Free dictation for Mac. Private by design.
Grille turns your voice into clean, formatted text in any app on your Mac. Local by default, with cloud models there if you want them.
Download Free
macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon
Grille turns your voice into clean, formatted text in any app on your Mac. Local by default, with cloud models there if you want them.
macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon
Grille works locally out of the box. Add an OpenRouter key when you want cloud transcription, then switch back with one toggle.
Cloud dictation apps
Pay every month
Around $15 a month for as long as you keep using it.
Your voice is uploaded
Every sentence goes to someone else's servers.
Watches your screen too
Some capture your active window for "context".
Needs a connection
No signal, no dictation.
Sign in first
An account, a plan, and a word cap on the free tier.
One look, take it or leave it
A generic overlay that sits where it sits.
Grille
Free
Free to download and use. No subscription, no tiers.
Cloud is your choice
Use the local models, or add your own OpenRouter key.
Only listens while you ask
Hears the mic while you dictate. Never your screen.
Works anywhere
Turn on Local only and dictate without a connection.
No Grille account
Download it, grant the microphone, dictate.
Looks the part
Any corner, any accent colour, light or dark.
A dot-matrix indicator that lights with your voice, shimmers while it writes, and never takes focus. Six accents to choose from.
Choose how far clean-up goes. Grille uses its local model in Local only mode, or GPT-5.6 Luna through your OpenRouter key.
You said
Okay so um the launch is moving to the twelfth, no wait, the fourteenth, and I need to uh tell Tom and, and Alice before Friday. Can you also add three things to the list, um, book the venue, send the the invite, and er chase the printer about the banners.
Grille pastes
Okay so um the launch is moving to the twelfth, no wait, the fourteenth, and I need to uh tell Tom and, and Alice before Friday. Can you also add three things to the list, um, book the venue, send the the invite, and er chase the printer about the banners.
The launch is moving to the fourteenth, and I need to tell Tom and Alice before Friday. Can you also add three things to the list: book the venue, send the invite, and chase the printer about the banners.
The launch is moving to the 14th, and I need to tell Tom and Alice before Friday.
Three things to add to the list:
Also lists, paragraphs and names from the Dictionary
Local only is a hard switch. Turn it on and Grille stops using OpenRouter.
Turn on Local only
One switch under Clean-up.
Turn off Wi-Fi and speak
The indicator lights up as usual.
Watch the text land
Recognised, tidied and pasted on your Mac.
Recognition and clean-up both run on the Mac, and the audio is discarded once the text is pasted. Grille only needs a connection when you download the local models.
Ideas for Thursday
Move the launch to the fourteenth and tell Tom and Alice before Friday.
Grille against the subscription apps, and against the dictation already built into your Mac.
| Grille | Wispr Flow | Superwhisper | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio stays on your Mac Grille: with Local only on. Superwhisper: with local models only. macOS: on-device for some languages on Apple silicon. | ||||
| Works with no connection Superwhisper: local models, best on Apple silicon. | ||||
| No account Superwhisper: the free tier needs none; Pro activates a licence. | ||||
| Free Wispr Flow: free up to 2,000 words a week, then $15 a month or $144 a year. Superwhisper: free with basic local models; Pro is $8.49 a month or $249.99 lifetime. Grille: an optional OpenRouter key is billed by OpenRouter. | ||||
| Removes fillers and false starts Superwhisper: Pro AI modes. | ||||
| Personal dictionary macOS: text replacements only. | ||||
| Never reads your screen Wispr Flow captures the active window for context. Superwhisper's Super Mode adapts to your screen when enabled. | ||||
| History as plain files you own Wispr Flow keeps history on its servers. Superwhisper keeps it in the app and saves recordings to disk. | ||||
| Indicator you can place and recolour |