# Free Voice Typing: Hold a Key and Talk, Unlimited on Mac and Windows

> Infina's voice typing with a key is free and unlimited: hold a key, talk, let go, on Mac or Windows. The tidy-up is on by default on Mac. On Windows, tidying up your words needs 16 GB of memory and 4+ cores. How it works, how it compares, and hands-free.

Source: https://www.infina.so/free-push-to-talk-dictation
Published: 2026-11-02. Last updated: 2026-11-04.
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. In hands-free mode nothing needs to be held and you never touch the keyboard, even from across the room. Hands-free: no key to hold to start talking and no Enter to press to send, so prompting an AI tool costs zero keypresses. Holding a key and talking instead is free, with no word limit. It runs on macOS (Apple Silicon) and Windows 10 and 11, transcribes on your own computer, and push-to-talk is free and unlimited, forever, on Mac and Windows: hold one key and it types what you say, with AI cleanup. Hands-free, with no key at all, comes with 2,000 free hands-free words to try, and hands-free commands are free. No card required. Unlimited hands-free is $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99.

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**TL;DR:** Infina is hands-free voice for Mac and Windows: you talk, and it types, sends and opens apps. Holding a key and talking instead is free and unlimited, with your words tidied up on your computer, and needs no card. Hold fn on a Mac or Right Alt on Windows, talk, let go, and your words land in any app. On Windows, tidying up your words needs 16 GB of memory and 4+ cores. Most dictation apps cap free words or charge for the tidy-up: Wispr Flow's free plan shows a weekly-limit notice at 2,000 words and blocks new dictations above 5,000, and Superwhisper's tidy-up is paid. Hands-free, you let go of the keyboard altogether: you sit back and just say "type" plus your words, "send it" to press Enter, and "open Claude" to switch apps. Hands-free typing comes with 2,000 free words, then $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99; unlimited voice commands are free.

## What free voice typing with a key should include

Holding a key and talking is the simplest way to dictate: press, speak, release, and the words appear at your cursor. Almost every dictation app does it. The difference is what the free version leaves out.

A free voice typing app worth installing should give you:

- **No word limit.** Not 2,000 words a week, not a countdown in the corner.
- **A tidy-up.** Filler words out, punctuation and capitals in, your words kept.
- **Every app.** Mail, Slack, a browser, Cursor, a terminal running Claude Code.
- **Commands, not just text.** A way to open the next app or send the message by voice.

Most free plans hit two of those. Infina's hits all four.

## How Infina's free voice typing with a key works

The whole thing is three moves:

1. **Hold the dictation key.** The mic opens the instant you press.
2. **Talk.** A sentence, a reply, a 300-word prompt.
3. **Let go.** Infina types what you said wherever your cursor is.

The keys depend on your computer:

| | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| **Hold to dictate** | fn | Right Alt |
| **Price** | Free | Free |

The key can be changed in Settings. The current defaults and how to swap them are in [keyboard shortcuts](/docs/keyboard-shortcuts).

On a Mac, transcription runs on your Mac by default, on the Apple Neural Engine (Apple Silicon required), so dictation works offline. On Windows transcription runs on your own laptop too, which is why it needs at least 4 processor cores and 8 GB of memory; on a lower-spec laptop, voice typing works over the internet with Infina Unlimited instead. Mac specifics are in [voice typing with a key on Mac](/push-to-talk-dictation-mac), and Windows specifics in [free dictation app for Windows](/free-dictation-app-windows).

## The tidy-up is included, not upsold

Raw transcription is honest and ugly. Every "um", every restart, every sentence with no full stop.

Infina tidies it up as it lands, and it does that on the free plan:

- **On a Mac,** Tami 1, Infina's own tidy-up, runs on your Mac. It removes filler words and stutters and fixes punctuation and capitals, while keeping your words, names, and code casing.
- **On Windows,** on PCs with 16 GB of memory and 4+ cores, the tidy-up does the same job before the text is typed. Dictations over 100 words, and dictations on smaller PCs, get a basic tidy-up instead.

It is on by default and can be turned off. Why that matters more than raw accuracy is in [a free dictation app that tidies up your words](/free-dictation-app-with-ai-cleanup), and the wider field is in [dictation apps that tidy up your text](/dictation-apps-with-ai-text-cleanup).

## Commands, also free

Dictation is half the job. The other half is everything around it: opening the app, sending the message, moving on.

So Infina has commands. Turn on hands-free and say a command instead of a sentence: "open Slack", "open Cursor". Then say the next one, like "send it" to press Enter, back to back, with no key held.

Hands-free commands are free. More in [dictation apps with voice commands](/dictation-apps-with-voice-commands).

## Free hold-to-talk dictation apps compared

| App | Free with tidy-up, no word limit | Mac | Windows | Free limit | Tidy-up on free | Open apps by voice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Infina** | **Yes: no word limit, no API key** | **Yes** | **Yes** | **None** | **Yes, included** | **Yes, free, hands-free** |
| Wispr Flow Free | No: weekly-limit notice at 2,000 words, blocks new dictations above 5,000 | Yes | Yes | Weekly-limit notice at 2,000 words, blocks new dictations above 5,000 | Not stated | No |
| Superwhisper Free | No: the tidy-up is paid | Yes | Yes | Unlimited use of its Whisper models | AI models are on Pro | No |
| Apple Dictation | Partly: free, light cleanup on newer Macs only | Yes | No | None | Light, on macOS 27 with M3 or newer | No |
| Windows key + H | Partly: AI tidy-up on Copilot+ PCs only, in English | No | Yes | None | On Copilot+ PCs only, in English | No |
| Handy | Partly: its AI tidy-up is experimental and off by default | Yes | Yes | None (open source) | Experimental, needs setup | No |

All rows were checked on each vendor's own pages on November 2, 2026.

**[Wispr Flow](https://wisprflow.ai/pricing)** lists its free plan as "Limited words per week". Its docs say the desktop app shows a weekly-limit notice at 2,000 words and blocks new dictations above 5,000. Pro is $15 a month, or $12 a month billed annually, and it only works online, on their servers. Our full take: [a free Wispr Flow alternative](/free-wispr-flow-alternative).

**[Superwhisper](https://superwhisper.com)** gives "Unlimited use of Whisper models" for free, and keeps its AI models, online and on your Mac, for Pro (about $8.49 a month). Free gets you transcription; the AI pass is the upgrade. More in [a free Superwhisper alternative](/free-superwhisper-alternative).

**Apple Dictation and Windows key + H** are built in and free, with light cleanup at best: Apple's fixes spelling, punctuation and capitals on newer Macs only, and Windows adds an AI tidy-up only on Copilot+ PCs, in English. **[Handy](https://handy.computer)** is open source and free on Mac, Windows and Linux, with AI post-processing still labelled experimental.

Infina is one of several free options, and we will not pretend otherwise. What it bundles into a single free plan: unlimited voice typing with a key, the tidy-up on by default, free voice commands, and both computers.

## Where holding a key stops, and hands-free starts

Holding a key to talk means your hand comes back to the keyboard for each dictation, and for most people that is all they need.

Hands-free removes the key. On a Mac, double-tap Cmd to turn it on; on Windows, turn it on in Infina. Then stand up, pick up your lunch, and talk to your computer from a few feet away:

- Say **"type"** plus your words, and Infina types them.
- Say **"send it"**, and Infina presses Enter.
- Say **"open Claude"**, **"open Notes"** or **"open Cursor"**, and you are in the next app.

Then loop. Prompt, send, switch, with your hands nowhere near the keys. For anyone keeping several AI agents busy, that loop is where the hours come back. The full picture is in [hands-free dictation on Mac](/hands-free-dictation-mac).

Hands-free is off by default and labelled experimental. Holding a key and talking is always there to fall back on.

## What it costs

| | Free | Infina Unlimited |
|---|---|---|
| **Voice typing with a key, tidied up** | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| **Hands-free commands** | Free | Free |
| **Hands-free words** | 2,000 free hands-free words to try, one time | Unlimited hands-free typing |
| **Price** | $0, no card | $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99 |

Infina Unlimited comes with a 7-day no-questions refund, and it also includes an optional switch for 90+ languages, off by default. Current numbers are on [pricing](/pricing).

## Honest limits

- **English on your computer.** Infina Unlimited users can turn on 90+ languages, transcribed online.
- **Mac and Windows, no phone app.** On a Mac, Apple Silicon is required.
- **The Windows floor.** At least 4 processor cores and 8 GB of memory for transcription to run on the laptop. The tidy-up on Windows needs 16 GB of memory and 4+ cores.
- **A tidy-up, not a rewrite.** It tidies your words; it does not restructure a draft for you.

## FAQ

**Is there a free voice typing app with no word limit?**
Yes. Infina's voice typing with a key has no word limit and needs no card or API key. The tidy-up is on by default on Mac (on Windows, it needs 16 GB of memory and 4+ cores). It works on Mac and Windows: hold fn on a Mac or Right Alt on Windows, talk, and let go. Wispr Flow's free plan, by comparison, shows a weekly-limit notice at 2,000 words and blocks new dictations above 5,000.

**Does free voice typing with a key include a tidy-up?**
In Infina, yes. On a Mac, Tami 1, Infina's own tidy-up, removes filler and fixes punctuation on your Mac, and on Windows PCs with 16 GB of memory and 4+ cores the tidy-up does the same job. Many free tiers keep their AI pass for the paid plan.

**Which key does Infina use for voice typing?**
On a Mac, hold fn. On Windows, hold Right Alt. It types what you say, and you can change the key in Settings.

**What is the difference between holding a key and hands-free?**
Holding a key and talking means you hold the key for each dictation, and it is free. Hands-free needs no key: you say "type" plus your words, "send it" and "open" plus an app. It comes with 2,000 free hands-free words, then Infina Unlimited.

**How much does Infina cost after the free hands-free words?**
Infina Unlimited is $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99, for unlimited hands-free words, with a 7-day refund. Voice typing with a key stays free whether you upgrade or not.

## The bottom line

Free voice typing should not come with a meter or a missing tidy-up. With Infina it does not: hold a key, talk, let go, and your words land in any app on Mac or Windows, free, for good, tidied up on a Mac or on a PC with 16 GB of memory and 4+ cores.

[Download Infina](/download) and hold fn (or Right Alt) for your next message. When you want your hands free too, flip on hands-free and just say "type".