Sayburst vs Superwhisper: which local dictation app for Mac?

Superwhisper and Sayburst both let you hold a key, talk, and get text in any app, with the speech recognized on your Mac. For Mac-only dictation where you want AI cleanup without a subscription, Sayburst is the better deal at $29 once. If you also dictate on Windows or your phone, or want meeting recording, Superwhisper is the better fit.

We make Sayburst, so read with that in mind. Superwhisper details come from superwhisper.com and its Plans & Pricing docs, checked October 31, 2026.

#Side by side

#Price

Superwhisper's free plan is generous for plain dictation: unlimited local Whisper, your vocabulary and replacements, two modes. What you pay for in Pro is the AI layer that turns speech into finished writing, plus Parakeet, cloud models, file transcription and Meetings. That's $84.99 a year or $249.99 for a lifetime license.

Sayburst is $29 for one Mac or $49 for up to three, once, with every 1.x update. The on-device cleanup, the optional Sayburst Writer model, per-app modes and file transcription are all in that price. Over three years, that's $29 against $254.97 for Superwhisper Pro billed yearly. The full plan breakdown is in our Superwhisper pricing guide.

#Cleanup and writing

Both apps can take rambling speech and hand back tidy text. The difference is where it runs and what it needs.

Superwhisper's AI modes (Super, Mail and others) send your transcript through a language model you choose, cloud or local, and they're a Pro feature. Its Mac setup starts you on a Message mode that uses cloud models, so check your mode settings if you want everything local.

Sayburst's basic cleanup is instant and always on the Mac: fillers and repeats removed, capitals and punctuation fixed, "new paragraph" and "bullet point" understood, corrections resolved. For bigger rewrites, Sayburst Writer runs Qwen3 4B on the Mac's GPU, a 2.5 GB download with no account, key or internet. It works best with 16 GB of memory and runs slower on 8 GB. If you'd rather use Ollama, LM Studio, or your own OpenAI or Anthropic key, you can.

An email, said the way you'd say it:

"hi Tom, um, thanks for the invite, I can't make Thursday, could we do, uh, Friday at ten instead, no wait, Monday at ten. thanks"

What Sayburst types into Mail with the Email mode:

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the invite. I can't make Thursday. Could we do Monday at 10 instead?

Thanks

The writer doesn't summarize or add things you didn't say, and if a rewrite would change a number you spoke, Sayburst types the cleaned transcript instead.

#Speed and models

Sayburst defaults to NVIDIA's Parakeet v3 on the Neural Engine. In our benchmark on an M4 Max, using clean read English, it transcribed a dictation in a median 82 ms with a 0.46% word error rate, which feels instant. Parakeet v3 covers English and 24 European languages; Whisper Large v3 Turbo covers 99 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and Arabic.

On Superwhisper, the free plan gives you local Whisper models, and Parakeet is a Pro feature. Pro also adds cloud voice models if you'd rather trade local processing for a server.

#Not losing what you said

Sayburst puts a lot of weight on never dropping a dictation. If the text can't be inserted because you switched apps or a password field had focus, it's kept and offered back, and ⌃⌥⌘V pastes the last dictation anywhere. If your microphone is unplugged mid-recording, Sayburst stops and keeps what you said. History is searchable, with retention you choose. More on how that works.

#Where Superwhisper is better

• More platforms under one license. Unlimited Macs and Windows PCs, plus your iPhone and Android phone. Sayburst is Mac-only.
• Meetings. Superwhisper Pro records calls on the Mac with system audio, separates speakers and writes summaries. Sayburst doesn't record meetings.
• Realtime transcription. Pro can stream text as you speak. Sayburst shows your words live in its overlay but inserts the text when you finish.
• A free plan with no time limit. If plain local dictation is all you need, Superwhisper Free costs nothing, ever.
• Cloud models and extras. Cloud voice models, coding-agent hooks and a CLI, if that's your world.

#Where Sayburst is better

• One price, everything included. AI cleanup, modes and file transcription for $29 once, not a Pro tier.
• Parakeet by default on the Neural Engine, without paying extra.
• On-device writing model that needs no API key or account.
• Recovery when text can't be inserted, and clipboard restored after every paste.

Still deciding? Superwhisper alternatives covers other options, and Superwhisper vs Wispr Flow compares the two cross-platform apps. All our comparisons are on the compare page.

Our take

For dictation on a Mac, Sayburst gives you local transcription, real cleanup, per-app modes and file transcription for $29 once, about a ninth of Superwhisper's lifetime price. If you need Windows and phones, meeting recording or realtime text, Superwhisper covers more ground and is worth paying for.

Questions people ask

Is Sayburst or Superwhisper better?

For dictation on a Mac with AI cleanup included and a one-time price, Sayburst. If you need Windows, iPhone or Android, meeting recording or realtime transcription, Superwhisper covers more ground.

Is Superwhisper free?

It has a free plan with unlimited local Whisper dictation, custom vocabulary, replacements and up to two modes without AI. AI modes, Parakeet and cloud models, file transcription and Meetings need Pro ($8.49 a month, $84.99 a year or $249.99 lifetime).

Does Sayburst work on Windows like Superwhisper?

No. Sayburst runs only on Macs with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later. Superwhisper runs on Mac, Windows 10 and 11, iPhone and Android with one license.

Do both work offline?

Yes, with local models. Sayburst's recognition and cleanup always run on your Mac. Superwhisper's free plan uses local Whisper models; its Pro cloud models need a connection.