At a glance
- Where it runs: on your Mac. Speech-to-text uses NVIDIA Parakeet (default) or OpenAI Whisper, locally. Rewriting uses Apple Intelligence’s on-device model.
- Internet needed for: license activation, update checks, and a one-time ~470 MB speech-model download. Not for dictating.
- Works in: any app where you can type: Mail, Slack, Notes, Google Docs, Word, your browser, Cursor, the terminal.
- Languages: English and Spanish.
- Needs: a Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later. The Clean, Polish and Formal styles need macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence on.
- Price: $99 once, or $39 a year. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Does dictation on a Mac work offline?
It depends on the tool. Most AI dictation apps send your recording to a cloud server, transcribe it there, and send the text back. That’s why they stop working on a plane, and why your words pass through someone else’s infrastructure. Apple’s built-in Dictation handles many languages on-device on Apple Silicon, but it types exactly what you said, filler words included, and doesn’t rewrite or learn your jargon.
VybeScript was built the other way around: everything that touches your voice runs locally. Turn off Wi-Fi and dictate. It works the same, because no server is involved. (The app checks its license online now and then; a cached license keeps working offline for up to 14 days.)
What happens when you press the hotkey
- Record. Press
F6or holdControl(both customizable) and speak. - Transcribe on-device. NVIDIA Parakeet runs on the Apple Neural Engine; Whisper, if you prefer it, runs on the GPU through Metal.
- Clean up on-device. Pick a style: Raw (verbatim), Clean (removes “um” and false starts), Polish (tighter, still your words) or Formal (professional). The rewrite uses Apple’s on-device Foundation Models.
- Insert. The text lands where your cursor is, in whatever app you were using.
Offline dictation apps compared
| Feature | VybeScript | Apple Dictation | Typical cloud AI dictation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transcription | On your Mac | On-device for many languages | Cloud server |
| Removes filler, rewrites | Yes, 4 styles, on-device | No | Yes, in the cloud |
| Learns your names and jargon | Yes, plus free industry word packs | No | Usually |
| Works with Wi-Fi off | Yes | Yes (on-device languages) | No |
| Account required | No | No | Usually |
| Price | $99 once or $39/yr | Free | Often $10–15/month |
Comparing specific apps? See VybeScript vs Wispr Flow and VybeScript vs Superwhisper.
Who offline dictation is for
- People who handle confidential words: lawyers, healthcare administrators, finance and HR teams, anyone dictating client names or numbers. See dictation for lawyers.
- Developers dictating long prompts into Cursor, Claude Code or ChatGPT. See voice dictation for developers.
- Anyone who travels or works on bad connections, and wants dictation that never stalls waiting for a server.
- Bilingual English/Spanish speakers. Both languages run locally. See bilingual dictation.
How to check that it’s really offline
You don’t have to take our word for it. Turn off Wi-Fi and dictate, or watch VybeScript in a network monitor like Little Snitch. The only connections it makes are license activation (Lemon Squeezy), update checks (Sparkle) and the one-time model download. We back that with money: if you ever catch VybeScript sending your audio or transcripts off your Mac, you get a full refund, at any time.