Both run on-device. One is free.
VoiceInk is a real on-device dictation app for Mac — genuinely local transcription, GPL-3.0 licensed, one-time purchase instead of a subscription. It's one of the more honest competitors out there. The differences that remain: price, and what "free" actually gets you.
The short version
Plainsay is free, forever, no tiers. VoiceInk is a one-time purchase: $29 (1 Mac) to $69 (3 Macs) — not a subscription, which is genuinely better than most of this market.
Both transcribe on your Mac. VoiceInk uses whisper.cpp, Parakeet, and other local engines; Plainsay uses WhisperKit or Parakeet via Core ML. Neither requires the cloud to dictate.
Plainsay is MIT — permissive, no obligations on derivative work. VoiceInk is GPL-3.0 — also open source, but copyleft, and its repo currently isn't accepting outside pull requests.
Side by side
| Plainsay | VoiceInk | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, forever. No purchase, no tiers. | One-time purchase: $29 (1 Mac), $49 (2 Macs), $69 (3 Macs). 14-day money-back guarantee. |
| Transcription | On your Mac — Whisper or NVIDIA Parakeet via Core ML. | On your Mac — whisper.cpp, Parakeet (FluidAudio), and other local engines. Also genuinely local. |
| Cleanup pass | Cloud by default (Gemini), but switchable to your own key, another provider, or off entirely. | Multiple providers including local options (Ollama, a local CLI) alongside cloud ones (Groq, Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, and more). |
| License | MIT — permissive, no copyleft obligations. | GPL-3.0 — open source, copyleft. Repo currently not accepting external pull requests. |
| Account | None required to dictate locally. | None required to dictate locally. |
| Platform | macOS (Apple silicon). | macOS 14.4+ (Apple silicon), and now also iOS. |
VoiceInk figures from tryvoiceink.com and github.com/Beingpax/VoiceInk, 2026. Software changes — check the source links below.
Free vs one-time — and what that buys
VoiceInk is not a subscription trap. $29–69 once, no recurring charge, which is a genuinely fair way to sell software. Plainsay's pitch is different, not "cheaper than VoiceInk" — it's that dictation is free at all, with no purchase decision to make, and the source stays MIT rather than GPL.
If you'd rather pay once and own a polished, actively-developed app with a support relationship behind it, VoiceInk is a legitimate choice. If you'd rather never take out your card for dictation, Plainsay is free with no catch — the same on-device transcription, at $0.
Openness: MIT vs GPL-3.0
Both are open source — this isn't a privacy argument the way it is against closed, cloud-only competitors. The real difference is the license terms and how open the project is to outside contribution right now.
Plainsay is MIT licensed: permissive, no obligation on anything built with it. VoiceInk is GPL-3.0: also genuinely open, but copyleft, and as of this writing its GitHub repo isn't accepting external pull requests — you can read the code, but contributing back isn't currently open the way it is with Plainsay.
github.com/conrader/plainsay — read every line, PRs welcome
Where VoiceInk is the better pick — honestly
- You want an iOS app too — Plainsay is Mac-only today, VoiceInk now supports iOS.
- You'd rather pay once for a supported, actively-maintained product than rely on volunteer open-source goodwill.
- You want built-in support for a wider range of cloud cleanup providers out of the box (Groq, Cerebras, Mistral, OpenRouter, and more).
If instead you want the same on-device transcription with no purchase at all, and an MIT-licensed codebase open to contribution — that's Plainsay.
Try the free one.
Download for macOS Free · MIT licensed · macOS 15+, Apple siliconSources
VoiceInk pricing and features — tryvoiceink.com
VoiceInk license and repository — github.com/Beingpax/VoiceInk
VoiceInk recommended cleanup providers — tryvoiceink.com/docs/recommended-models
Plainsay source — github.com/conrader/plainsay
VoiceInk figures were current as of 2026 and are quoted from VoiceInk's own pages. Software changes — verify at the links above.