Four questions, four honest answers.
Most dictation software sells a feeling. These are the four things people actually ask before they install anything, each with its own page and its own evidence. Pick the one that sounds like your hesitation.
Will my source code end up in somebody else’s model?
No API key exists, because there is no API to key into.
Transcription runs on your CPU and the AI rewriting runs on a model on your own GPU through Ollama. Pull the network cable and it behaves identically, which is the only version of that claim you can check yourself in about a minute. Commit messages, PR descriptions, tickets and docs, from the version you would have typed badly at 1am.
Read the full answerOffline dictation for WindowsDoes it still work with no internet?
After the one-time model download it needs no network at all.
Not a degraded offline mode - the same product. Nothing is streamed anywhere for processing, so a plane, a locked-down box, a hospital network or an air-gapped lab all behave the same as your desk. Built for the people who cannot send audio out and are tired of being told to trust a privacy policy about it.
Read the full answerDictation without a GPUDo I need a graphics card for this?
Not for dictation. 11.9% word error on the published clips, on CPU cores.
NVIDIA’s Parakeet v3 runs on any modern CPU and uses no VRAM at all, so the no-GPU path is the whole product rather than a trial mode. It also means the card you do have stays free for the build, the container, the training run or the game. A GPU is what unlocks the AI rewriting, not what unlocks typing.
Read the full answerDictation without a subscriptionWhat does this cost me in three years?
$49 once, against roughly $540 for three years of cloud dictation.
The only argument on this site that survives complete distrust, because you can check it by dividing. There is no renewal, no per-minute meter, and no account needed for the app to work. We can charge once because the expensive part runs on your hardware rather than ours - so there is no running cost to pass on.
Read the full answerOne machine. One payment. No meter.
Whichever of those four brought you here, it is the same app: dictation on your CPU, optional AI polish on your own GPU, nothing leaving the machine, and a price you pay once. Windows 10 and 11, free tier forever, 15-day full-Studio trial with no card.