FluidVoice vs Willow Voice: the honest comparison.
Choose FluidVoice for free, private local dictation and file transcription. Choose Willow Voice for iPhone support, polished cleanup, and team controls. Ottex is our reference if you also need meeting recording and finished work.
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.
FluidVoice
Mac · Free tier
FluidVoice is a compelling free, open-source choice for local, system-wide dictation with 99-language model support, but it offers no meeting recording or intelligence.
Choose if
You want free, unlimited local dictation without sending voice or transcripts to the vendor.
You need system-wide desktop dictation with per-app prompts, voice commands, and custom vocabulary.
You want to transcribe audio and video files locally, with TXT or JSON export.
Look elsewhere if
You need a meeting assistant for recording, summaries, action items, or team collaboration.
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
FluidVoice wins pricing because it is free without a stated usage cap. Willow Voice’s free tier allows 2,000 words a week, only about 15 minutes of speech, while Individual costs $15/month or $144/year and Team costs $12/seat/month or $115.2/seat/year with at least 3 seats.
See the evidence — 13 claims across 3 toolsverified Aug 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
FluidVoice
Willow Voice
Free tier
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Forever free with local models and BYOK providers.
YesSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026The core app and local inference are free; optional cloud enhancement uses the user's provider key.
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.
NoNo subscription plan
$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.
YesSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Users can supply OpenAI, Groq, or custom provider API credentials for optional enhancement.
No public claim
Education discount
NoSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Same pricing for everyone.
NoSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026No separate education discount is published because the product is free.
No public claim
Platforms
Willow Voice wins platform coverage with Mac, Windows, and iOS support. FluidVoice covers Mac and Windows, but its Windows installers are beta prereleases; Ottex covers Mac and iOS, so it is not the answer for Windows users.
See the evidence — 6 claims across 3 toolsverified Aug 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
FluidVoice
Willow Voice
Platforms
Mac, iOSSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026
MacSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Some platforms in beta/waitlist
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.
PartialSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026The macOS app is native Swift while the Windows beta uses Flutter with native speech and input components.
PartialSource: willowvoice.com/download — checked Jun 2026Mac download appears native; Windows download URL references Electron builds.
Meetings & team memory
Neither FluidVoice nor Willow Voice records meetings, provides bot-free capture, separates speakers, or builds team memory. Ottex wins this dimension because it records meetings, though its digest does not establish speaker separation or mature shared-workspace features.
See the evidence — 18 claims across 3 toolsverified Aug 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
FluidVoice
Willow Voice
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026With speaker separation.
NoSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 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: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Speaker separation
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026
NoSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Calendar detection
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Calendar-based meeting detection.
NoSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Cross-meeting search
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026
NoSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 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: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
From meeting to finished work
Neither FluidVoice nor Willow Voice produces meeting notes, action items, follow-ups, CRM updates, or tickets. Ottex is the relevant reference here because it turns meetings into follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, notes, and documents.
See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Aug 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
FluidVoice
Willow Voice
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Decisions with owners extracted.
NoSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 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: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 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: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 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: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Not supported.
NoSource: willowvoice.com/pricing — checked Jun 2026Not supported.
Dictation & transcription AI
FluidVoice wins for local control with on-device dictation, BYOK, file transcription, per-app prompts, and support for 99 languages. Willow Voice supports 100 languages and adds iOS, tone and style cleanup, custom vocabulary, and team dictionaries, but it has no local option or BYOK; Ottex combines local models, BYOK, 100 languages, mixed-language speech, and per-app output rules on Mac and iOS.
See the evidence — 13 claims across 3 toolsverified Aug 2026Show tableHide table
Ottex
FluidVoice
Willow Voice
Engines
Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Source: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.
Nemotron Speech 3.5, Parakeet Flash, Parakeet TDT v3 and v2, Cohere Transcribe, Apple Speech, WhisperSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026The app publishes seven recognition-engine families with multiple variants.
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.
YesSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Supported speech models run on the device after any required download.
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.
YesSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Users select among the supported recognition models during onboarding or in settings.
No public claim
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence
YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Jun 2026100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.
No public claim
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.
YesSource: github.com/altic-dev — checked Aug 2026Different prompt sets can be assigned to different applications.
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.
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
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 Aug 2026.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask.
FluidVoice vs Willow Voice: which should I choose?
Choose FluidVoice if you want free local dictation, BYOK, per-app prompts, or local file transcription. Choose Willow Voice if iPhone support, polished tone cleanup, or shared team dictionaries matter more than price and local processing.
Is FluidVoice free?
Yes, FluidVoice is free, with no usage cap stated in its plan. It is the stronger choice over Willow Voice when you want unlimited local dictation without a subscription.
Is Willow Voice free?
Technically yes, but its free plan is limited to 2,000 words per week, or roughly 15 minutes of dictation. That is a teaser rather than a practical weekly dictation plan, while FluidVoice is free without a stated cap.
How much do FluidVoice and Willow Voice cost?
FluidVoice is free. Willow Voice Individual costs $15/month or $144/year, while Team costs $12/seat/month or $115.2/seat/year with a 3-seat minimum; Enterprise pricing is custom.
Is FluidVoice safer than Willow Voice for private dictation?
FluidVoice is the better privacy choice because it can process dictation locally without sending voice or transcripts to the vendor, and it supports BYOK. Willow Voice has no local option or BYOK, so it cannot match that level of processing control.
Is it worth switching from FluidVoice to Willow Voice?
Switch only if you need iOS dictation, team controls, or Willow Voice’s tone and style cleanup. Stay with FluidVoice if local privacy, file transcription, BYOK, or avoiding a $144 yearly Individual plan matters more.
Does FluidVoice or Willow Voice work on Windows or Android?
Both work on Windows, although FluidVoice’s Windows installers are beta prereleases, and Willow Voice also supports Mac and iOS. Neither lists Android support, and Ottex does not solve that gap because it is limited to Mac and iOS.
