v0.1.19 for Windows and macOS

Your voice never leavesyour machine.

On-device dictation with AI formatting. Press a key, speak, and clean text lands in whatever app you are already in. Buy it once. Windows and Mac.

tauri 2  ·  rust  ·  whisper.cpp AVX2  ·  parakeet tdt v3  ·  8.4 MB

Windows 10 and 11, macOS 11 and later. Free forever, no account, no telemetry.

The bar you actually see

Lands in your editor as


Why it is different

Three things the cloud apps cannot do.

Dictation is a solved problem. Dictation that does not ship every word you say to somebody else's server, that runs properly on both Windows and Mac, and that does not bill you monthly, is not.

Nothing leaves your device

Whisper and Parakeet run on your own CPU. Turn the WiFi off and dictation still works. The only cloud options are opt-in, off by default, and use a key you supply yourself.

Windows and Mac, one app

Almost every polished dictation app is Mac only. HushQuill is native on both, from one codebase, so the features land together. It runs at many times realtime on an ordinary laptop CPU with no GPU, and uses the GPU on Apple Silicon.

No subscription. Ever.

Unlimited dictation is free, permanently, with no watermark and no nag. Pro is a single payment for the AI layer. There is no monthly plan at any price, and there never will be.


What is in it

Everything below is in the free build.

Not a stripped demo. This is the whole dictation engine, uncapped. Every item here is covered properly in the user guide.

Two hotkeys

One shows and hides the floating bar, one starts and stops dictating. Both rebindable.

Three dictation modes

Toggle, continuous (each pause types a segment and keeps listening), or push to talk.

Auto engine picking

Chooses the fastest engine for your language and your hardware. Override it whenever you like.

Silence detection

A pure Rust WebRTC VAD trims dead air and can stop the take for you after a set pause.

Types into any app

Editors, browsers, chat, terminals, Office. The overlay never steals focus from what you are writing in.

Text never gets lost

If no text box is focused the transcript parks on your clipboard, and one button re-inserts it wherever you click next.

Cleanup and dictionary

Filler removal, punctuation and capitalisation, plus your own spellings for names and jargon.

Snippets

Say a trigger phrase, get a full block of text. Signatures, addresses, boilerplate.

Voice commands

"New line", "new paragraph", "scratch that". Deliberately few, so they never collide with real speech.

Microphone picker

Choose any input and swap it live. If a device is unplugged it falls back to the system default.

Tray and autostart

Launches to the system tray at login and stays out of the way until you press the key.

Updates in the app

Signed updates install in one click. Full release notes are readable inside the app before you take them.


For the people who ask first

The honest spec.

No Electron, no bundled browser, no background service phoning home. The installer is 8.4 MB because there is not much in it beyond the app.

Speech models are downloaded on first run from within the app, so you choose what lands on disk and when.

Shell
Tauri 2, Rust backend
Local STT
whisper.cpp, AVX2 baseline
Fast engine
Parakeet TDT v3, ONNX Runtime
Voice detection
WebRTC VAD, pure Rust
Installer size
8.4 MB
Network at rest
one update check on launch
Dictation network
none, unless you enable a cloud engine
Telemetry
none
Account required
no
Windows
10 and 11, x64
macOS
11+, universal binary
Licence model
one-time, 3 devices

The maths

Cloud dictation subscriptions run about $12 to $15 a month. That is roughly $150 a year, every year, to rent something that runs perfectly well on the laptop you already own.

HushQuill Pro is $29 once. The free tier never expires and never asks for a card.

Languages

Speaks about 99 languages. Including the ones nobody else bothers with.

Language detection is on by default, so a fresh install just works whatever you speak. Urdu, Hindi and other native scripts render right to left correctly, and code-switching mid-sentence does not break it.

Native script, not transliteration

Urdu comes out in Urdu script with the right punctuation, not Roman approximations.

Free access, paid accuracy

Every language works on the free tier. Pro adds the larger local models, which is where the real quality gain for Urdu and Hindi lives.

What we do not claim

We do not claim to beat Whisper on raw Urdu accuracy. We claim it is private, it is on Windows as well as Mac, it handles the script properly, and it is free to try forever.


Pricing

Free is the mechanics. Pro is the intelligence.

If it is rules and speed, it is free. If an AI model does work on your words, it is paid. That is the entire tier line.

Free

$0 forever

No account, no trial clock, no expiry.

  • Unlimited dictation, no caps or watermark
  • All three dictation modes, both hotkeys, the bar
  • Parakeet fast engine and Whisper tiny plus base
  • About 99 languages with auto detection
  • Cleanup, custom dictionary, snippets, voice commands
  • 3 AI rewrites a day, so you can taste the paid part
Download free

Pro

$29 once, first 500

$39 after that. One payment, 3 devices, free updates, no subscription at any price.

  • Everything in Free
  • Unlimited AI formatting, no daily meter
  • App-aware rewriting: email reads like email, chat stays short, code stays terse
  • Spoken instructions: end with "make that formal" and it does
  • Whisper small and medium, the accuracy models
  • Formatting runs locally through Ollama by default
Tell me when Pro opens

Pro is not on sale yet. The free build already does unlimited dictation, so there is nothing to wait for to start using it.


Download

Get it now.

Same version, same features, both platforms. One small installer, and the speech models download from inside the app on first run so you pick what goes on disk.

The macOS build lands shortly. It is the same v0.1.19, built universal for Intel and Apple Silicon from the same codebase, and it is going through Apple signing and notarisation now. Add your email and the download link comes to you the day it is up.
Both platforms warn you on first launch for now. The builds are not yet certificate-signed, so Windows SmartScreen says "unknown publisher" and macOS Gatekeeper asks before opening. On Windows click "More info" then "Run anyway". Signing is budgeted on both sides and the warnings go away when it lands. Updates the app installs afterwards are cryptographically signed and verified either way.

Get told once, when it matters

The macOS download the day it goes up, and the day Pro opens at the $29 launch price. Nothing else. Leaving is one click.


Questions

The things people actually ask.

Does anything I say leave my computer?
No, not on the default settings. Speech is transcribed by Whisper or Parakeet running locally on your CPU, and the AI formatting layer runs locally through Ollama. Two features can reach the internet and both are opt-in and off until you switch them on: the Groq cloud speech engine, and Groq as an alternative formatting provider. Both need an API key you supply yourself. The app also checks once on launch whether a newer version exists, which sends no personal data and no audio.
Does it work with no internet at all?
Yes. Once the speech model has been downloaded, dictation works with the network off entirely. That is the point of the app.
Why do Windows and macOS warn me on first launch?
Because the builds are not certificate-signed yet. On Windows an OV code-signing certificate costs a few hundred dollars a year and is budgeted but not bought, so SmartScreen shows "unknown publisher": click "More info" then "Run anyway". On macOS the equivalent is an Apple Developer ID plus notarisation, which is in progress, so Gatekeeper asks before opening. Neither affects the app itself, and the updates it installs afterwards are cryptographically signed and verified regardless.
Do I need a GPU?
No. Everything is tuned for ordinary laptop CPUs with no graphics acceleration. The fast engine runs at many times realtime on a plain office laptop. On Apple Silicon, Whisper uses the GPU automatically.
Is there a free trial?
There is no trial, and there never will be, because there is no clock to run out. The free tier is permanent and does unlimited dictation. The only metered thing is AI rewriting, at 3 a day, and that resets daily rather than expiring.
Is there a subscription?
No, and there will not be one at any price. Pro is a single payment of $29 for the first 500 licences and $39 after that, valid on 3 devices, with free updates. Since the app costs nothing to run once you own it, charging rent for it would be indefensible.
Which languages does it handle?
Roughly 99, with automatic detection on by default. The fast local engine covers English and 25 European languages. Everything else, including Urdu, Hindi and Arabic, goes through the multilingual Whisper models in native script. Pro adds the larger models where accuracy on those languages improves most.
Is the Mac version the same as the Windows one?
Yes. Same version number, same features, one codebase, built universal for both Intel and Apple Silicon. Whisper uses the GPU on Apple Silicon, so transcription is quick there. The macOS download is going through Apple signing and notarisation right now, which is the only reason the button above asks for your email instead of handing you the file. Everything else about the two builds matches.
What happens to my dictated text if I click the wrong place?
Nothing is lost. If no text box has focus when you stop speaking, the transcript is parked on your clipboard and the bar tells you so, with a button that types it into whatever you click next. The same button also repeats your last dictation on demand.