If you want to talk instead of type on Windows, you have four realistic options: the voice typing already built into Windows, Nuance’s Dragon, Wispr Flow, and VoltType. They are built for different people and priced very differently. This page puts them next to each other so you can pick in five minutes.
We make VoltType, so read the VoltType column with that in mind. Everything about the other three comes from their own pages, linked at the bottom, checked in September 2026. If a competitor changes something, tell us and we will update it.
The comparison
| VoltType | Wispr Flow | Dragon Professional v16 | Windows Voice Typing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan · Pro €9/month or €89/year | $15/month, $12/month on annual; free tier capped per week | $699.99 one-time licence; upgrades $299–399 | Free, built into Windows 10 and 11 |
| Audio transcribed on your own PC | Yes, on Pro’s offline mode (Windows). Nothing stored by us in cloud mode either. | No — cloud only | Yes — fully local after activation | No — Microsoft: “you’ll need to be connected to the internet” |
| Languages | 99 in cloud mode, auto-detected; offline models per language | 100+ | English plus a handful of major languages, bought per language | 40+, commands mostly US English |
| Works in any app | Yes — hotkey, speak, text lands where the cursor is | Yes | Yes, deepest in Word and Outlook | Yes (Win+H) |
| Cleans up what you said | Yes — punctuation, filler words, spoken commands (“new paragraph”, “scratch that”) | Yes | Commands and corrections, no AI rewrite | Auto-punctuation only on Copilot+ PCs |
| Platforms | Windows, web browser, Android keyboard | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android | Windows only | Windows only |
| Who it is for | People who dictate in more than one language, or who cannot send audio to a US cloud (lawyers, clinics, accountants) | Mac-first professionals who want polish and do not mind the cloud | Heavy English dictation, medical and legal, with a budget for a one-time licence | Anyone who wants to try dictation today for free |
Where each one is the right choice
Windows Voice Typing is the honest first step. It costs nothing and it is already on your PC. Press Win+H and talk. Its limits show up fast: it needs an internet connection, punctuation is manual unless you own a Copilot+ machine, and it does not learn your names and terms.
Dragon Professional is the 30-year veteran. It runs entirely on your machine and it is deeply wired into Word and Outlook. The price is the thing: $699.99 up front, one language, Windows only, and a learning curve that assumes you will dictate for hours a day.
Wispr Flow is the best-known of the new generation, strongest on Mac, available on four platforms. Everything you say goes to their servers — there is no offline option — and Windows users have reported memory and stability issues. Our full Wispr Flow comparison is here.
VoltType sits in the gap the other three leave open: dictation in 99 languages, an offline mode on Windows where audio is transcribed on your own PC, and a price that a solo practitioner can justify. It is younger than Dragon, has fewer platforms than Wispr, and we say so on this page rather than hoping you will not notice.
VoltType has no Mac or iPhone app. If those are your devices, Wispr Flow is the better fit today. And Dragon’s Word integration is deeper than ours if you dictate ten-page documents in English all day.
The one question that decides it
Ask where your audio goes. If “to a server in the United States” is fine, pick on price and polish: Windows Voice Typing free, Wispr Flow for polish across devices. If it is not fine — client notes, patient notes, anything privileged — you have two choices that transcribe on your own PC: Dragon at $699.99, or VoltType Pro at €9 a month, and only one of them also speaks Romanian, Danish, German, Greek and Macedonian.
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Sources, checked 15 September 2026: Wispr Flow pricing · Dragon Professional v16 pricing via getvoibe.com and usevoicy.com (Nuance’s own Dragon pages now redirect to Microsoft) · Microsoft: Use voice typing. Trademarks belong to their owners; this is an independent comparison.