COMPARISONEvery claim sourced · verified Jun 2026

Willow Voice vs Wispr Flow: the honest comparison.

Willow Voice and Wispr Flow are both system-wide dictation tools with limited free tiers and paid plans around $12-$15 per month. Wispr Flow has broader device coverage; Willow Voice is stronger when Mac, Windows, and iPhone are enough. We make Ottex, which belongs in the comparison if you also need meetings, file transcription, local models, or BYOK.

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.

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

Wispr Flow

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android · Limited free · $12/mo

Wispr Flow is a polished cross-platform dictation app for turning speech into formatted writing, but it is cloud-only and does not cover meeting recording, notes, or file transcription.

Choose if

You want system-wide voice dictation across Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android.
You want cloud dictation with formatting help, snippets, custom dictionary, command mode, and 100+ languages.
You are comfortable paying $15/user/month, or $12/user/month billed annually, for unlimited dictation.

Look elsewhere if

You need offline or local transcription; Flow says transcription always happens in the cloud.
You need meeting recording, summaries, action items, speaker identification, or meeting memory workflows.

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

Ottex wins pricing breadth: Free local AI, Free with your own key, $0.2/hour PAYG, and $14/mo Pro. Willow Voice and Wispr Flow both advertise free tiers, but 2,000 words/week is only about 15 minutes of dictation a week; paid Willow Voice is $15/mo individual or $12/seat/mo team with a 3-seat minimum, while Wispr Flow Pro is $15/seat/mo or $12/seat/mo annually.

See the evidence — 13 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Willow Voice	Wispr Flow
Free tier	YesForever free with local models and BYOK providers.	Partial2,000 free words per week	Partial2,000 words per week on Mac or Windows; 1,000 words per week on Flow for iPhone; Unlimited words per week on Android (limited time only)
Subscription	$14/mo$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.	$12/moPricing page shows $10/month billed annually; help center says $12 per user/month with 20% off annually.	$12/moAnnual price is published as $12/user/mo billed annually.
Pay-as-you-go / one-timeEscape the flat subscription	$0.2/hourHosted 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	YesOpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.	No public claim	NoNo bring-your-own-key option is published; Flow uses its own model providers.
Education discount	NoSame pricing for everyone.	No public claim	YesStudents get three months free and 50% off the Pro plan.

Platforms

Wispr Flow wins platform coverage with Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Willow Voice covers Mac, Windows, and iOS, so it loses Android. Ottex is the narrowest here with Mac and iOS only, so avoid it if Windows or Android is required.

See the evidence — 5 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Willow Voice	Wispr Flow
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Mac, Windows, iOSSome platforms in beta/waitlist	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke	YesNative Swift app, ~50MB RAM.	PartialMac download appears native; Windows download URL references Electron builds.	No public claim

Meetings & team memory

Ottex wins meeting capture because it is the only one of the three with meetings. Willow Voice and Wispr Flow both have dictation but no meeting recording, no speaker identification, no action items, and no meeting memory workflows. If calls matter, neither compared tool is enough.

See the evidence — 18 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Willow Voice	Wispr Flow
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all	YesWith speaker separation.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call	YesSystem-audio capture, no bot joins the call.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
Speaker separation	Yes	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
Calendar detection	YesCalendar-based meeting detection.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
Cross-meeting search	Yes	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
Shared team memory	PartialPublic share links, not a full team workspace.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported for meetings.

From meeting to finished work

Ottex wins meeting intelligence because it turns dictation and meetings into follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, notes, and docs. Willow Voice and Wispr Flow are writing-input tools, not workflow-completion tools. Use Willow Voice or Wispr Flow for formatted dictation, not finished meeting work.

See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Willow Voice	Wispr Flow
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear	YesDecisions with owners extracted.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized	YesDrafted from templates or your own.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
CRM update / ticket draft	YesStructured for the target app.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.
Your rough notes steer the result	YesRough notes and instructions steer the result.	NoNot supported.	NoNot supported.

Dictation & transcription AI

Wispr Flow and Willow Voice tie on core cloud dictation breadth with 100+ languages and unlimited paid dictation around $12-$15 per month, while Wispr adds Android. Ottex matches 100+ languages and adds local models, BYOK, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules, but only on Mac and iOS. Pick based on whether device coverage or control over the transcription path matters more.

See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Willow Voice	Wispr Flow
Engines	Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.	cloud-based AI modelsVendor describes the recognition stack as cloud-based AI models without naming providers.	cloud transcription using open-source models and proprietary LLM providersData controls say transcription always occurs in the cloud and Flow uses LLAMA 3.1 plus providers such as OpenAI.
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine	YesWhisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.	PartialHelp center lists offline dictation on Individual Pro, while privacy docs say cloud models are used for the main experience.	NoTranscription always occurs on the cloud.
Model selection per task	YesChoose the model per task and per provider.	No public claim	No public claim
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence	Yes100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.	Yes100+ languages · App Store listing says users can switch languages on the fly.	No public claim
Per-app output rules	YesPer-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.	PartialApp Store listing says style matching adapts tone by context; TechCrunch reports styles across app categories.	PartialFlow uses the app name to format messages, but no user-configurable per-app rules are published.

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.

You dictate about 3 h a week≈ 23,400 words at ~130 wpm

0 h5 h10 h

and sit in 4 h of meetings a weekhours you'd want captured and turned into follow-ups

0 h7.5 h15 h

Fill the gaps with:

Dictation appadded to meetings-only toolsMeetings appadded to dictation-only tools

OttexOttex Provider — PAYG$135/yrHosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).

OttexSubscription - Pro$168/yr$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.

Willow VoiceTeam$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$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

Wispr FlowFlow Pro$312/yr$144 + $168Annual price is published as $12/user/mo billed annually. · Unlimited words per week on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android

Wispr FlowFlow Pro$348/yr$180 + $168Monthly price is published as $15/user/mo. · Unlimited words per week on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android

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.

Willow Voice vs Wispr Flow: which should I pick?

Pick Wispr Flow if you need Android as well as Mac, Windows, and iPhone. Pick Willow Voice if Mac, Windows, and iPhone are enough and you want system-wide dictation with custom vocabulary and tone cleanup. Pick Ottex if you also need meetings, file transcription, local models, or finished outputs like follow-up emails and tickets.

Is Willow Voice free?

Willow Voice has a free tier, but it is capped at 2,000 words per week, which is about 15 minutes of speech. That is a teaser, not a realistic weekly dictation plan. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex, which offers unlimited local AI or your own key.

Is Wispr Flow free?

Wispr Flow Basic is free, but Mac and Windows are capped at 2,000 words per week, about 15 minutes of dictation, and iPhone is capped at 1,000 words per week, about 8 minutes. Android is listed as unlimited for a limited time only. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex, which offers unlimited local AI or your own key.

How much does Willow Voice and Wispr Flow cost?

Willow Voice Individual is $15/mo, and its Team plan is $12/seat/mo with a 3-seat minimum. Wispr Flow Pro is $15/seat/mo, or $12/seat/mo annually. Ottex is cheaper for variable use with $0.2/hour PAYG, plus a $14/mo Pro plan.

Is Willow Voice or Wispr Flow safer for privacy?

Neither is the privacy winner if your requirement is local or offline transcription, because Willow Voice has no local option and Wispr Flow says transcription always happens in the cloud. Wispr Flow is explicitly cloud-only in the digest, and Willow Voice is also not listed with local or BYOK support. Ottex is the better privacy fit because it supports local AI and BYOK.

Is it worth switching from Willow Voice to Wispr Flow?

Switch from Willow Voice to Wispr Flow if Android support matters, because Wispr Flow covers Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Stay with Willow Voice if you only need Mac, Windows, and iPhone and its team dictionary or shared shortcuts are the reason you chose it. Do not switch expecting meetings or file transcription, because neither tool does that.

Does Willow Voice or Wispr Flow work on Windows or Android?

Both Willow Voice and Wispr Flow work on Windows. Wispr Flow also works on Android, while Willow Voice does not list Android support. Ottex is Mac and iOS only, so it is not the pick for Windows or Android.

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