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A free Willow Voice alternative that keeps your voice on your Mac

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YapToText is a free Willow Voice alternative for the Mac: the speech model and the cleanup model run on your Mac instead of in the cloud, there is no account to create, and no feature waits behind a paid plan. Willow does some things I do not. It runs on Windows and iPhone as well as the Mac, and its Scribe feature writes a whole message from a rough description of what you want to say. I built YapToText, so read this with that in mind. Every Willow fact here comes from willowvoice.com and Willow's help center, read on October 3, 2026.

My hands make typing difficult, so I dictate every day with YapToText. I wanted that dictation to stay on my own machine, with no plan to outgrow.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 6 sections
  1. Side by side
  2. What you keep, and what changes
  3. Move over in about ten minutes
    1. Step 1: Install YapToText
    2. Step 2: Allow the microphone and Accessibility
    3. Step 3: Pick your key, quit Willow, and dictate once
    4. Step 4: Bring your words over
  4. What Willow does that YapToText does not
  5. The short version
  6. Questions

Side by side

Checked October 3, 2026. Prices change, so check before you switch.

YapToTextWillow Voice
PriceFree, no paid tierBasic free; Pro $15 per user a month or $12 billed yearly; Business $35 a month or $28 billed yearly; Enterprise custom
The free versionEverythingUnlimited use of the weaker Frontier Mini model, 20 Scribe uses a week, 5 minutes per dictation
Where speech is processedOn the MacCloud-based AI models; offline dictation listed under Pro
AccountNoneCreated during setup
Open sourceYes, GPL-3.0Not stated
PlatformsMac onlyMac, Windows and iPhone; Android coming soon
Mac requirementmacOS 14 or later, Apple siliconNot stated
Default keyRight Command, tap to start and stopFn, held while you talk
Longest single dictationA safety stop ends one dictation at 30 minutes and still saves it; Maximum length is an optional setting, off by default5 minutes on Basic, 8 minutes on paid plans
Writes a message from a descriptionNoYes, Scribe
Edits selected text by voiceYes, Quick EditYes, Scribe rewrites text you select
Languages29 plus auto-detectMore than 100
For teamsNothingBusiness adds enforced privacy mode, SOC 2 Type II and enforced HIPAA compliance

Willow's free plan runs the model Willow calls weaker. YapToText has one tier, so nobody gets the weaker model.

Deciding between Willow and Wispr Flow instead? The Wispr Flow vs Willow Voice comparison puts their free plans and Pro prices side by side.

What you keep, and what changes

  • Dictating into any app. Willow's default is to hold Fn while you talk and let go to insert, or double-tap it to keep listening. In YapToText you tap Right Command to start and tap again to stop, or pick Hold to talk if your hands prefer it. Either way, the words land at your cursor in whatever app you are using.
  • Formatting. Willow is context-aware, and in an email app it formats the greeting, the body and the closing. YapToText's Auto mode, on by default, reads each dictation and picks a mode: a letter with a greeting and a sign-off becomes an email, a short chat stays exactly as spoken, and everything else gets a conservative pass that fixes what was misheard and rewrites nothing. The Auto mode help page has the details.
YapToText's Home page: the Start Dictation button, the Keys card with Right Command and Right Option, and Intelligent Insert.
Figure 1. Auto mode is on out of the box, on the Home page: emails become emails, chat stays as spoken, and the rest is cleaned up. Give it your name and it signs your emails with it.
  • Writing for you. Willow's Scribe writes a message from what you describe, on its own shortcut, Fn plus Control. YapToText does not write messages for you. Clean Up drops filler words and false starts and keeps your wording, and with Auto mode on, saying make it shorter at the end of a dictation shortens it.
  • Your names and words. Willow keeps a personal dictionary, and Pro adds a memory of your writing style. YapToText's Dictionaries shape what the speech model hears, not just what it types, and fixing the same word twice makes the app offer to remember it. The Dictionaries help page shows how.
  • Price. Willow's Basic plan is free with unlimited use of Frontier Mini, the model Willow itself calls weaker, plus 20 Scribe uses a week and 5-minute dictations. Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 billed yearly. YapToText is free, and tips are optional and add no features.
  • Where your voice goes. Willow uses cloud-based AI models on cloud infrastructure in the United States. Its Private Mode is on by default, so no audio is stored on Willow's servers and your transcript history stays on your device, and its help center lists offline dictation as part of Pro. In YapToText your voice never leaves the Mac, and the only network use is a model download you start yourself. The page on offline dictation on a Mac shows how to test that with Wi-Fi off.
App Store poster headed Nothing leaves your Mac, over YapToText's AI Models page with both models marked Included.
Figure 2. No cloud model and no account: both models show as Included on the AI Models page, so your voice is transcribed on the Mac.

You give up Windows, iPhone and Scribe, and your voice stops leaving the Mac.

Move over in about ten minutes

Four steps. The second is the one that trips people up, because macOS makes you flip the Accessibility switch yourself.

Step 1: Install YapToText

  • You: Get YapToText from the Mac App Store and open it.
  • YapToText: Opens a short welcome tour. Both models are already inside, so there is nothing else to download.
  • Check: The tour's second page is titled A couple of permissions.

Step 2: Allow the microphone and Accessibility

  • You: On that page, press Continue next to Microphone, then next to Accessibility.
  • macOS: Asks once for the microphone, then opens System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility, where you switch YapToText on yourself. An app cannot do that part for you.
  • Check: Both cards read Granted. If Accessibility will not stay on, the Get set up card on the Home page has Show in Finder, so you can drag the app into the list. Without Accessibility, every dictation goes to the clipboard instead of your cursor.

Step 3: Pick your key, quit Willow, and dictate once

  • You: On the tour's Your controls page, keep Right Command or pick another key, and choose Hold to talk if your hands learned Willow's hold habit. After the tour, quit Willow so two apps are not listening at once, click into a text field and dictate a sentence.
  • YapToText: Shows your voice as a wave and your words as they form, then types the finished text at your cursor.
  • Check: The words land where your cursor was. If the wave stays flat, the app is not hearing your microphone yet.

You can change the key and how it responds later, in the Keys card on the Dictation page. The keys and shortcuts help page lists every key that can start a dictation.

YapToText's Dictation settings page on a Mac: the Keys, Recording, Microphone and Delivery cards.
Figure 3. The Keys card on the Dictation page, where you swap tapping for holding or pick a different key. Right Command and Tap to start / stop are the defaults.

Step 4: Bring your words over

Say: Select a word anywhere on screen, tap Right Option, say this, and tap Right Option again.

add this to my dictionary

What happens: The Quick Edit card says the word was added to your dictionary, and from then on YapToText spells and capitalizes it the way you selected it.

  • You: Use the phrase above on names already on screen, or add the rest from your Willow dictionary on the Dictionaries page, each as what it gets heard as and the spelling you want.
  • YapToText: Uses those words to prime the speech model, so it hears them as well as types them.
  • Check: Dictate a sentence with one of them. It comes out spelled your way.
YapToText's Dictionaries page: suggested fixes such as thursday to Thursday, and the General dictionary with iPhone and Wi-Fi.
Figure 4. Where your Willow dictionary goes: each entry on the Dictionaries page maps what was heard to the spelling you want, and Generate variations adds the ways a word gets misheard.

The first dictation help page covers the floating panel and the keys you can press while you talk.

What Willow does that YapToText does not

  • Windows and iPhone. Willow has desktop apps for macOS and Windows and an iPhone app, with Android listed as coming soon. YapToText runs only on the Mac.
  • Scribe. Describe what you want to say and Scribe writes the message in your style, including replies that read what is on your screen.
  • More languages. More than 100, against YapToText's 29 plus auto-detect.
  • Teams and compliance. The Business plan adds enforced privacy mode, SOC 2 Type II and enforced HIPAA compliance, and Enterprise adds single sign-on.
  • One account on every device. The same sign-in works on all your devices.

If you need any of those, Willow is the better choice, and it is good software. If you dictate on a PC or a phone as well as a Mac, Willow goes where YapToText cannot.

The short version

  • Who should switch. Anyone whose dictation lives on one Apple silicon Mac and should stay there, with no account and no plan to pay for.
  • Who should stay. Anyone who needs Windows, iPhone, Scribe or a team plan.
  • What it costs. YapToText is free. Willow is free on its weaker model, and Pro is $15 a month or $12 billed yearly, checked October 3, 2026.
  • How long it takes. About ten minutes: install, Accessibility, one test dictation, then your words.

Same idea, one key and your words at the cursor, without the cloud or the account. If something here no longer matches Willow's site, tell me on GitHub. Every issue gets read.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Sources

Questions

Is there a free alternative to Willow Voice?

Yes. YapToText is free for Apple silicon Macs, with no account and no paid tier, and it transcribes on the Mac instead of in the cloud. Willow's own Basic plan is also free, on its weaker Frontier Mini model.

Is Willow Voice free?

Yes, with limits. Willow's Basic plan is free with unlimited use of its weaker Frontier Mini model, 20 Scribe uses a week and 5-minute dictations. Pro, with the Frontier Pro model, is $15 per user a month or $12 billed yearly, checked October 3, 2026.

Does Willow Voice work offline?

Partly. Willow's help center says it uses cloud-based AI models and lists offline dictation as a Pro feature. YapToText works offline on every dictation, because both of its models run on the Mac.

Is Willow Voice open source?

Not as far as its site says: Willow does not describe itself as open source. YapToText is open source under GPL-3.0, with its source on GitHub.

Is Willow Voice available for Windows?

Yes. Willow lists desktop apps for macOS and Windows and an iPhone app, with Android coming soon. YapToText is a Mac app only, so on Windows, Willow is the one of the two that works.

Willow Voice vs Wispr Flow: what is the difference?

The free plans differ most: Willow's is unlimited on a weaker model, while Wispr Flow's caps desktop dictation at 2,000 words a week. Both transcribe in the cloud, Wispr Flow always and Willow by default, and both charge $15 per user a month for Pro, or $12 billed yearly; Wispr Flow also runs on Android, which Willow lists as coming soon. Checked October 3, 2026.