Precis vs Apple Dictation
Your Mac already has dictation, and it's free. It's good for a quick sentence. Precis is for when you dictate a lot and want the text to come out ready to send.
Short answer: If you dictate a sentence now and then, Apple Dictation is enough. If you dictate emails, prompts and notes every day, Precis cleans up as you go, shapes the text for the app you're in and learns your names, for one payment of $19.
| Feature | Precis | Apple Dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once | Free, built in |
| Works in any app | Yes | Yes |
| Speech recognised on your Mac | Yes | On Apple silicon, for supported languages |
| Automatic punctuation | Yes | In supported languages |
| Removes ums and restarts, applies “no wait” | Yes | Not documented |
| Rewrites for the app you're in | Yes, with Styles | No (Writing Tools can rewrite afterwards, by hand) |
| Your own words and names | Dictionary | Not documented |
| History you can search | Yes, on your Mac | No |
| Needs | Apple silicon, macOS 26.5 or later | Any recent Mac |
Apple Dictation details from Apple's Mac User Guide, checked on 4 October 2026.
- It's free and already on your Mac.
- It works anywhere you can type.
- On Apple silicon it runs on your Mac, and you can keep typing while you speak.
- Voice commands for punctuation, new lines and emoji, and no time limit.
- Clean-up: ums and false starts go, and “no wait” corrections are applied before anything is typed.
- Styles shape your words for the app: a message, a prompt, a list or an email draft.
- A Dictionary for names and jargon, which suggests a fix when it keeps mishearing a word.
- Snippets, and a history of everything you've said, kept on your Mac.
Speed
Precis's Parakeet engine turns a sentence into text in about 0.1 seconds on an M4 Mac, for English and 24 European languages. Its Whisper engine understands 99 languages.
Can I keep both?
Yes. Precis uses ⌥ Space by default, and Apple Dictation keeps its own shortcut, so you can use whichever suits the moment.
Questions
Is Apple Dictation good enough?
For short messages, often yes. It's free, works everywhere and runs on Apple silicon Macs. Precis is worth it when you dictate longer emails, prompts and notes and want them cleaned up and shaped for the app.
Does Apple Dictation work offline?
On Macs with Apple silicon, for supported languages, Apple processes dictation on your Mac.
Can Apple Dictation learn names?
Apple doesn't document a custom vocabulary. Precis has a Dictionary: add a name once and it's spelled your way from then on.
Do I have to turn off Apple Dictation to use Precis?
No. They use different shortcuts, so both can stay on.
Try Precis free for 7 days
Hold ⌥ Space in any app and talk. No card and no account, then $19 once for 2 Macs.
Free for 7 days, no card. Needs macOS 26.5 on Apple silicon.