HyperWhisper Blog
HyperWhisper vs Voibe: Which Voice-to-Text App Is Better in 2026?
February 16, 2026
Voibe is a newer entrant in the voice dictation space, launched on Product Hunt in September 2025 by indie developer Balamurugan Balasubramanian. It positions itself as a privacy-first, on-device speech-to-text tool for macOS with a particular focus on developer workflows. But when you compare HyperWhisper vs Voibe on pricing, platform support, model variety, and overall versatility, HyperWhisper comes out significantly ahead for most users.
This comparison of HyperWhisper vs Voibe covers every important dimension so you can decide which voice dictation app is right for you.
Privacy: HyperWhisper vs Voibe
Both HyperWhisper and Voibe take privacy seriously, and that's worth acknowledging upfront. In a market flooded with cloud-only dictation tools that send your voice to remote servers, both apps offer genuine on-device processing. This is a shared strength.
HyperWhisper: Privacy With Options
HyperWhisper gives you full control over your privacy posture:
- True offline mode: Local Whisper, NVIDIA Parakeet, and Gemma models run entirely on your device. Zero data leaves your machine.
- User-controlled cloud: When you want faster or more accurate transcription, you choose your cloud provider — Deepgram, Groq, ElevenLabs, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, and others. You decide exactly where your audio goes.
- No account required: Download and use HyperWhisper without signing up or providing personal information.
- Open source backend: HyperWhisper Cloud's backend source code is publicly available on GitHub, so anyone can audit what happens when audio reaches the cloud service.
- Verifiable claims: Monitor network traffic with tools like Proxyman or Little Snitch to confirm that offline mode sends zero data.
Voibe: Privacy Without Flexibility
Voibe also processes audio entirely on-device, with audio handled in RAM and discarded after transcription. No cloud uploads, no logs, no third-party data sharing. This is a solid privacy stance.
However, Voibe's privacy model is all-or-nothing. There is no cloud option at all. If you need faster transcription speeds or higher accuracy from cloud models, Voibe simply cannot provide that. You're locked into local processing regardless of the situation.
When comparing HyperWhisper vs Voibe on privacy, both apps protect your data locally. But HyperWhisper gives you the flexibility to choose cloud processing when you want it, with full transparency about where your data goes. Voibe keeps things simple but offers no alternative when local processing isn't enough.
Pricing: HyperWhisper vs Voibe
Cost is where the HyperWhisper vs Voibe comparison gets especially clear.
| Feature | HyperWhisper | Voibe |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 3 minutes/day (offline + cloud) | 300 words/day |
| Monthly plan | N/A (one-time payment) | $4.90/month |
| Annual plan | N/A (one-time payment) | $44.10/year |
| Lifetime purchase | $39 one-time | $99 one-time |
| Subscriptions | None, ever | Required unless you pay $99 |
| Offline transcription | Free, forever | Limited to 300 words/day on free tier |
HyperWhisper's one-time $39 payment gives you lifetime access to unlimited transcription, all modes, custom vocabulary, and cloud credits. No recurring charges, no expiration.
Voibe's lifetime option costs $99 — more than 2.5x the price of HyperWhisper. And Voibe uses scarcity marketing ("89 licenses left") to pressure you into buying quickly. If you opt for Voibe's subscription instead, you're paying $4.90/month or $44.10/year indefinitely.
The free tier comparison is equally telling. HyperWhisper's free plan gives you 3 minutes per day of transcription across both offline and cloud modes — renewed daily, forever. Voibe's free tier caps you at a meager 300 words per day, which is roughly two short paragraphs.
Over three years, the math is simple: HyperWhisper costs $39 total. Voibe's annual plan costs $132.30 for the same period — over 3x more. Even Voibe's lifetime option is $60 more expensive than HyperWhisper's.
Features: HyperWhisper vs Voibe
Both apps deliver system-wide voice-to-text dictation, but they differ significantly in scope and flexibility.
Model Variety
HyperWhisper offers an extensive selection of transcription engines:
- 11 Whisper models ranging from Tiny (39 MB) to Large v3 (3.1 GB), including the fast Large v3 Turbo
- NVIDIA Parakeet models optimized for Apple Neural Engine, supporting 25+ European languages
- Gemma 3 models (1B, 4B, or 12B parameters) for offline post-processing
- 12+ cloud transcription providers with 30+ models including Deepgram Nova-3, ElevenLabs Scribe v2, and more
Voibe uses quantized Whisper models running on Apple Silicon GPU. While Whisper is a proven engine, Voibe doesn't offer alternative model families or cloud providers. You get Whisper and only Whisper.
Transcription Modes
HyperWhisper provides purpose-built modes for different workflows: Meeting, Email, Note, Code, Legal, and Medical. Pro users can create unlimited custom modes with specific formatting rules, vocabulary, and writing styles tailored to their exact needs.
Voibe offers a Developer Mode for integration with coding agents like Cursor and Windsurf. But outside of developer workflows, Voibe doesn't offer specialized modes for other professions or use cases.
Platform Support
This is one of the largest gaps between HyperWhisper and Voibe.
HyperWhisper runs on macOS and Windows, with full offline capability on both platforms. On Mac, it supports both Apple Silicon and Intel processors.
Voibe is macOS only and requires Apple Silicon. No Windows support, no Intel Mac support, no iOS, no Android. If you use a Windows PC at work and a Mac at home, or if you have an older Intel-based Mac, Voibe is simply not an option.
Additional Capabilities
HyperWhisper includes meeting transcription, file transcription, smart punctuation, custom vocabulary (up to 100 terms per transcription), automatic language detection, and AI-powered post-processing with multiple LLM providers (Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, Groq, Cerebras).
Voibe includes hold-to-speak activation, system-wide dictation, smart punctuation, and custom vocabulary. Its Developer Mode integration with coding agents is a standout feature for its target audience.
Language Support
Both apps use Whisper models, which technically support 99+ languages. HyperWhisper additionally offers NVIDIA Parakeet models optimized for 25+ European languages, giving you more options for non-English transcription. Voibe's multilingual support is not prominently documented, with the product primarily focused on English dictation.
Speed and Accuracy: HyperWhisper vs Voibe
HyperWhisper achieves sub-700ms latency with cloud transcription and delivers up to 99% accuracy using state-of-the-art models like Deepgram Nova-3 and ElevenLabs Scribe v2. Custom vocabulary further boosts accuracy for specialized terminology. The post-processing pipeline automatically removes filler words, adds punctuation, and formats output contextually based on your selected transcription mode. Local transcription with Whisper Large v3 or Parakeet models provides excellent accuracy entirely offline.
Voibe claims 97%+ transcription accuracy using quantized Whisper models on Apple Silicon GPU. It includes smart punctuation and filler word removal. Since processing happens on-device, latency depends entirely on your hardware — newer M-series chips will be faster, but you cannot fall back to cloud processing when you need speed.
Both apps deliver solid accuracy. The difference is that HyperWhisper gives you the choice between maximum speed (cloud) and maximum privacy (local), while Voibe locks you into local-only processing with no way to prioritize speed when you need it.
Resource Usage: HyperWhisper vs Voibe
Both HyperWhisper and Voibe appear to be native macOS applications, which is a good foundation for performance. Neither relies on Electron or web wrappers.
HyperWhisper is built with native Swift on macOS and native C++ on Windows. It runs as a lightweight menu bar utility with minimal memory footprint when idle and only uses significant resources during active transcription. Model resource usage scales with the model size you choose — smaller models for lighter hardware, larger models for better accuracy.
Voibe runs as a native macOS app using quantized Whisper models on the Apple Silicon GPU. On-device GPU inference means transcription workloads are offloaded to the Neural Engine and GPU rather than the CPU, which is efficient. However, since Voibe is local-only, every transcription session requires your machine to do the heavy lifting with no option to offload to cloud servers during resource-intensive tasks.
HyperWhisper's advantage here is flexibility. On lower-powered machines or during heavy multitasking, you can switch to cloud transcription to free up local resources. Voibe has no such escape valve.
Trust and Transparency: HyperWhisper vs Voibe
HyperWhisper:
- Built by an identifiable, public developer (Ray Amjad)
- Open source cloud backend on GitHub for full audit
- Privacy claims independently verifiable via network monitoring
- Established product with a growing user base across Mac and Windows
- Active community and transparent development
Voibe:
- Built by indie developer Balamurugan Balasubramanian ("Bala")
- Launched September 2025, making it a very new product with limited track record
- Small community — minimal independent reviews or third-party coverage
- Most available content about Voibe is self-published by the developer
- No open source components for independent audit
- Uses scarcity marketing tactics ("89 licenses left") on pricing, which can feel pressuring
Both are indie-developed products, which is respectable. But HyperWhisper has a longer track record, a larger user base, and an open source backend that anyone can inspect. Voibe is still in its early days, and it's worth considering how much you want to depend on a tool with minimal community validation.
The Verdict: HyperWhisper vs Voibe
When comparing HyperWhisper vs Voibe across every dimension, HyperWhisper is the more complete and versatile voice dictation app:
- Better value: $39 lifetime versus $99 lifetime — HyperWhisper is 2.5x cheaper, with a more generous free tier (3 min/day vs 300 words/day)
- Broader platform support: Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel) plus Windows, versus Voibe's Apple Silicon Mac only
- More models and providers: Whisper, Parakeet, and Gemma locally, plus 12+ cloud providers with 30+ models, versus Whisper only
- More versatile modes: Meeting, Email, Note, Code, Legal, and Medical modes plus custom modes, versus Developer Mode only
- Cloud when you need it: Option to use fast cloud transcription for speed-critical work, versus local-only with no fallback
- Greater transparency: Open source backend and established track record versus a brand-new product with limited independent validation
For writers, professionals, students, medical practitioners, legal professionals, developers, or anyone who uses more than one platform — HyperWhisper is the better choice. It's more affordable, more flexible, runs on more hardware, offers more models, and gives you the freedom to choose between offline privacy and cloud speed based on what each moment demands.
Download HyperWhisper free and experience the difference for yourself.