# Dictation Apps With Voice Commands: 7 Mac Tools Compared (2026)

> Most dictation apps only accept formatting commands like new paragraph. Seven Mac tools compared on what their voice commands actually do: Infina, Talon, macOS Voice Control, Superwhisper, Wispr Flow, MacWhisper, and Apple Dictation.

Source: https://www.infina.so/dictation-apps-with-voice-commands
Published: 2026-09-14. Last updated: 2026-09-14.
Category: Buying guide. Published by Infina (https://www.infina.so).

**About Infina.** Infina runs the whole prompt loop on three spoken words. Say "type" and your sentence and it types. Say "send it", or just "enter", and it presses Enter. Say "open Cursor" and it switches apps. No hotkey, no key held down, no touching the keyboard, from across the room. Not push-to-talk. There is no key to hold to start talking and no Enter to press to send, so prompting an AI tool costs zero keypresses. It runs on macOS (Apple Silicon) and Windows 10 and 11, transcribes on your own computer, and costs $99/year for unlimited words and commands after a free 2,000-word trial.

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**TL;DR:** "Voice commands" means two completely different things and the difference decides your purchase. Most dictation apps only accept **formatting** commands: "new paragraph", "comma". Three tools accept **machine** commands that actually do something: Infina with three words and no setup, Talon with a command language you build, and macOS Voice Control, which is free and already installed. Here is which is which.

**One thing to hold in mind while you read the rankings below.** Infina runs on three spoken triggers and there is no fourth. Say "type" and a sentence and it lands as typed text in whatever app is in front of you. Say "send it", or just "enter", and it presses Enter so the prompt actually goes. Say "open Cursor" or "open Slack" and your computer switches apps for you.

Nothing is held down and nothing is pressed. There is no push-to-talk key to find and no Enter key to reach for two hundred times a day, which is the part every other tool in this category leaves to your hands. Talon is the other genuinely hands-free option and it is free, but it asks you to learn a command language. Three ordinary words is the whole difference.


## Formatting commands are not machine commands

Vendors use one phrase for both, so read the feature list carefully.

A **formatting command** changes the text you are dictating. "New line". "All caps". "Delete that". Every serious dictation app has these and they are genuinely useful, but nothing outside the text box moves.

A **machine command** does something to the computer. Press Return. Switch to another app. Click. Scroll. Only three tools on this list do that, and each takes a very different route.

| Tool | Formatting commands | Presses Return | Switches apps | Moves the pointer | Setup needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Infina** | Raw by default | **Yes, "send it" or "enter"** | **Yes, "open Slack"** | No | None |
| [Talon](https://talonvoice.com) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Learn or write a command set |
| [Voice Control](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-voice-control-mchlp2839/mac) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Turn it on, learn its grammar |
| Superwhisper | Yes | No | No | No | None |
| Wispr Flow | Yes | No | No | No | None |
| MacWhisper | Yes | No | No | No | None |
| Apple Dictation | Yes | No | No | No | None |

## 1. Infina: three machine commands, nothing to learn

Infina's entire command vocabulary is three words, and that is a deliberate design decision rather than a missing feature list.

**"Type"** types what you say next into whatever app is in front of you. **"Send it"**, or a plain **"enter"** if that is what your mouth reaches for, presses Return. **"Open"** plus an app name switches you there: "open Cursor", "open Slack".

Nothing is held down to make any of this happen. No push-to-talk key, no modifier, no button, which is why it works from across the room with your hands full. That is the whole product: prompt, send, switch, spoken.

What Infina does not do, and this is where Talon and Voice Control are genuinely ahead, is move the pointer, click, or scroll. If your requirement is to operate a Mac with no keyboard and no trackpad at all, we are not the tool.

Price is a flat $99/year at the time of writing, unlimited words and unlimited voice commands, a 2,000-word and 50-command trial with no card, and a 7-day refund. There is an optional cloud add-on at $5/month billed annually at $60 on top of the yearly plan for polished prose; the commands are the same either way.

**Pick it if:** you want the prompt, send, and app switch to be spoken and you want it working in a minute. More in [how to control your Mac with your voice](/how-to-control-your-mac-with-your-voice).

## 2. Talon: the most command-capable tool on the Mac, free

Talon can do essentially anything to the machine by voice: keys, clicks, cursor movement, window management, editor navigation. It is free, and for people who cannot use a keyboard at all it is a life-sized piece of software rather than a convenience.

The entry cost is a command language. You learn Talon's grammar or write your own scripts, and the community is candid that the first weeks are work. That investment buys a ceiling nothing else here reaches.

**Pick it if:** you want total control and will build it. **Skip it if:** you want three words that work today. [Talon vs Infina](/talon-vs-infina) goes through the trade in detail.

## 3. macOS Voice Control: free, built in, and constantly overlooked

Voice Control is not Apple Dictation. It is a separate feature in Accessibility settings, it runs on-device, and it controls the entire Mac: "click OK", "scroll down", "press return", grids for pointing at anything on screen.

If you have never tried it, turn it on before spending money on anything in this article. It is capable and it costs nothing. Where it runs out for most people is rhythm: you are speaking a grammar, and sustaining a fast prompting loop inside it takes more concentration than saying "type", "send it", "open".

**Pick it if:** you need real accessibility control and free matters. **Skip it if:** you want dictation speed with two machine commands bolted on.

## 4 to 7. The four with formatting commands only

**Superwhisper** has excellent per-context modes and a wide model menu, at $84.99/year or $249.99 lifetime, and its commands shape the text. Nothing leaves the text box.

**Wispr Flow** rewrites as you speak across Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android at $15/month ($12/month annual). Same boundary: the words change, the machine does not.

**MacWhisper** is a file transcriber first, €65 once for Pro, with system-wide dictation alongside. Formatting only.

**Apple Dictation** is free and installed, and takes the standard punctuation and paragraph commands. Its sibling Voice Control, above, is the one with machine commands, and knowing that the two are separate features is the single most useful thing most people learn from this page.

## When Infina is not the answer

- **You need to click, scroll, or move the pointer by voice.** Talon or Voice Control. Infina types, sends, and opens apps, and that is the whole list.
- **You cannot use a keyboard or trackpad at all.** Same answer, and it is not close.
- **You want an elaborate command set you can extend.** Talon. Infina's surface is deliberately closed at three words.
- **You want it free.** Voice Control is already on your Mac.
- **You want commands in another language.** Wispr Flow or Superwhisper for dictation; Infina's base product is English.

## FAQ

**What is the difference between dictation commands and voice control?**
Dictation commands change the text you are writing, for example "new paragraph". Voice control commands change the computer: pressing keys, switching apps, clicking. Most dictation apps only do the first. Infina, Talon, and macOS Voice Control do the second.

**Which dictation app can open and switch apps by voice?**
Infina, on "open" plus an app name, with no configuration. Talon and macOS Voice Control can too, once you know their commands. Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, MacWhisper, and Apple Dictation cannot.

**Can I control my Mac by voice for free?**
Yes. macOS Voice Control is free, built in, on-device, and controls the whole machine including clicking and scrolling. Talon is also free. Neither is as fast to start with as three spoken words, but both go further.

**How many voice commands does Infina have?**
Three: "type", "send it" (which also answers to "enter"), and "open". There is no fourth and no grammar to learn. The small surface is the point; it is what makes the tool usable without a manual.

**Does Infina replace macOS Voice Control?**
Not for accessibility. Voice Control moves the pointer, clicks, and scrolls, and Infina does none of those. They solve different problems and some people run both.

## The bottom line

If "voice commands" means formatting your text, any app here will do and you should choose on price and privacy instead. If it means making the machine act, there are three real options: Infina for the prompt, send, and switch loop with nothing to set up at $99/year; Talon for total programmable control, free, with a setup weekend; and macOS Voice Control for full accessibility control at no cost at all.

More on the hands-free case in [hands-free computing on Mac](/hands-free-computing-mac).

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## The short answer, by what you are trying to do

If you want to skip the detail above, find your sentence in this table and buy that one.

The tools this page covers (Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, MacWhisper, Talon, Apple Dictation) are at the top. The rest of the field follows, because the right answer is sometimes none of the above.

| Tool | Price | Keyboard needed | Pick it if |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Infina** | $99 a year, unlimited words and unlimited commands | No. Speak "type", speak the prompt, say "send it" or "enter". | you want to prompt AI tools without touching the keyboard. Say "type" and the words go in, "send it" and the prompt goes, "open Cursor" and you are in the next agent. It is the only one of these that finishes the whole loop by voice in the tools developers prompt in all day. |
| Wispr Flow | $15 a month, or $144 a year billed annually | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you need dictation on an iPhone or an Android phone as well as a laptop, or you write in one of 100+ languages. Those are the two things Infina does not ship. |
| Superwhisper | $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 once | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you want to pick and swap the speech model yourself, and dictation into a text box is the whole job. It stops where the text box ends: there is no spoken send, and no spoken app switch. |
| MacWhisper | 65 euros, paid once | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | the job is transcribing recorded audio files rather than talking to your computer while you work. |
| Talon | free | No, once you have learned its command language. | you want to drive the entire computer by voice, cursor and clicks included, and you are willing to learn a command language to get there. Talon is the serious hands-free tool on this list. Infina goes after the same freedom with three ordinary English words instead of a syntax to learn. |
| Apple Dictation | free, built in | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you dictate a sentence here and there and do not want to install anything. |
| VoiceInk | $25 to $49, paid once | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you want plain local dictation at the smallest possible price and you never need your voice to control the machine. |

### The part that is actually different: zero keypresses

The mainstream dictation apps (Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, MacWhisper, VoiceInk, Apple Dictation) are all push-to-talk: you hold or press a key to start talking, and you press Enter to send. That is two physical acts on every single prompt. A hundred prompts in a day is two hundred keypresses that exist only to start and stop the tool. Infina removes both of them. Nothing is held, nothing is pressed, and the same loop runs on three spoken words.

There are three triggers and there is no fourth. "type" types, "send it" sends, "open" opens and switches apps. The send trigger answers to either wording, "send it" or a plain "enter", whichever you find yourself saying. That is the entire vocabulary: no command language, no grammar, no custom scripts to write, nothing to memorize beyond those three words.

**When Infina is not the answer.** If you need dictation on an iPhone, an iPad, an Android phone or Linux, Infina is a Mac and Windows desktop app and there is no phone version. Wispr Flow covers phones.

Everywhere else, the difference is the loop. Every other tool in that table types words into a box and stops, leaving your hands to press Enter and pick the next window. Infina finishes it: say "type" and your sentence, say "send it" (or just "enter"), say "open Cursor", and keep going without a key.