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Best free Wispr Flow alternatives (open source, 2026)

Updated · 20 repos compared

Short answer

The best free Wispr Flow alternative for most people is whisper (111k GitHub stars, MIT license). openwhispr describes itself as a Wispr Flow alternative. All 20 options below are open source and run on your own computer or server, so there's no subscription.

Wispr Flow (voice dictation anywhere) is a paid, closed-source product. The open-source projects below do the same job and run on your own computer or server.

Top picks

  1. 1. Best for: Best overallwhisper111k stars · MIT · updated 1mo ago
    Editor's pick

    Robust Speech Recognition via Large-Scale Weak Supervision

    Needs:
    works on Mac (as stated by the project)
    Trade-off
    Better than Wispr Flow: the biggest community (111k stars), a permissive MIT license. Worse: you install and run it yourself instead of Wispr Flow's hosted app.
  2. 2. Best for: Closest Wispr Flow replacementopenwhispr9.7k stars · MIT · updated today

    Voice-to-text dictation app with local (Nvidia Parakeet/Whisper) and cloud models (BYOK). Privacy-first and available cross-platform.

    Needs:
    works on Mac (as stated by the project)
    Trade-off
    Better than Wispr Flow: a permissive MIT license, very active development. Worse: you install and run it yourself instead of Wispr Flow's hosted app.
  3. 3. Best for: Also excellentwhisper.cpp55k stars · MIT · updated 3d ago
    Editor's pick

    Port of OpenAI's Whisper model in C/C++

    Needs:
    no GPU (runs on CPU), works on Mac (as stated by the project)
    Trade-off
    Better than Wispr Flow: no GPU needed, a permissive MIT license. Worse: you install and run it yourself instead of Wispr Flow's hosted app.

Comparison

ToolStarsOpen licenseSelf-hostRuns on MacGPU memoryLast update
WWispr FlowPaid · cloud only–browsernone–
whisper.cppEditor's pickPort of OpenAI's Whisper model in C/C++55k?3d ago
whisperEditor's pickRobust Speech Recognition via Large-Scale Weak Supervision111k?1mo ago
openwhisprWispr Flow alternativeVoice-to-text dictation app with local (Nvidia Parakeet/Whisper) and cloud models (BYOK). Privacy-first and available cross-platform.9.7k?today
SpeakoFlowWispr Flow alternativeFree, open-source offline voice dictation for Windows, macOS, and Linux. A Wispr Flow alternative with an AI assistant that can read your screen on request and answer questions.349?1d ago
betterwisprWispr Flow alternativeFree, open-source, local-first dictation app for macOS. Hold a shortcut, speak, and text is typed into any app. On-device speech-to-text with Whisper, Parakeet and Apple speech. Private, offline, open417?2d ago
tambourine-voiceWispr Flow alternativeYour personal voice interface for any app. Speak naturally and your words appear wherever your cursor is, with fully customizable AI voice dictation. Open source alternative to Wispr Flow.389?3mo ago
muesliWispr Flow alternativeMuesli: agent-native local meeting transcription + dictation for macOS (Granola + WisprFlow alternative)1.5k?1d ago
writherWispr Flow alternative🎙️ Offline voice productivity for Windows - dictate text into any app and control a local AI assistant by voice. Manages notes, to-do lists, appointments & reminders. 100% local: faster-whisper + Oll88?1mo ago
YapWispr Flow alternativeFree, offline voice dictation for macOS, Windows & Linux — hold a key, speak, and your words appear at the cursor. Local Whisper, learns your vocabulary, no subscription. A Wispr Flow alternative.77?3mo ago
DictionWispr Flow alternativeOpen Source self-hosted alternative to WisprFlow - iOS voice AI keyboard239?1d ago
GPT-SoVITS1 min voice data can also be used to train a good TTS model! (few shot voice cloning)63k?3d ago
VoxCPMVoxCPM2: Tokenizer-Free TTS for Multilingual Speech Generation, Creative Voice Design, and True-to-Life Cloning40k?14d ago
VoiceStudioVoiceStudio is the open-source, fully-local ElevenLabs alternative — voice cloning, voice design, video dubbing, dictation, transcription & audiobook creation in 646 languages.81k?today
Real-Time-Voice-CloningClone a voice in 5 seconds to generate arbitrary speech in real-time60k?7mo ago
MockingBird🚀Clone a voice in 5 seconds to generate arbitrary speech in real-time37k?7mo ago
SpeechA scalable generative AI framework built for researchers and developers working on Large Language Models, Multimodal, and Speech AI (Automatic Speech Recognition and Text-to-Speech)19k?today
index-ttsAn Industrial-Level Controllable and Efficient Zero-Shot Text-To-Speech System25k?23d ago
voice-proGradio WebUI for creators and developers, featuring key TTS (Edge-TTS, kokoro) and zero-shot Voice Cloning (E2 & F5-TTS, CosyVoice), with Whisper audio processing, YouTube download, Demucs vocal isola13k?3mo ago
Retrieval-based-Voice-Conversion-WebUIEasily train a good VC model with voice data <= 10 mins!39k?2mo ago
mlx-audioA text-to-speech (TTS), speech-to-text (STT) and speech-to-speech (STS) library built on Apple's MLX framework, providing efficient speech analysis on Apple Silicon.8.1k?1d ago

✓ yes · ✗ no · – not stated by the project. Hardware details may be incomplete.

Wispr Flow vs open source: what you give up

  • Setup. Wispr Flow is ready as soon as you sign up. These projects need installing, usually with Python, Node or Docker.
  • Hardware. Most of these don't state hardware needs; heavier models run much faster with a GPU. 1 says it runs on a regular CPU. 12 mention Mac support.
  • Polish and support. Paid products usually have a smoother interface, managed updates and customer support. Open source gives you privacy, no usage limits and no monthly bill.
  • Maintenance. 12 of 20 were updated in the last 30 days.
  • License. 17 of 20 use a standard open-source license (MIT, Apache, GPL and similar). Check the license before commercial use.

FAQ

Is there a free alternative to Wispr Flow?

Yes. We list 20 free, open-source GitHub projects that do the same job as Wispr Flow. The most popular are whisper, VoiceStudio and GPT-SoVITS.

What is the best open-source Wispr Flow alternative?

It depends on your setup. Best overall: whisper. Closest Wispr Flow replacement: openwhispr. Also excellent: whisper.cpp. Compare GitHub stars, license and hardware needs in the table on this page.

Can I run a Wispr Flow alternative on a Mac?

Yes. According to the projects, whisper.cpp, whisper and openwhispr run on macOS.

Do I need a GPU to replace Wispr Flow?

Most of these don't state hardware needs. 1 says it runs on a regular CPU, including whisper.cpp.

Are these Wispr Flow alternatives really free?

Yes. All 20 are open source on GitHub, and projects that need a paid API key are left out. 17 use a standard open-source license such as MIT, Apache or GPL; check the license before commercial use.

Related: Voice & audio