The best dictation apps for email on Mac (2026)

The best way to speak your emails on a Mac is a dictation app that understands what an email looks like. Sayburst is our pick: say the greeting, the point and the sign-off, and a properly laid-out email lands in Mail, Gmail or Outlook, without the "ums" and with your voice processed on the Mac. If you send a few short replies a day, Apple Dictation is free and already on your Mac.

We make Sayburst, so we've tried hard to be fair to the others, and to say where they win. Vendor prices and platforms were checked on their own sites on October 31, 2026.

#Pick by how you email

• Long replies all day, any mail app, privacy matters: Sayburst.
• A few quick replies, nothing to install: Apple Dictation.
• You live in Outlook and pay for Microsoft 365: Outlook's Dictate button.
• You answer email on a Windows PC or phone too: Wispr Flow or Superwhisper.
• You mostly answer on your phone: the microphone key on your phone's keyboard.

#How they compare

1

Sayburst

Best for Writing real emails by voice in any mail app · Price $29 once (1 Mac), $49 (3 Macs)

Email is where Sayburst's writing modes earn their keep. Set Mail, Outlook or your browser to Email mode and dictations come out with the greeting on its own line, paragraphs split where you said "new paragraph", and the sign-off at the bottom. Slack can stay on Message mode at the same time, so a quick chat reply doesn't get a "Hi team," on top.

Hold fn in the compose window, talk, let go. Recognition runs on the Mac, so the draft is ready even when the hotel Wi-Fi isn't. The optional Sayburst Writer, an AI model that also runs on your Mac, goes further: it resolves "Thursday, no, Friday" and tightens rambling sentences, but it doesn't add content you didn't say.

Pros: email formatting per app, no subscription, no account, works in Mail, Gmail, Outlook, Spark or anything else you type in. Cons: Mac only. Text arrives when you finish speaking, not word by word.

2

Apple Dictation

Best for Free, quick replies · Price Free

Press the dictation shortcut in any compose window and talk. Apple's guide says it adds commas, periods and question marks automatically in supported languages, and many languages run on-device on Apple silicon. It doesn't remove fillers or lay out greetings and sign-offs, and it stops after 30 seconds of silence. For "Sounds good, see you at 3" that's all you need.

3

Outlook Dictate (Microsoft 365)

Best for Outlook users with Microsoft 365 · Price Included with Microsoft 365

In Outlook for Mac, start a new email and choose Message › Dictate, or press ⌥F1. Microsoft says the feature is only for Microsoft 365 subscribers, and its settings include spoken language, microphone, an Auto Punctuation toggle where the language supports it, and a profanity filter. It only works inside Outlook and needs a connection.

4

Wispr Flow

Best for Answering email on Mac, Windows and phone with one tool · Price Free tier; Pro $15/mo or $12/mo billed yearly

Wispr Flow types into any app on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android and cleans up as it goes. Its own data-controls page says transcription always happens in the cloud, so there's an account and an internet connection involved. If your inbox follows you across a PC at work and an Android phone, it covers more ground than anything else here.

5

Superwhisper

Best for People who want to design their own email mode · Price Free local tier; Pro $8.49/mo or $84.99/yr

Superwhisper lets you build modes with custom instructions, so you can write an "email to clients" mode with your own rules. AI modes are a Pro feature; the free tier is unlimited local dictation with up to two modes without AI processing. Available on Mac, Windows and phones.

#What a dictated email sounds like, and what gets sent

A reply about a contract, spoken in one go with a correction in the middle:

"Hi Priya, thanks for sending the contract over. Um, I had a look and there are two things. Bullet point the payment terms say thirty days, we agreed forty-five. Bullet point the start date should be March third, actually March tenth. Can we get a revised version by Thursday? Thanks, Jordan."

What lands in the compose window in Email mode, with Sayburst Writer on:

Hi Priya,

Thanks for sending the contract over. I had a look and there are two things:

• The payment terms say 30 days; we agreed 45.
• The start date should be March 10.

Can we get a revised version by Thursday?

Thanks, Jordan

The "um" is gone, the spoken bullets became a list, and "March third, actually March tenth" became the date you meant. If the Writer were ever about to change a number you said, Sayburst types the cleaned transcript instead, so a figure in a reply doesn't quietly drift.

#Setting up email dictation in each mail app

1. Apple Mail and Outlook: in Sayburst's Writing settings, give each one Email mode. Every dictation in them is laid out as an email from then on.
2. Gmail or Outlook in a browser: the browser is one app to Sayburst, so either set it to Email mode or pick Email from the menu bar before a dictation. Our Gmail page walks through it.
3. Outlook's own Dictate: if you use it, turn it off while Sayburst is dictating so the two don't fight over the microphone. See dictating in Outlook on Mac for both routes.

#Habits that make spoken email better

• Say the greeting, then pause. It gives the layout a clean break.
• Use replacements for things you type daily. Map "my calendar link" or "my address" to the full text, and say the phrase instead of spelling a URL.
• Add the names you mail most. Colleague and client names in the vocabulary means "Siobhan" is spelled right the first time.
• Turn on auto-send only for chat. Sayburst can press Return after inserting, which is great in Slack and a bad idea in Mail. Leave it off for email apps.
• Read before you send. Five seconds catches the odd wrong word. Dictation makes the draft fast; sending stays your call.

More on getting the tone right lives in how to write email by voice on a Mac. If you're also choosing a mail client, see the best mail apps for Mac; every one of them accepts dictated text.

#On your phone

Sayburst is Mac-only. For email on an iPhone, the microphone key on the keyboard works in Mail and Gmail (Apple's iPhone dictation guide); Android keyboards have a similar mic key. If you want the same cleanup on your phone and your computer, that's where Wispr Flow or Superwhisper make sense.

#How we chose

We ranked by the email job: does the tool work in the mail apps people use on a Mac, does it produce something you'd send without heavy editing, where does your voice go, and what does it cost over a year. Competitor facts come from official product and support pages; we didn't hands-on test competitors for this page. Meeting recorders and transcription services were left out because they don't write emails into your compose window.

#The honest summary

If you send a handful of one-line replies, Apple Dictation is free and fine. If email is a big chunk of your day, the difference is formatting and cleanup: the email arrives looking like an email. Sayburst does that on your Mac for a one-time price.

Questions people ask

Is there an app that lets me speak my emails instead of typing?

Yes. On a Mac, Sayburst types what you say into Mail, Gmail, Outlook or any other email app and lays it out as an email. Apple Dictation is the free built-in option, and Outlook has its own Dictate button for Microsoft 365 subscribers.

Does Gmail have voice typing on the computer?

Gmail in a browser doesn't need its own: use your Mac's dictation shortcut, or Sayburst, in the compose window. Sayburst works in Safari, Chrome, Arc, Firefox and other browsers.

Can dictation add the greeting and sign-off for me?

Sayburst's Email mode puts the greeting, paragraphs and sign-off on their own lines. It doesn't invent a greeting you didn't say; you speak it and the layout is handled.

What's the best email dictation app for iPhone?

The microphone key on the iPhone keyboard is free and works in Mail and Gmail. Sayburst is Mac-only; Wispr Flow and Superwhisper have phone apps if you want one tool on both.