatsoever. Every dictation session requires an active internet connection and sends data to external servers.

Transcription Modes

HyperWhisper provides built-in modes for common workflows: Meeting, Email, Note, Code, Legal, and Medical. Pro users can create unlimited custom modes with specific formatting rules, vocabulary, and writing styles tailored to their exact needs.

Speechify Voice Typing includes AI auto-editing that removes filler words, fixes grammar, and "polishes" your text. This means output is non-verbatim by default — the AI modifies what you actually said. While convenient for casual use, professionals who need precise dictation (legal, medical, coding) may find this problematic.

Custom Vocabulary

HyperWhisper lets you add up to 100 specialized terms, names, acronyms, and jargon per transcription to dramatically improve recognition accuracy. This is especially valuable for professionals in technical, legal, or medical fields where standard models struggle with domain-specific terminology. Custom vocabulary works with both local and cloud transcription providers.

Speechify Voice Typing claims to learn your writing style over time, adapting to how you speak. However, it does not offer an explicit custom vocabulary feature for adding domain-specific terms.

Provider Choice

HyperWhisper gives you unprecedented control over your transcription stack:

• 12+ transcription providers: Deepgram, Groq, ElevenLabs, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, Fireworks AI, Mistral, and more
• 30+ transcription models across local and cloud options
• Multiple post-processing providers: Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, Groq, Cerebras
• HyperWhisper Cloud: Built-in edge service deployed across 17 global regions with no API key required

You can mix and match providers based on your priorities: fastest speed (Groq), highest accuracy (ElevenLabs), lowest cost (local models), or maximum privacy (fully offline).

Speechify Voice Typing processes everything through Speechify's own cloud infrastructure using an undisclosed ASR model. You cannot choose your transcription provider, see which models are used, or opt for a different processing pipeline.

Language Support

HyperWhisper supports 100+ languages with automatic language detection in both offline and cloud modes, with strong non-English accuracy across providers like ElevenLabs Scribe v2 and Deepgram Nova-3.

Speechify claims 60+ language support, but it's unclear how many of those languages apply specifically to Voice Typing versus their text-to-speech features. User reports suggest non-English voice typing quality is noticeably weaker.

Platform Support

HyperWhisper is available on macOS and Windows with full native apps and complete offline capability on both platforms.

Speechify Voice Typing works via the native Mac app (macOS 13+) and a Chrome extension (1M+ users on Chrome Web Store). There is no dedicated Windows desktop app — Windows users must use the Chrome extension, which limits functionality to browser-based workflows. Speechify also has iOS and Android apps, though Voice Typing functionality varies by platform.

Speed and Accuracy: HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing

HyperWhisper achieves sub-700ms latency with cloud transcription and delivers up to 99% accuracy using state-of-the-art models like Deepgram Nova-3 and ElevenLabs Scribe v2. Custom vocabulary further boosts accuracy for specialized terminology. HyperWhisper's post-processing pipeline automatically removes filler words, adds punctuation, and formats output contextually based on your selected transcription mode — whether that's meeting notes, emails, code comments, or medical dictation. Local transcription with Whisper Large v3 or Parakeet models provides excellent accuracy entirely offline.

Speechify Voice Typing claims speeds of up to 160 words per minute (5x faster than typing) and includes AI auto-editing that removes filler words, adds punctuation, and polishes grammar. The AI polishing is automatic and non-optional, which means your output may not match what you actually said.

Both apps deliver fast results. The key difference is that HyperWhisper lets you choose between speed (cloud) and privacy (local), while Speechify locks you into cloud-only processing with no alternative.

Resource Usage: HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing

System performance matters when a dictation tool runs in the background all day.

HyperWhisper is built with native Swift on macOS and native C++ on Windows — no web wrappers, no browser engines, no abstraction layers. It launches instantly, idles at near-zero resource usage, and integrates directly with OS-level APIs for audio capture, hotkeys, and accessibility. The app runs as a lightweight menu bar utility with minimal memory footprint when idle.

Speechify's Mac app has received mixed reviews regarding performance. Users on Reddit and the Mac App Store have reported bugs, sluggish behavior, and occasional crashes. The app bundles text-to-speech, AI podcasts, voice assistant, and now voice typing into a single application, which means it carries the overhead of features you may not use if dictation is your primary need.

A dedicated dictation app will always be leaner and more responsive than one that bundles five different AI features into a single package.

Trust and Transparency: HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing

HyperWhisper:

• Built by an identifiable, public developer (Ray Amjad)
• Open source cloud backend on GitHub
• Privacy claims independently verifiable via network monitoring
• No hidden data collection beyond transcription functionality
• Straightforward one-time pricing with no upsells
• Clear, honest refund policy

Speechify:

• Founded by Cliff Weitzman in 2017 as a text-to-speech tool
• Significant Reddit complaints about aggressive billing practices, difficulty canceling subscriptions, and denied refund requests
• Voice Typing uses an undisclosed ASR model, making independent evaluation difficult
• Bundled pricing means you cannot evaluate or pay for Voice Typing on its own merits

Speechify has built an impressive brand, but trust requires transparency. When the ASR model is undisclosed, audio retention policies are vague, and billing complaints are widespread, users are left relying on faith rather than evidence.

The Verdict: HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing

When comparing HyperWhisper vs Speechify Voice Typing across every dimension that matters, HyperWhisper consistently delivers more value for anyone whose primary need is voice dictation:

• Better privacy: True offline mode with verifiable claims versus cloud-only processing with an undisclosed ASR model
• Dramatically better value: $39 once versus $139–$348/year in subscriptions — up to 27x less over three years
• Dedicated focus: Purpose-built dictation app versus a bundled add-on within a text-to-speech suite
• More control: Choose from 12+ providers and 30+ models, or go fully offline, versus a single locked-in cloud pipeline
• Native Windows app: Full desktop application versus a Chrome extension
• More transparency: Open source backend and verifiable privacy versus undisclosed models and vague data practices
• No billing surprises: One-time purchase with no recurring charges versus a subscription with widely reported cancellation difficulties

Paying $29/month for a bundled suite when a dedicated, more capable app exists for $39 total doesn't add up. For anyone who values privacy, wants control over their transcription stack, needs offline dictation, or simply refuses to pay hundreds per year for something they can own outright, HyperWhisper is the clear winner.

Download HyperWhisper free and experience the difference for yourself.