Aqua Voice vs Willow Voice: the honest comparison.
Aqua Voice and Willow Voice are both system-wide dictation apps for Mac, Windows, and iOS. Willow Voice has the broader language story, while Aqua Voice is the cheaper individual subscription. Ottex is shown as our tool for buyers who want dictation plus meetings, files, and local or BYOK options.
Ottex
Mac, iOS · Free tier · $14/mo · PAYG
Ottex is unusually broad for a young Mac/iOS-first tool: it turns dictation and meetings into emails, tickets, CRM updates, notes, and docs, but it is not the pick if you need Windows, Android, web, browser extension, or compliance paperwork.
Choose if
You want one tool for system-wide dictation, meeting recording, and finished written outcomes like follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs
You want a real free path: unlimited local dictation, file transcription, and meetings on Mac with Whisper/Parakeet, or BYOK instead of a forced subscription
You need multilingual dictation with 100+ languages, auto-detection, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules
Look elsewhere if
You need Windows, Android, Linux, web access, or a browser extension
You need mature team infrastructure such as a shared workspace, API/webhooks, third-party note destinations, or assistant chat over transcripts today.
Aqua Voice
Mac, Windows, iOS · Limited free · $8/mo
Aqua Voice is a polished system-wide dictation app for Mac, Windows, and iOS, with 49 languages and strong formatting controls, but it is not a meeting recorder or file transcription tool and dictation is processed server-side.
Choose if
You want fast, system-wide voice dictation across Mac, Windows, or iOS for everyday writing.
You want dictated text cleaned up automatically with punctuation, paragraphs, filler-word removal, snippets, custom vocabulary, and tone rules.
You are comfortable paying $10/month or $96/year after the 1,000-word trial, which is only about 8 minutes of speech.
Look elsewhere if
You need meeting recording, summaries, action items, speaker identification, or calendar-based meeting workflows.
You need audio or video file transcription with timestamps, speaker labels, exports, batch processing, or watch folders.
Willow Voice
Mac, Windows, iOS · Limited free · $12/mo
Willow Voice looks strong if you want polished, system-wide AI dictation across Mac, Windows, and iPhone, but it is not a file transcription or meeting-notes tool, and its free tier is only about 15 minutes of speech a week.
Choose if
You want system-wide dictation that inserts text into whatever field your cursor is in.
You dictate across Mac, Windows, and iPhone and care about 100+ languages, custom vocabulary, and tone/style cleanup.
You need team dictation controls like a shared dictionary, shared shortcuts, centralized billing, and a 3-seat minimum is fine.
Look elsewhere if
You need meeting recording, summaries, action items, speaker identification, or follow-up drafts.
You need audio/video file transcription, batch processing, timestamps, or speaker labels from uploaded media files.You need a genuinely usable free plan; 2,000
The evidence
What actually differs, claim by claim.
Each section opens with the takeaway. The table underneath is the receipt — every cell carries its source and the date we checked it.
Pricing
Aqua Voice is the cheaper subscription path: $10/month or $96/year after a 1,000-word trial, which is about 8 minutes of speech. Willow Voice costs $15/month for individuals, or $12/seat/month for teams with a 3-seat minimum, and its 2,000 words/week free tier is only about 15 minutes of dictation a week. Ottex is the pricing outlier with free local AI, free BYOK, $0.2/hour PAYG, plus $14/month Pro and $24/seat/month
See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
Aqua Voice
Willow Voice
Free tier
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Forever free with local models and BYOK providers.
PartialSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 20261,000 free words, no card required
PartialSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 20262,000 free words per week
Subscription
$14/moSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.
$8/moSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026FAQ says Pro is $8/month billed annually after the free words.
$12/moSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Jun 2026Pricing page shows $10/month billed annually; help center says $12 per user/month with 20% off annually.
Pay-as-you-go / one-timeEscape the flat subscription
$0.2/hourSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Hosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).
NoSubscription only
NoSubscription only
Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026OpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.
No public claim
No public claim
Education discount
NoSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Same pricing for everyone.
YesSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Students with a .edu email get 70% off annual plans.
No public claim
Platforms
Aqua Voice and Willow Voice both cover the same 3 main platforms: Mac, Windows, and iOS. Ottex is narrower with Mac and iOS only, so Aqua Voice or Willow Voice wins immediately if Windows matters. Ottex only belongs in the platform conversation if a Mac/iOS-first workflow is acceptable.
See the evidence — 5 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
Aqua Voice
Willow Voice
Platforms
Mac, iOSSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026
Mac, Windows, iOSSource: aquavoice.com/download — checked Jun 2026
Mac, Windows, iOSSource: willowvoice.com/download — checked Jun 2026Some platforms in beta/waitlist
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Native Swift app, ~50MB RAM.
No public claim
PartialSource: willowvoice.com/download — checked Jun 2026Mac download appears native; Windows download URL references Electron builds.
Meetings & team memory
Aqua Voice and Willow Voice do not handle meeting recording, speaker identification, summaries, action items, or calendar-style meeting workflows, even on their paid plans. Ottex is the only one of the three with meeting capture, alongside free local/BYOK paths and $0.2/hour PAYG. If meetings are part of the job, Ottex wins this dimension clearly.
See the evidence — 18 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
Aqua Voice
Willow Voice
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026With speaker separation.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026System-audio capture, no bot joins the call.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Speaker separation
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Calendar detection
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Calendar-based meeting detection.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Cross-meeting search
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Shared team memory
PartialSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Public share links, not a full team workspace.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
From meeting to finished work
Aqua Voice and Willow Voice focus on cleaned-up dictated text, not finished meeting work. Neither turns calls into follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, or docs. Ottex is the only one of the three that claims those finished outputs, with Pro at $14/month and Team at $24/seat/month.
See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
Aqua Voice
Willow Voice
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Decisions with owners extracted.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Drafted from templates or your own.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
CRM update / ticket draft
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Structured for the target app.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Your rough notes steer the result
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Rough notes and instructions steer the result.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Dictation & transcription AI
Willow Voice has the strongest language count among the compared pair with 100 languages, while Aqua Voice supports 49 languages and costs less at $96/year. Ottex matches Willow Voice at 100 languages and adds local AI, BYOK, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules, but only on Mac and iOS. For Windows dictation, choose Aqua Voice or Willow Voice; for Mac/iOS control over engines and data
See the evidence — 13 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
Aqua Voice
Willow Voice
Engines
Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Source: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.
Avalon proprietary speech modelSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Aqua says it runs on its own Avalon speech model.
cloud-based AI modelsSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Jun 2026Vendor describes the recognition stack as cloud-based AI models without naming providers.
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Whisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.
NoSource: aquavoice.com/vs — checked Jun 2026Aqua requires an internet connection and processes audio server-side.
PartialSource: help.willowvoice.com/en — checked Jun 2026Help center lists offline dictation on Individual Pro, while privacy docs say cloud models are used for the main experience.
Model selection per task
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Choose the model per task and per provider.
No public claim
No public claim
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.
YesSource: aquavoice.com/guide — checked Jun 202649+ languages · Language guide says Aqua supports multilingual speakers.
YesSource: apps.apple.com/us — checked Jun 2026100+ languages · App Store listing says users can switch languages on the fly.
Per-app output rules
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Per-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.
PartialSource: aquavoice.com/info — checked Jun 2026Aqua formats for the destination app, but no per-app rule editor is documented.
PartialSource: apps.apple.com/us — checked Jun 2026App Store listing says style matching adapts tone by context; TechCrunch reports styles across app categories.
Cost
What a year actually costs at your volume.
Personal or team — switch tabs. Subscriptions are flat; usage-based pricing depends on how much you speak and meet.
OttexSubscription - Pro$168/yr$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.
Aqua VoicePro Annual+ Granola for meetings — $168/yr$264/yr$96 + $168FAQ says Pro is $8/month billed annually after the free words. · Unlimited use
Willow VoiceTeam+ Granola for meetings — $168/yr$283/yr$115 + $168Pricing page shows $10/month billed annually; help center says $12 per user/month with 20% off annually. · Unlimited words; minimum 3 seats
Aqua VoicePro Monthly+ Granola for meetings — $168/yr$288/yr$120 + $168A vendor comparison page lists Pro at $10/month. · Unlimited use
Willow VoiceIndividual+ Granola for meetings — $168/yr$312/yr$144 + $168Pricing page shows $12/month billed annually; help center says $15/month with 20% off annual billing. · Unlimited words to dictate; up to 8 minutes of recording per session
Estimates, not quotes. Striped bar segments are the cost of the second app you picked above to cover the gap — rankings use that combined total. PAYG uses hosted at-cost estimates ($0.2/h dictation, $0.5/h meetings); BYOK is estimated at about a third of that because you pay the model provider directly. Bring-your-own-key plans still pay the model provider per use. One-time licenses are amortized over 2 years. Subscriptions use published pricing, checked Jun 2026.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask.
Aqua Voice vs Willow Voice: which should I pick?
Pick Willow Voice if language coverage or team dictation matters, because it supports 100 languages and has a $12/seat/month team plan with a 3-seat minimum. Pick Aqua Voice if you mainly want personal dictation and prefer the cheaper $96/year plan.
Is Aqua Voice free?
Aqua Voice has a free trial, not a real free plan for ongoing dictation. The 1,000 free words are about 8 minutes of speech at 130 words per minute, then Pro is $10/month or $96/year. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex, which supports free local AI or free BYOK.
Is Willow Voice free?
Willow Voice has a free tier, but the 2,000 words/week cap is only about 15 minutes of dictation a week. Paid use starts at $15/month for individuals or $12/seat/month for teams with a 3-seat minimum. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex, which supports free local AI or free BYOK.
How much do Aqua Voice and Willow Voice cost?
Aqua Voice is $10/month or $96/year for unlimited use after its 1,000-word trial. Willow Voice is $15/month for individuals, or $12/seat/month for teams with a 3-seat minimum. Aqua Voice is cheaper for one person, while Willow Voice is the better fit if its team controls are worth the higher floor.
Is Aqua Voice or Willow Voice more private?
Neither Aqua Voice nor Willow Voice is listed as having a local or BYOK option, and Aqua Voice is explicitly described as server-side. If privacy means keeping dictation local or using your own key, neither compared tool wins. For local or BYOK dictation, consider Ottex, which offers both.
Does Aqua Voice or Willow Voice work on Windows?
Yes, both Aqua Voice and Willow Voice work on Windows, as well as Mac and iOS. Ottex does not, because it is Mac and iOS only. If Windows is required, choose between Aqua Voice and Willow Voice.
Does Aqua Voice or Willow Voice work offline?
The provided plans do not list a local or offline option for either Aqua Voice or Willow Voice. Aqua Voice is described as server-side, and Willow Voice has no local option in the digest. For offline-style local AI, consider Ottex, which has a local option.
