A free Wispr Flow alternative that runs on your Mac
If you want a free Wispr Flow alternative on a Mac, YappYapp is a free, MIT-licensed dictation app that types into any app like Wispr Flow does, but transcribes your voice on your own Mac with no account and no weekly word limit. Wispr Flow is the better fit if you need Windows or a phone, team features, or its cloud editing, and you are fine with transcription running in the cloud.
Prices and features checked on 25 Oct 2026 on each product's own site.
The short version
Wispr Flow is a cloud dictation service. Its own data controls page says: "Transcription always occurs on the cloud." The free plan allows 2,000 words a week on desktop, and Pro costs $15 per user per month, or $12 per user per month billed annually.
YappYapp is a menu-bar app for Apple Silicon Macs. It transcribes with NVIDIA Parakeet or OpenAI Whisper on the Mac itself, so your audio and transcripts stay on the machine. There is nothing to pay and no word count to watch. The trade-off is reach: YappYapp runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 14 or newer, and nothing else.
Comparison table (checked 25 Oct 2026)
| YappYapp 0.4.1 | Wispr Flow | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no paid plan | Free: 2,000 words/week on desktop. Pro: $15/user/mo, or $12/user/mo billed annually |
| Where speech is processed | On your Mac (Parakeet, Whisper or Qwen3-ASR) | In the cloud ("Transcription always occurs on the cloud") |
| Account | None | Required (sign in with Google, Apple, Microsoft, SSO or email) |
| Works offline | Yes, once a model is downloaded | No: transcription needs the internet |
| Open source | Yes, MIT License | No source or licence published |
| Platforms | Mac, Apple Silicon, macOS 14+ | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android |
| Languages | 25 European languages with Parakeet Ultra (default), about 100 with Whisper, 52 languages and dialects with Qwen3-ASR | "100+ languages" |
| Custom vocabulary | Yes: the WORDS tab, plus snippets | Yes: dictionary and snippets |
| Types into any app | Yes, option+space by default | Yes, fn by default (Ctrl+Opt without an fn key) |
Wispr Flow's facts come from its pricing page, data controls page and Mac setup guide. YappYapp's come from its public source code at github.
What changes when transcription moves to your Mac
With Wispr Flow, each dictation is sent to Wispr's servers. Its privacy policy says data is processed in the United States and may be shared with third-party language models to provide some features, under zero-retention agreements. Whether Wispr stores your transcripts depends on a setting called Dictation Cloud Storage, and model training is opt-in.
With YappYapp, the audio is written to a temporary file on your Mac, transcribed there, and deleted. Transcript history lives in memory only (the last 10) and clears when you quit. The only network requests the app makes are a daily update check (which you can turn off) and model downloads you start yourself. After the model is on disk, dictation works on a plane or with Wi-Fi off. The offline dictation guide shows how to check this yourself.
What each one does well
Where Wispr Flow is the better choice
- You work across devices. Wispr Flow runs on Windows, iPhone and Android as well as the Mac. YappYapp is Mac only.
- You want meeting notes. Wispr's Notetaker takes meeting notes on Mac and Windows. YappYapp transcribes audio files you drop on its FILES tab, but it does not join or record meetings.
- You manage a team. Wispr has team workspaces, shared dictionaries and snippets on Pro, and a HIPAA BAA on its Growth plan.
- You have an Intel Mac. YappYapp does not support Intel Macs.
Where YappYapp is the better choice
- You do not want your voice on someone else's server. Transcription, cleanup and translation all run on the Mac.
- You dictate a lot. There is no weekly limit and no subscription.
- You want to check the code. The full source is public under the MIT License, and release builds are signed and notarized by Apple.
- You want local cleanup. Optional modes (CLEAN, EMAIL, LIST, NOTES) tidy your words with a small model on the Mac. A rewrite that adds words or changes the language is thrown away and your raw transcript is pasted instead.
Switching from Wispr Flow
- Download YappYapp, or install it with
brew install --cask migueltorrezd/.tap/ yappyapp - Follow the setup guide. The first run takes six short steps: pick your languages, let DETECT BEST MODELS suggest a speech model for your Mac, then allow Microphone and Accessibility. Parakeet Ultra, the default, is a one-time download of about 630 MB.
- Match the shortcut you are used to. In Setup > Dictation, choose Hold for push to talk, and add a one-key trigger if you like: Fn, Right Option, Right Command or Right Control.
- Move your dictionary into the WORDS tab. Add each name with the spelling you want and what it sounds like, or import a list as JSON or CSV.
- Quit Wispr Flow so the two apps do not compete for the same key.
If you dictate in more than one language, see Whisper or Parakeet on a Mac to pick the engine that covers yours.
FAQ
Is YappYapp really free?
Yes. There is no paid tier, trial or word limit. The app is MIT licensed and the source is on GitHub.
Does YappYapp need an internet connection?
Only to download it and the speech model you pick. After that, transcription runs without a connection.
Does YappYapp have AI editing like Wispr Flow?
It has optional cleanup modes run by a small local model: CLEAN removes "um" and adds punctuation, EMAIL lays your words out as an email body, LIST puts one item per line, and NOTES writes short note lines. They do not rewrite your text in a new style.
Can I keep both apps installed?
Yes. Give them different shortcuts, or quit the one you are not using.