TL;DR: Both apps run OpenAI's Whisper on your Mac, and both have a free plan with unlimited local dictation. MetaWhisp is Mac-only and open source, with three text modes; its AI mode and translation work on the free plan with your own OpenAI or Cerebras key. SuperWhisper has more models, custom modes and apps for Windows, iPhone and Android, but its AI modes and your own API keys need Pro.
In my own test on the same audio, SuperWhisper scored about 3.5% word error rate and MetaWhisp 3.7%. As of September 2026, MetaWhisp Pro costs $30 a year and SuperWhisper Pro $84.99 a year. Disclosure: I build MetaWhisp.
Which Should You Choose: MetaWhisp or SuperWhisper?
Choose MetaWhisp if you want free, private dictation on an Apple silicon Mac, with AI cleanup through your own key and a cheaper Pro plan. Choose SuperWhisper if you want to pick models, build custom modes that switch by app, dictate on Windows or your phone, or transcribe audio files.
- Pick MetaWhisp if you only use a Mac, want unlimited local dictation with no account, and want the Structured AI mode and translation without paying for Pro, using your own OpenAI or Cerebras key or the optional local model.
- Pick SuperWhisper if you want a model library, modes that switch on in chosen apps, apps for Windows, iPhone and Android, or transcription of audio and video files.
- Not sure? Both have a free plan, so trying each costs setup time and nothing else.
MetaWhisp or SuperWhisper comes down to how much you want to shape the text after you speak. Both put OpenAI's Whisper on your Mac, and both let you dictate without limits for free. MetaWhisp keeps the choices small: Whisper large-v3 as its model on the Mac, three text modes, and two keys, Right Command to dictate and Right Option to dictate and translate.
SuperWhisper goes wide. Each mode can use its own voice model, its own AI instructions and its own list of apps where it switches on, and the model library runs from tiny Whisper models to cloud models. That depth takes setup time, and its AI modes need Pro. If you want dictation that works after one download, start with MetaWhisp. If you want to tune every step, SuperWhisper is the deeper tool.
How Much Does Each App Cost?
Both apps are free for local dictation. As of September 2026, MetaWhisp Pro costs $30 a year or $7.77 a month, and SuperWhisper Pro costs $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year or $249.99 once, according to SuperWhisper's plans page.
| Plan (as of September 2026) | MetaWhisp | SuperWhisper |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Local mode: unlimited dictation, no account | Unlimited dictation with local Whisper models, up to 2 modes |
| Monthly | $7.77 | $8.49 |
| Yearly | $30 | $84.99 |
| One-time license | Not listed | $249.99 |
| What Pro adds | Cloud transcription (5,400 minutes a month), built-in AI, day and week summaries, search by meaning | Cloud and faster local models, AI modes, your own API keys, unlimited modes |
One SuperWhisper Pro license covers all your devices, including Windows PCs, iPhone and Android, and new users get 3,000 words of Pro features to try. Its home page lists a 30-day refund on all plans. MetaWhisp's free local mode has no time caps and needs no account; MetaWhisp pricing has the Pro details.
Over a year, MetaWhisp Pro costs $30 and SuperWhisper Pro costs $84.99, at the prices listed in September 2026. SuperWhisper's $249.99 lifetime license equals about three years of its yearly plan, so it pays off only if you keep using the app longer than that. SuperWhisper also offers 40% off for verified students and non-profits. Neither app charges for plain local dictation.
The bigger difference is what the money buys. MetaWhisp Pro adds cloud transcription with Whisper large-v3-turbo on Groq, 5,400 minutes a month, plus built-in AI, day and week summaries, search by meaning and priority support. SuperWhisper Pro adds cloud voice models, faster local models, AI modes, your own API keys and unlimited modes. If AI cleanup is all you want, MetaWhisp gives it on the free plan with your own key.
How Do the Modes and AI Features Differ?
MetaWhisp has three text modes and runs its AI mode on the free plan with your own key. SuperWhisper has built-in and custom modes, each with its own model and instructions, and its AI modes need Pro.
MetaWhisp. Raw is the default and pastes what you said. Clean removes Russian filler words, offline. Structured rewrites the text with AI, using your own OpenAI or Cerebras key or an optional local model that runs offline. Right Option dictates and translates into 11 target languages, or into Gen Z slang, after you stop recording. With a key, only the transcript text goes to your own AI account, never the audio.
SuperWhisper. A mode pairs a voice model with optional AI processing. Built-in modes cover plain text, messages, email, notes and meetings, and a custom mode runs your own instructions. A mode can switch on by itself in the apps and websites you choose, per SuperWhisper's guide to modes. The free plan allows two modes; Pro removes the limit and adds the AI-powered ones.
For AI cleanup on a budget, MetaWhisp is the cheaper path. Its Structured mode and translation run on the free plan with your own OpenAI or Cerebras key, or fully offline with the optional local model. In that setup the text goes to your own AI account, not to MetaWhisp's servers. SuperWhisper lists AI-powered modes and your own API keys as Pro features, from $84.99 a year or $8.49 a month as of September 2026.
For control, SuperWhisper is ahead. You can keep one mode for email and another for code comments, give each its own model and instructions, and let each switch on in the apps you pick. MetaWhisp keeps it simpler: tap Right Command, talk, and the text lands in the app you're in. Fewer settings means fewer decisions, and less to tune when a result looks off.
Which One Is More Accurate?
SuperWhisper came out slightly ahead in my own test: about 3.5% word error rate against 3.7% for MetaWhisp, on the same audio. That gap is about two words per thousand.
| App | Word error rate (WER) |
|---|---|
| MetaWhisp | 3.7% |
| SuperWhisper | ~3.5% |
| Wispr Flow | ~3.5% |
| MacWhisper | ~3.5% |
| Apple Dictation | 11-14% |
| ~5-7% |
Both apps sit with Wispr Flow and MacWhisper near 3.5%, and far ahead of Apple Dictation in this test. SuperWhisper lets you pick a different voice model for each mode, so your own results depend on that choice. I have not benchmarked legal or medical vocabulary, so none of these figures cover it.
On the Mac, MetaWhisp runs Whisper large-v3; large-v3-turbo is the model its Pro cloud transcription uses on Groq. For the other apps in the table, see my roundup of voice-to-text apps for Mac.
Where Does Your Audio Go?
With local models, neither app sends your audio anywhere. The differences are in each app's cloud options and in what it keeps on disk.
- MetaWhisp local mode: audio never leaves the Mac, and the app has no telemetry or analytics.
- MetaWhisp with your own AI key: Structured mode and translation send the transcript text, never audio, to your own OpenAI or Cerebras account.
- MetaWhisp Pro: cloud transcription sends audio to servers (Whisper large-v3-turbo on Groq), and with Pro the app switches transcription to the cloud each time it starts.
- SuperWhisper local models: audio stays on your device, and with a local language model as well, no audio or text leaves the machine.
- SuperWhisper cloud models: audio is processed in the cloud, through providers bound by zero-data-retention API terms, per its sensitive data guide.
SuperWhisper also saves every dictation, meaning the audio, the transcript and the AI result, in a recordings folder on your Mac, and it does not delete them on its own, per its History guide. Clear that folder if you dictate anything sensitive.
For audio that must stay private, both apps can run fully on your Mac. MetaWhisp's local mode is the default on the free plan: audio never leaves the Mac, there's no account, and the code is public on GitHub under the MIT license. The switch to watch is Pro, which moves transcription to the cloud each time the app starts.
SuperWhisper can be just as private if you choose local models for both transcription and AI processing, which its own guide recommends for regulated work such as health or financial records. Its cloud models send audio out under zero-data-retention terms, and its recordings folder keeps every dictation until you delete it. In local mode, MetaWhisp fits a HIPAA workflow; compliance itself belongs to your practice, not to any app you install.
Platforms and Setup
MetaWhisp runs only on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14 or later. SuperWhisper runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.
MetaWhisp runs Whisper large-v3 through WhisperKit on the Mac's GPU and CPU. A small starter model installs first, then the main model downloads once, about 3.2 GB. It handles 99 languages with auto-detect. Tap Right Command to start and stop, or, in push-to-talk mode, hold it. There is no MetaWhisp iOS app yet.
SuperWhisper's local models range from 75 MB to 3 GB, and its free Whisper models run through whisper.cpp, per its voice model list. The default shortcut is Option + Space. SuperWhisper says Intel Macs work best with its cloud models, since its offline models run well only on Apple silicon.
Feature Comparison Table
Side by side, MetaWhisp leads on Pro price and free AI with your own key, and SuperWhisper leads on models, modes, platforms and file transcription.
| Feature | MetaWhisp | SuperWhisper |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Local mode, unlimited, no account | Unlimited local Whisper dictation, up to 2 modes |
| Pro price (September 2026) | $30/year or $7.77/month | $84.99/year, $8.49/month or $249.99 once |
| Local model | Whisper large-v3 (WhisperKit, GPU and CPU) | Whisper models free; Parakeet and Cohere Transcribe on Pro |
| Cloud transcription | Pro: large-v3-turbo on Groq, 5,400 minutes a month | Pro: cloud voice models |
| Text modes | Raw, Clean, Structured | Built-in modes plus custom modes |
| AI processing | Free with your OpenAI or Cerebras key, or a local model | AI-powered modes and your own API keys need Pro |
| Translation | Right Option: 11 target languages | Into English; other languages through AI processing in a custom mode |
| Calls and meetings | Calls with Me and Them labels | Meeting recording and transcription; speaker separation on Pro |
| Audio and video files | No, live speech only | Yes |
| Platforms | Mac only (Apple silicon, macOS 14+) | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android |
| Languages | 99, with auto-detect | 100+ languages and dialects |
| Source code | Public on GitHub (MIT license) | Not stated |
MetaWhisp vs SuperWhisper: Final Verdict
Install MetaWhisp if you want free, private Mac dictation with AI cleanup through your own key and a $30-a-year Pro plan. Install SuperWhisper if you want more models and modes than MetaWhisp offers, across Mac, Windows and phones.
- MetaWhisp leads on: Pro price, free AI modes with your own key, and public source code.
- SuperWhisper leads on: model choice, custom modes that switch by app, Windows, iPhone and Android apps, audio and video files, and a lifetime license.
- Both offer: unlimited free local dictation, and accuracy within about 0.2 points of each other in my own test.
The lowest-risk route is to try both free plans on the same text. Download MetaWhisp for free, and for the details of SuperWhisper's plans, read my SuperWhisper pricing breakdown or the list of SuperWhisper alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MetaWhisp or SuperWhisper better?
Neither wins everywhere. MetaWhisp is free, open source and Mac-only, and its AI mode and translation work on the free plan with your own OpenAI or Cerebras key. SuperWhisper has more models, custom modes that switch by app, apps for Windows, iPhone and Android, and file transcription, with its AI modes on Pro. In my own test, SuperWhisper scored about 3.5% word error rate and MetaWhisp 3.7%.
Is SuperWhisper free?
Yes. As of September 2026, SuperWhisper's free plan includes unlimited dictation with local Whisper models, custom vocabulary and up to two modes. Cloud models, AI-powered modes, your own API keys and unlimited modes need Pro, which costs $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year or $249.99 once. New users get 3,000 words of Pro features to try.
How much does MetaWhisp Pro cost compared with SuperWhisper Pro?
As of September 2026, MetaWhisp Pro costs $30 a year or $7.77 a month and adds cloud transcription (5,400 minutes a month), built-in AI, summaries and search by meaning. SuperWhisper Pro costs $84.99 a year, $8.49 a month or $249.99 once. Local dictation is free in both apps.
Which is more accurate, MetaWhisp or SuperWhisper?
In my own test on the same audio, SuperWhisper scored about 3.5% word error rate and MetaWhisp 3.7%, a gap of about two words per thousand. SuperWhisper lets you choose the model for each mode, so its accuracy depends on that choice. Neither result covers legal or medical vocabulary, which I have not benchmarked.
Does MetaWhisp or SuperWhisper send my audio to the cloud?
Not with local models. MetaWhisp's free local mode keeps audio on the Mac, while its Pro plan sends audio to cloud servers for transcription. SuperWhisper keeps audio on your device with local models and sends it to cloud providers when you pick a cloud model. SuperWhisper also stores every recording on your Mac until you delete it.
Can MetaWhisp or SuperWhisper transcribe audio files?
SuperWhisper can transcribe audio and video files. MetaWhisp cannot: it transcribes live speech, meaning dictation and calls, and does not open audio files. For existing recordings, SuperWhisper or a file-focused app such as MacWhisper is the better fit.
Does MetaWhisp work on Windows or iPhone?
No. MetaWhisp runs on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14 or later, and there is no iOS app yet. SuperWhisper has apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, and one Pro license covers all of them.
About the Author
Andrew Dyuzhov is the founder of MetaWhisp. He is a marketer and builder with ADHD who assembled MetaWhisp with AI coding tools on top of OpenAI's open-source Whisper. He dictates daily in Russian and English, uses voice to get past ADHD writing paralysis, and ran the accuracy test in this article. Because he builds a competitor, SuperWhisper facts here come from SuperWhisper's own pages. Connect on X or GitHub.
