Dragon for Mac is gone. Here's what to use instead.
Nuance discontinued Dragon for Mac in 2018. Modern on-device speech models are more accurate and far faster — here's how to replace Dragon on a Mac today.
For years, Dragon was the way to dictate on a computer. On the Mac, that era ended on October 22, 2018, when Nuance discontinued Dragon Professional Individual for Mac (Nuance's end-of-life notice). It still exists on Windows, but there's no current Mac version — and old copies get no updates.
The good news: you don't need it anymore. Speech recognition has leapt forward since 2018, and it now runs right on your Mac.
What changed
Dragon needed training: you read passages aloud so it could learn your voice. Modern models like NVIDIA's Parakeet and OpenAI's Whisper were trained on huge amounts of speech and work well for most voices from the first word. On Apple silicon they're fast — Sayburst's default model turns a dictation into text in a fraction of a second.
| Sayburst | Dragon for Mac (discontinued) | |
|---|---|---|
| Available today | ● | — |
| Voice training needed | — | Recommended |
| Runs on your Mac | ● | ● |
| Types into any app | ● | ● |
| Custom words | ● | ● |
| Price | $29 once | About $300 when sold |
What you'll miss from Dragon
Honesty matters here. Dragon had voice commands for editing and controlling apps — "select that", "bold the last sentence", "open Mail". Sayburst is built for writing, not for controlling your Mac by voice. If you rely on hands-free control for accessibility, macOS's built-in Voice Control (System Settings › Accessibility › Voice Control) covers commands, and you can use it alongside Sayburst.
Moving from Dragon to Sayburst
- Bring your vocabulary. Paste your custom words into Settings › Dictionary, or import a CSV.
- Recreate your auto-texts as replacements: "my address" → your address.
- Pick your key. Hold fn, or choose right Option if you're used to a dedicated button.
- Use Email and Notes modes for the formatting Dragon users usually do by voice.
Our take
Dragon for Mac isn't coming back. For writing by voice, a modern on-device app is more accurate out of the box, needs no training, and costs a fraction of what Dragon did. Pair it with macOS Voice Control if you need hands-free control too.
Hold fn, talk, and clean text lands where your cursor is. Free for 7 days.
Download SayburstQuestions people ask
Is Dragon available for Mac?
No. Nuance discontinued Dragon Professional Individual for Mac on October 22, 2018. Existing copies get no updates. Dragon is still sold for Windows.
What's the best Dragon replacement on a Mac?
For dictating into any app with your voice processed on your Mac, Sayburst. For free, built-in dictation, Apple Dictation.