Ottex
Mac, iOS
You want dictated emails to follow your saved writing instructions.
You need voice dictation on a Windows computer.
Three tools. Different strengths. Find your fit.
Each tool takes a different approach. Here’s a quick side-by-side to help you choose based on your workflow, platforms, and goals.
Mac, iOS
You want dictated emails to follow your saved writing instructions.
You need voice dictation on a Windows computer.
Mac, iOS
You want local dictation and meeting notes without recurring fees.
You need a dictation tool that runs on Windows.
Mac, Windows, iOS, Linux
You want unlimited offline dictation without a subscription.
You need a shared workspace for team meeting notes.
QuickWhisper offers a $59 one-time license. Spokenly and Ottex offer free app access with local models or your own API key (BYOK); API providers may charge separately.
| Feature | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Forever free with local models and BYOK providers. | PartialSource: meetmic.app/blog — checked Oct 202610 minutes of dictation a day | PartialSource: spokenly.app/pricing — checked Oct 2026No usage limits |
| Subscription | $14/moSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included. | $2/moSource: apps.apple.com/us — checked Oct 2026The US App Store publishes this annual total but does not specify its capability entitlements or inference billing. | $6.99/moSource: spokenly.app/team — checked Oct 2026Each seat includes full Pro with a permanent 30% discount and centralized billing. |
| One-time payment | Not applicableSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Application is free | $59 one-timeSource: meetmic.app/buy — checked Oct 2026Lifetime updates | Not applicableSource: spokenly.app/pricing — checked Oct 2026Application is free |
| Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026OpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers. | YesSource: meetmic.app/press-kit — checked Oct 2026Optional cloud transcription and summaries use user-provided API keys. | YesSource: spokenly.app/privacy — checked Oct 2026BYOK audio and text travel directly from the device to the selected provider. |
| Education discount | NoSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Same pricing for everyone. | YesSource: meetmic.app/edu — checked Oct 2026Students and educators with a university-issued email receive 30% off the one-time Pro license; no discounted USD total is published. | YesSource: spokenly.app/students — checked Oct 2026Verified students receive 50% off Pro at $4.99/month or $49.99/year after signing in with an academic email and emailing a student ID to support. |
Spokenly supports Windows and Linux alongside Mac and iOS; QuickWhisper and Ottex support Mac and iOS. Choose Spokenly for Windows dictation.
| Feature | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Mac, iOSSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026 | Mac, iOSSource: meetmic.app/press-kit — checked Oct 2026 | Mac, Windows, iOS, LinuxSource: spokenly.app/download — checked Oct 2026Some platforms in beta/waitlist |
| Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Native Swift app, ~50MB RAM. | No public claim | YesSource: spokenly.app/android — checked Oct 2026The macOS and iOS applications are built with Swift. |
QuickWhisper, Spokenly and Ottex record without a bot. Ottex offers an experimental, opt-in macOS camera recording watermark, which does not establish participant consent.
| Feature | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026With speaker separation. | YesSource: meetmic.app/changelog — checked Oct 2026Meeting recording became available without a license in version 1.33. | PartialSource: spokenly.app/dictation-for-mac — checked Oct 2026Meeting recording ships on Mac and requires macOS 14.4 or later. |
| Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026System-audio capture, no bot joins the call. | YesSource: meetmic.app — checked Oct 2026Captures Mac audio without joining the call as a participant. | YesSource: spokenly.app/blog — checked Oct 2026Mac meeting recording captures audio without a bot joining the call. |
| Camera recording watermarkShow recording in your camera video | PartialExperimental macOS virtual camera adds an Ottex icon to video; install/enable the extension, select it and turn video on. Guide covers Meet in Chrome and Zoom desktop; effects may obscure it. | No public claim | No public claim |
| Participant noticesRecording notices in chat or calendar | No public claim | NoSource: meetmic.app/blog — checked Oct 2026The vendor states that recording notifications are not broadcast to other participants. | No public claim |
| Speaker separation | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026 | PartialSource: meetmic.app/press-kit — checked Oct 2026Local diarization distinguishes up to 4 speakers, and a speaker registry remembers renamed voices. | PartialSource: spokenly.app/blog — checked Oct 2026Saved meeting recordings can be transcribed with voice-based speaker labels that may require manual correction. |
| Calendar detection | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Calendar-based meeting detection. | YesSource: meetmic.app/changelog — checked Oct 2026Apple Calendar and Google Calendar supply meeting events. | PartialSource: spokenly.app/releases — checked Oct 2026Mac meeting detection is documented in release notes, including Safari support. |
| Cross-meeting search | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026 | YesSource: meetmic.app/press-kit — checked Oct 2026Full-text and semantic search retrieve past transcripts across the local archive. | No public claim |
| Shared team memory | PartialSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Public share links, not a full team workspace. | No public claim | No public claim |
QuickWhisper and Ottex use document templates to draft follow-ups and tickets; Spokenly needs configured AI Instructions for summaries. Ottex also has a separate prompt library for chatting with transcripts.
| Feature | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting template libraryTurn a transcript into a structured document | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Choose a ready-made document template to extract relevant information from a meeting transcript into a structured document, such as a product review or client-call report. | YesSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026Ready-made prompts automatically receive the transcript and generate structured documents such as technical meeting notes with decisions, blockers, tickets, and follow-ups. | No public claim |
| Transcript chat prompt libraryReady-made prompts for AI chat about meetings | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Use ready-made reusable prompts in AI chat to ask questions, analyze discussions and extract information from meeting transcripts. | No public claim | No public claim |
| Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Decisions with owners extracted. | YesSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026The Decision log prompt extracts decisions, rationale, and owners from the transcript. | No public claim |
| Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Drafted from templates or your own. | YesSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026A reusable transcript prompt drafts a follow-up email. | No public claim |
| CRM update / ticket draft | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Structured for the target app. | YesSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026Call notes for the CRM generates a structured note for manual insertion into a CRM. | No public claim |
| Your rough notes steer the result | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Rough notes and instructions steer the result. | No public claim | NoSource: spokenly.app/comparison — checked Oct 2026Not supported. |
QuickWhisper (direct Mac build), Spokenly and Ottex apply saved instructions to dictation. Ottex expands saved text through voice triggers; Spokenly lacks this, while support in QuickWhisper is unverified.
| Feature | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Engines | Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Source: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local. | Whisper, Apple transcription, NVIDIA Parakeet, Nemotron, MLX modelsSource: meetmic.app/press-kit — checked Oct 2026Local speech models and optional API-key-based cloud transcription are available. | Whisper, NVIDIA Parakeet, Apple Speech Analyzer, OpenAI GPT-4o Transcribe, Deepgram Nova, SonioxSource: spokenly.app/docs — checked Oct 2026Local and cloud transcription engines are selectable per mode. |
| Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Whisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device. | YesSource: meetmic.app/blog — checked Oct 2026Installed local models transcribe without an internet connection. | YesSource: spokenly.app/docs — checked Oct 2026Downloaded local models transcribe offline, and Local Only Mode blocks outbound network access. |
| Model selection per task | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Choose the model per task and per provider. | YesSource: meetmic.app/changelog — checked Oct 2026Users select transcription models in Settings and can import custom Whisper models. | YesSource: spokenly.app/docs — checked Oct 2026Users choose transcription models and AI providers per mode. |
| Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching. | No public claim | PartialSource: spokenly.app/blog — checked Oct 2026100+ languages · Gemini 3.5 Transcribe supports switching languages mid-sentence. |
| Automatic formatting | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Dictation automatically fixes punctuation, groups ideas into paragraphs and formats enumerations as lists. Formatting toggles and profile rules customize output. | YesSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026The selectable Clean up prompt adds punctuation, topic paragraphs, and lists where appropriate. | PartialSource: spokenly.app/docs — checked Oct 2026Models add punctuation, and optional Smart Paragraphs on Mac adds paragraph breaks; automatic list formatting remains unverified. |
| Custom dictionary | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Add or delete names and specialist terms with preferred spellings; entries provide recognition context during transcription. | YesSource: meetmic.app/changelog — checked Oct 2026Dictation settings provide a custom vocabulary and replacement list with export and import. | PartialSource: spokenly.app/docs — checked Oct 2026Supported models accept custom keyterms; ElevenLabs live transcription applies only the first 50 terms. |
| Voice snippetsSay a saved phrase to insert a link or text | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Save a voice trigger and expansion text; saying the trigger while dictating inserts the saved URL or text in place. | No public claim | NoSource: spokenly.app/comparison — checked Oct 2026Not supported. |
| Custom voice instructionsFree-form rules applied after dictation | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Saved profile instructions automatically process dictation before insertion; rules can include writing examples, personal phrasing and email signatures. | PartialSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026Users can save and edit dictation prompts that process speech before insertion, with automatic app or website selection in the direct Mac build. | YesSource: spokenly.app/docs — checked Oct 2026Saved mode AI Instructions process each dictation before its configured auto-insert action using the selected AI provider. |
| Tone presetsChoose a predefined writing style | YesSelect built-in Messaging or Email profiles for casual or professional dictation; assigning apps or websites enables automatic profile activation. | PartialSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026The direct Mac build accepts predefined dictation prompts including Professional, Chat message, and Email. | No public claim |
| Text transforms / AI ShortcutsApply an AI action to existing text | YesSource: ottex.ai/docs — checked Oct 2026Select or copy existing text, open Omnibar and run an AI Shortcut to rewrite, translate, summarize or apply a custom prompt; the result is copied/pasted. | PartialSource: meetmic.app/prompts — checked Oct 2026AI prompts transform existing transcripts into summaries and other documents; arbitrary selected or copied text actions were not verified. | No public claim |
| Per-app output rules | YesSource: ottex.ai — checked Oct 2026Per-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email. | PartialSource: meetmic.app/changelog — checked Oct 2026Dictation prompts switch by app or website, with website matching limited to Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Brave, Arc, and Dia. | PartialSource: spokenly.app/docs — checked Oct 2026Mac modes automatically activate for configured applications or websites. |
Spokenly is the pick for Windows or unlimited free local dictation; choose QuickWhisper for local meeting templates and a $59 one-time license. Choose Ottex if you need voice-triggered snippets or AI actions that rewrite selected or copied text.
QuickWhisper allows 10 minutes of free dictation daily and free meeting recording. Spokenly offers uncapped local and BYOK app access; Ottex also has free local and BYOK paths, but API providers can charge for usage.
QuickWhisper lists $3.99/month, $19.99/year and a $59 one-time option; Spokenly Pro costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year. Ottex Pro costs $14/month or $168/year; Spokenly and Ottex also offer free local and BYOK app access, with provider charges separate.
Spokenly is the clearest choice when you need outbound network access blocked: its Local Only Mode enforces that. QuickWhisper and Ottex also support on-device transcription; using cloud transcription sends audio to the configured provider.
Stay with QuickWhisper if its local meeting templates and one-time license meet your needs. Switch to Spokenly for Windows or uncapped free local dictation; consider Ottex for voice-triggered snippets and rewriting selected or copied text.
Spokenly supports Windows; QuickWhisper and Ottex support Mac and iOS. Android support is unverified for all three.
QuickWhisper, Spokenly and Ottex all support offline transcription with local models.