Aside vs Superwhisper.
Superwhisper is a dictation app that also records meetings. Aside is a meeting recorder that also dictates. Both put the text at your cursor and both turn speech into text without the network, so the argument is what you are left holding, and how much of it you pay for again next month.
- Superwhisper$8.49/mofor Pro, with yearly and lifetime also offered
- SuperwhisperThree platformsMac, Windows and iOS, one licence on all your devices
- Aside$79 onceand then Aside stops charging you
| What is being compared |  Aside |
Superwhisper |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Plus. $8/mo all-in, or $79 once | Neither. Free tier, Pro $8.49/mo, yearly and lifetime also offered |
| Free | Limit. Ten meetings, and dictation for 7 days from setup | Plus. Free tier “available to you forever”, plus 15 minutes of Pro |
| Platform | Limit. macOS 26 or later, and nothing else | Plus. “Available on Mac, Windows and iOS” |
| How you start it | Plus. Hold fn, or double tap it to latch the microphone open | Plus. Custom shortcuts, or hold a key for push to talk |
| Throwing a take away | Plus. Escape while still holding, and nothing is typed | Neither. Not stated on their pages |
| Where the text lands | Plus. At the cursor in any app, and your clipboard is put back | Plus. “The text lands at your cursor” in any Mac app |
| Speech to text on the Mac | Plus. Always. One local model, about 1.5 GB, fetched once | Neither. Offline models on Apple silicon; cloud models are half of Pro |
| Dictation languages | Plus. About 99, from your Mac’s language list | Plus. “100+ languages & dialects”, on the free tier |
| Modes and custom prompts | Limit. None. Rule-based cleanup and that is all | Plus. “Custom prompt control” free, modes and a model picker |
| Your own API key | Neither. No key needed: dictation runs on a local speech model | Plus. “Use your own AI API Keys” on Pro |
| What a meeting leaves you | Plus. Markdown in a folder you pick, Git and Obsidian friendly | Neither. “Automatic notes”; the file you get is not stated |
| Dictation history | Plus. Last ten on disk, text only, no audio kept | Neither. Not stated on their pages |
| Apps it stays out of | Plus. A block list in settings | Neither. Modes can be set to activate in chosen apps; no block list stated |
| Available now | Plus. Downloadable today | Plus. Downloadable today |
| Teams and paperwork | Limit. None yet | Plus. “SOC 2 Type II certified”, central billing on Enterprise |
Where the two actually differ.
1. Both do both, from different starting points
Both handle dictation and meetings. Superwhisper came from dictation and it is a very complete one: modes, a vocabulary, a model picker, and meeting recording alongside. Aside came from meetings: it records the call and the room, transcribes both on your Mac and writes the note, and the hold-a-key dictation is the same app doing the same job between meetings, on the same licence.
2. Who shapes the words
Their free tier includes “custom prompt control”, and Pro adds your own API keys and unlimited cloud and local models. Aside’s dictation has none of that: what comes back is what you said, tidied by rules rather than rewritten by a model, so there is nothing to configure and nothing to key. That is a smaller product, and on some days it is the point.
3. What is on the disk afterwards
Their privacy policy says data is “only stored locally on your machine”, which is a straight answer and more than most of this page’s neighbours give. What their pages do not say is what that data is: a note, a record, a file you can open. Aside’s answer is a folder you chose and Markdown inside it, which survives Aside being deleted.
The languages are close: they list 100+, and Aside dictates in about 99, taken from the languages your Mac is set to and picked out of what you say. The free tier runs the other way. Fifteen minutes of Pro to try, then the free tier “available to you forever”. Ours is ten meetings, and dictation for seven days from the day you set it up.
Where our own transcription lands against the cloud services is a separate run, written up on the benchmark page, and the mechanics of dictating on a Mac are on the permissions guide.
Where Superwhisper is the better answer.
- You are not only on a Mac. Their pricing panel says “Available on Mac, Windows and iOS”, and their FAQ says a Pro licence activates on as many of your devices as you like. Aside is macOS 26 or later and nothing else.
- You dictate in a language your Mac is not set to. Theirs is “100+ languages & dialects”, picked in the app. Aside takes its candidates from your Mac’s language list, plus one fallback language in settings.
- You want a free tier that keeps working. Fifteen minutes of Pro to try it, then the free tier stays. Ours is ten meetings, and dictation for seven days.
- You want to shape the output yourself. Modes, a vocabulary, custom prompts and a choice of language model are the middle of their product. Aside cleans up what you said with rules and hands it over.
- You want to bring your own keys or a cloud model. Pro lists “Use your own AI API Keys” and unlimited cloud and local models. Aside’s dictation runs on a local speech model with no key and no model picker, which is a different answer rather than a better one.
- You need the compliance paperwork. Their enterprise plan is “SOC 2 Type II certified”, with centralised billing and authentication and model access control. Aside has none of that and no team layer.
If none of those are you, and what you wanted was dictation that comes with a meeting recorder and leaves files behind rather than records, that is the thing Aside is.
Best for.
- Aside. A Mac user who wants the meetings recorded and kept as Markdown, and the same key for dictating in between.
- Superwhisper. People whose whole job is dictation, on more than one platform and with modes to shape it.
Aside, pros
- The meeting is written as a Markdown file into a folder you own.
- Speech becomes text on your Mac, on one model fetched once.
- One licence covers the recording and the dictation, with no second plan.
Aside, cons
- macOS only. No Windows, no iPhone.
- Dictation languages follow your Mac’s language list, not a picker in the app.
- No modes, no vocabulary and no custom prompt: rules, and that is all.
Asked before switching.
What’s the best Superwhisper alternative for Mac?
If dictation is the whole job, Superwhisper is the more finished dictation app and it is on three platforms. Aside is the better answer when the meetings matter as much as the typing: it records the call, transcribes it on your Mac and writes the note as a Markdown file in a folder you picked, and the same hold-a-key dictation is in the same $79.
How much is Superwhisper in 2026?
Read on 14 September 2026 off their front page, which is where their pricing stands: the free tier is $0, Pro is $8.49 a month with 40% off for students, and the same panel offers a yearly plan billed with two months free and a lifetime licence. Enterprise is contact us. Their FAQ says a 30 day refund is available for all plans and that a Pro licence can be activated on as many of your devices as you like.
Does Superwhisper work offline?
Their Mac page says the offline models run on the neural engine on M1 through M4, and their FAQ says Intel Macs work best with cloud models. Cloud models are also part of what Pro unlocks, so offline is a setting rather than the only route. Aside turns speech into text on the Mac either way: one local model, about 1.5 GB, downloaded once and then working with the network off.
Can Aside dictate the way Superwhisper does?
Yes, and the shape is the same: hold a key, talk, let go, and the text lands at the cursor in whatever app you were typing in. In Aside the key is fn. Hold it to dictate, double tap it to latch the microphone open, and press escape while still holding to throw the take away. The key can be moved to right ⌘, right ⌥, F13 or F5. It needs Microphone and Accessibility, it works in any app, and there is a block list in settings for the ones where it should stay off.
Which of the two records meetings?
Both. Superwhisper lists meeting recording and transcription on its free tier and describes it as recording and digesting meetings with automatic notes; their pages do not say what file you end up with. Aside records the call on your Mac and writes the note as a Markdown file into the folder you chose during setup, which you can put in Git or open in Obsidian.
Where do my recordings end up with Superwhisper?
Their privacy policy, last updated 19 June 2024, says Superwhisper “transcribes all audio data locally on your device”, that data “is not retained on Superwhisper servers” and that “all data is only stored locally on your machine”. Their current pages offer local and cloud models, so that 2024 wording does not settle how a cloud mode processes what you say. It also does not say what the files on your machine are, or where they sit. Aside’s answer to that is a folder you choose and Markdown inside it.