TL;DR: Infina wins this one for AI-heavy Mac workflows, and it isn't about price. It's the only one of the two that works completely hands-free: it types your prompt, sends it, and switches apps by voice from across the room, and it adds voice control of the Mac itself. Both transcribe on-device. On money, Superwhisper is cheaper over time ($84.99/yr, or $249.99 lifetime) against Infina's $99/year, so if cost, a free tier, or an app on Windows or iOS is what decides it, take Superwhisper.
Before the detail, the one structural difference behind every row 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.
There are people it fits better, and we say exactly who below. A refunded customer helps neither company.
Superwhisper vs Infina at a glance
| Superwhisper | Infina | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Pro $8.49/mo or $84.99/yr; $249.99 lifetime | $8.25/month, billed annually at $99 (price at time of writing); optional $5/mo cloud add-on (billed annually at $60) |
| Metering | Per-month, per-year, or lifetime plans | Flat $8.25/month, billed annually at $99, unlimited words and unlimited voice commands, no per-seat or per-minute charge |
| Free option | Yes, free tier with small local models | Free plan of 2,000 free words; 7-day money-back guarantee |
| Refund window | 30 days | 7 days, no questions asked |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, iOS | Mac and Windows, no phone app (Apple Silicon for the Mac's on-device models) |
| Where transcription runs | On-device on Apple Silicon; cloud models optional | On your Mac by default (works offline); cloud is an optional add-on |
| Output style | AI-formatted modes (email, notes, tone adaptation) with your choice of models | Raw and instant by default (built for AI prompts); full LLM polish via the $5/mo cloud add-on when you want it |
| Languages | 100+ | English (base); more languages with the cloud add-on |
| Trigger | Hotkey-triggered recording | Push-to-talk or fully hands-free: just say "type" plus your words |
| Beyond typing | Types text into the active app; also transcribes files and meetings | Types, sends, opens and switches apps/tabs, voice control of the Mac itself |
Sources for the Superwhisper column: superwhisper.com, checked September 14, 2026. Prices change; check their site for current terms.
What each tool actually is
Superwhisper is one of the most respected dictation utilities on the Mac, and it earned that. You press a hotkey, speak, and it types transcribed, AI-formatted text into any app, with transcription running on your Mac on Apple Silicon.
Its signature move is choice: multiple local models, plus cloud models like GPT-5, Claude, Llama 4, Grok, and Gemini for formatting, with modes that adapt tone for email, notes, or legal writing. It also records and transcribes meetings and files.
Infina is narrower and deeper: a voice layer for the Mac, built for people who prompt AI tools (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, ChatGPT) all day. It does push-to-talk dictation (hold Option, speak, release), transcribed on-device by NVIDIA's Parakeet model on the Apple Neural Engine.
But the reason it exists is hands-free voice prompting. Just say "type" plus your prompt, say "send it", and Infina types it, presses Enter, and can switch you to another app or terminal for the next one.
Superwhisper stops at putting text on screen. Infina finishes the job (send it, switch apps, keep going) without your hands.
Pricing: $99/year vs $84.99/year vs $249.99 lifetime
Price is the row Superwhisper takes, and we won't dress that up. Here are both sets of numbers.
- Superwhisper: $249.99 lifetime, or $8.49/month or $84.99/year. There's a real free tier with small local models, and a 30-day refund.
- Infina: $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99 (at the time of writing), with every update included and a 7-day no-questions refund.
Infina's cloud add-on is separate and optional at $5/month billed annually (sharper cloud transcription, LLM-polished output, more languages), and the app works fully on-device without it.
Run it out over three years and Superwhisper's lifetime license is the cheaper way to buy dictation. What the $99/year buys instead is the part Superwhisper doesn't sell at any price: the full hands-free loop and voice control of the Mac itself. It's also flat, with no per-seat, per-minute, or per-word metering: unlimited words and unlimited voice commands. Full details are on our pricing page.
On-device dictation: both do it, for different jobs
Privacy isn't the wedge here, and we won't pretend it is. Both apps can transcribe entirely on your Mac and work offline on Apple Silicon.
That's rare and both deserve credit for it. (If you're comparing against cloud-only tools instead, read Wispr Flow vs Infina, or see how Wispr Flow stacks up against Superwhisper.)
The difference is what happens after transcription:
- Superwhisper runs your words through an AI formatting layer with the model of your choice, aimed at emails, notes, and documents.
- Infina's base product stays raw on purpose: fast, rule-based cleanup, no LLM round-trip. Claude and GPT models don't need your prompt punctuated; they need it now.
When you do want polished prose, Infina's $5/mo cloud add-on is built exactly to win that use case: sharper cloud transcription and full LLM polish, switched on only when you want it. Cancel the add-on anytime and the on-device app keeps running on your yearly plan ($8.25 a month, billed annually at $99).
Hands-free: where the two tools split
This is the actual decision point. Superwhisper, like every mainstream dictation tool, is hotkey-triggered.
Your hand comes back to the keyboard for every dictation, and pressing Enter and switching windows afterward is still your job.
Infina's hands-free mode closes the whole loop:
- Double-tap Command to turn hands-free on. The listening runs on-device, so nothing is recorded or sent while it waits.
- Say "type" plus your prompt.
- Say "send it", and Infina types it into the active app and presses Enter.
- Say "open Terminal" (or any app) and keep going, from across the room.
If you run multiple AI coding agents at once, this changes the shape of your day. You review one agent's output while dictating instructions to another, keyboard untouched.
Typing is the bottleneck in that kind of work. Speaking thousands of words of prompts a day keeps every agent busy and gets more shipped in less time.
One caveat: hands-free is Infina's newest surface and we still label it experimental; push-to-talk is the mature path. But nothing in Superwhisper, at any price, does this at all.
Infina also handles OS-level commands by voice: open apps, switch apps and tabs, and send prompts as real Mac actions. Superwhisper is a dictation tool; it doesn't try to be this, and that focus is part of why it's so solid at what it does.
Where Superwhisper still has an edge
Being honest, as promised:
- Price is what decides it. $84.99/year undercuts our $99/year, and the $249.99 lifetime license pays back in about two and a half years. If dictation is all you need, Superwhisper is the cheaper way to get it.
- You want a free tier with no word cap. Superwhisper's free tier is real and useful. Infina's Free plan is 2,000 free words.
- You need iOS. Superwhisper covers Mac, Windows, and iPhone. Infina covers Mac and Windows, but there is no phone app.
- You dictate in languages other than English. Superwhisper supports 100+ languages, including in the free tier. Base Infina is English-only.
- You love choosing your models. Superwhisper's model menu is unmatched; Infina picks its models for you.
- You transcribe meetings and audio files. Superwhisper does both; Infina is a live voice layer, not a file transcriber.
- You want the longer track record and the bigger refund window. Superwhisper has been refined for years and offers 30 days versus our 7.
If most of those describe you, Superwhisper is the right buy, and $249.99 once still beats a lifetime of subscriptions. And if neither app feels right, we rounded up the best Superwhisper alternatives too.
When Infina is the right choice
- You prompt AI tools all day and want to dictate, send, and switch apps without touching the keyboard: the full loop, not just the typing part.
- You want voice control of the Mac itself (open and switch apps, manage tabs, fire off prompts), not only text insertion.
- You want flat, unmetered pricing: $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99, for unlimited words and unlimited voice commands, with a 7-day no-questions refund if it's not for you.
- Raw, instant output is a feature for you, because your "reader" is Claude or GPT, not a human.
- You're on an Apple Silicon Mac and fine with English in the base product.
FAQ
Is Superwhisper or Infina cheaper? Superwhisper. Its annual plan is $84.99/year against Infina's $99/year (at the time of writing), it has a free tier, and its $249.99 lifetime license pays back in roughly two and a half years. Infina's case is capability: it's the only one of the two that types, sends, and switches apps hands-free, and it adds voice control of the Mac itself.
Does Infina have a free version like Superwhisper? Not an unlimited one. Superwhisper has a genuine free tier with small local models that you can stay on indefinitely. Infina is free to download with a Free plan of 2,000 free words, no card required, and a 7-day no-questions-asked money-back guarantee after that.
Do both apps work offline? Yes. On Apple Silicon Macs, both can transcribe fully on-device with no internet. Infina is on-device by default; Superwhisper also offers optional cloud models.
Can Superwhisper send prompts or switch apps by voice? No. Superwhisper types transcribed text into the active app; pressing Enter and changing windows is still done by hand. Infina can type, send, and switch apps entirely by voice in hands-free mode.
Which is better for prompting Claude Code or Cursor? Both insert text into a terminal or editor fine. Infina is built specifically for that workflow (raw fast output, voice "send," and app switching), so you can drive Claude Code by voice without touching the keyboard. And with the $5/mo cloud add-on, Infina covers polished email and docs too, while staying the only hands-free option of the two.
What are the refund policies? Superwhisper offers a 30-day refund. Infina offers a 7-day no-questions-asked refund.
The bottom line
Superwhisper and Infina agree on the big one (transcription that runs on your Mac, offline) and split on everything else.
Superwhisper is a strong dictation utility: free tier, lower price, more platforms, more languages, more models, meetings and files, longer track record.
Infina is the better voice-first workflow, and for AI work it's not close. It's the one that completes the dictate, send, switch-apps loop hands-free and adds OS-level voice control, on-device, for a flat $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99, with nothing metered.
If price, a free tier, or an app beyond the Mac is what matters, get Superwhisper. If you work on a Mac and talk to AI tools all day, get Infina, and if we're wrong, the refund takes one email. For the wider field, see our roundup of the best dictation apps for Mac.
Want to see Superwhisper against the rest of the field, with Infina kept out of the title? We refereed Superwhisper vs MacWhisper, Superwhisper vs VoiceInk, Superwhisper vs Apple Dictation, and Talon vs Superwhisper.
The wider field, and who each tool is actually for
A head to head only answers half the question. Here is the rest of the field on one screen, with the reader each one genuinely fits.
The tools this page covers (Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, MacWhisper, VoiceInk, 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 | $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99, 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
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.