February 16, 2026
Voice-typing cage match
Show HN: Free Alternative to Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, and Monologue
Free Mac dictation app crashes the $10/month party — and ignites an “offline vs online” brawl
TLDR: A free, open-source Mac app called FreeFlow promises fast, context-aware dictation using a free Groq key and no company server. The comments explode into a showdown: fans praise the no-fee vibe, while critics demand fully offline options, slam cloud dependence, and grumble that it’s Mac-only—privacy versus convenience on full display.
A weekend “vibe-code” hero just tossed a grenade into paid voice-typing land. Meet FreeFlow: a free, open-source Mac app that lets you hold the Fn key to dictate, then pastes your words wherever you’re typing. It’s context aware (hello correctly spelled names in emails), has no company server, and leans on a free Groq key for speech-to-text and a cleanup pass with an AI text tool. Translation: it’s free, fast, and claims to be more private than the $10/month crowd.
But the comments? Absolute fireworks. The privacy purists stormed in first: one dev plugged their all-local tool Axii with a rallying cry to keep everything on your machine, while another pointed to VoiceInk: “no need for external AI.” Meanwhile, speed chasers asked for an offline model like Parakeet to cut the internet out and slash delay. The big fight: cloud convenience vs. local control—with a side of “don’t send my voice anywhere.”
Cue the platform drama. A deadpan “MacOS only. May this help you skip a click” drew laughs—and groans from Windows and Linux onlookers. And yes, the meme of the day is “I vibe coded the same this weekend,” as other weekend warriors dropped their own OpenAI-flavored spin.
Bottom line: FreeFlow lit up a classic internet showdown—free disruptor energy vs. no-cloud absolutists—with the Fn key suddenly the hottest button on the keyboard.
Key Points
- •FreeFlow is a free, open-source Mac app for AI-powered transcription, positioned as an alternative to paid tools like Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, and Monologue.
- •It supports Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, with a simple workflow: download the .dmg, obtain a free Groq API key, and hold the Fn key to record and paste transcriptions.
- •The app is context-aware, reading on-screen context (e.g., email recipient names, terminal content) to improve accuracy, akin to Monologue’s “Deep Context.”
- •FreeFlow does not run its own server; only API calls to Groq’s transcription and LLM services leave the user’s device, emphasizing privacy.
- •The project is released under the MIT license.