Comparison
A Mac AI assistant that dictates too
The short answer
Alter is a native macOS AI assistant that happens to take dictation, not a dictation app that grew an assistant. It reads your screen, controls Apple apps, records meetings with speaker identification, connects to a claimed 2,000 services, and runs on Intel Macs and macOS 13, which Flit cannot. The app is free if you bring your own API keys or run models locally through Ollama or LM Studio, and by its own feature table the free tier’s dictation is the slower Whisper path: the fast local models, Whisper Pro and Parakeet V3, are the Local+ add-on at $3.50 a month or $29 a year. Flit is $49 once, does nothing but dictate, and needs no provider, no key and no account.
 Flit
| Alter | |
|---|---|---|
| Where transcription happens | Your Mac, always | Your Mac with local models, or the cloud |
| Price | $49 once, up to 2 Macs | Free with your own keys · Local+ $29/yr · Pro $240/yr · $720 lifetime |
| Fast local dictation | Included | Local+ or Pro: $29/yr and up |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Bring your own AI | Nothing to bring | Your API keys, or Ollama and LM Studio |
| macOS required | 14 or later, Apple silicon | 13 or later, Intel or Apple silicon |
| Acts inside other apps | No, it only types | Yes: Apple apps, plus 2,000+ services on Pro |
| Records meetings | No | Yes, with speaker identification |
| Knows your codebase | Indexes it locally | Reads the screen instead |
| Exact times and commands | Fixed rules | Model decides |
| Languages | 99, 25 streaming | 50+, auto-detected |
Compared against Alter’s own published information. “Not stated” means they do not publish that detail. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.
In fairness
Listed because they are true. Alter can run entirely on local models, so this is not the usual cloud-versus-machine argument. It is about what the app is for. Alter is an assistant with dictation among its features; Flit is dictation and nothing else, which is why the formatting layer goes deeper and why there is no provider to configure.
Alter’s own homepage puts it against ChatGPT Desktop, Granola, Raycast and Wispr Flow, which tells you how it sees itself: the thing that replaces several apps on a Mac. Dictation is one column in that table. That breadth is real value, and if you are shopping for an assistant this comparison is not close, because Flit will never summarize a meeting or file a Linear ticket. It also means the dictation is tuned to feed a model rather than to land finished prose at your cursor. Flit has no assistant to feed, which is why its whole budget goes on the sentence.
Alter being free is true and unusually generous: all features unlocked, your own API keys or fully local models through Ollama or LM Studio, no card. Two things are worth knowing before you count it as free dictation. Their comparison table marks dictation and speech-to-prompt on the free plan as the moderate Whisper path, with the real-time Parakeet and Whisper Pro models on Local+ at $29 a year. And the models themselves are a cost you carry, either as provider bills or as a local model you install and keep updated. Flit is $49 once with the models included, which is worse value if you also wanted an assistant and better if you only wanted the words.
Choose Flit if
you want dictation that is finished, deterministic and ready the moment you install it.
Download for Mac7 days free · $19 once, up to 2 Macs · macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon
Choose Alter if
you want one assistant running your Mac, you are on an Intel Mac or macOS 13, or you already run local models.
The app is, if you connect your own API keys or run models locally with Ollama or LM Studio, after a 7-day trial of their hosted models. Real-time local dictation models are Local+ at $3.50 a month or $29 a year. Pro is $29 a month or $240 a year, and Lifetime is $720. Flit is $49 once.
It can. Local+ and Pro include real-time local speech models, Whisper Pro and Parakeet V3, and the app can also run its language models locally through Ollama or LM Studio. On the free plan their own table rates dictation as the slower Whisper path. Flit is local on every plan, because there is only one.
Yes. It is a universal app supporting macOS 13 and later on Intel and Apple silicon. Flit needs macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon, so on an older Mac Alter is the one that runs.
Yes, and it is a sensible pairing. Alter for asking, acting and meetings, Flit for the writing. They do not compete for the same keystroke unless you set them to.
Pricing
$19
was $49
once
One payment. No subscription, no account.
The price goes up when they are gone.
$59
was $99
once
Buy it once and never think about it again.
The price goes up when they are gone.
No card for the trial. macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon. 30-day refund, no questions.
$195
$39 per Mac, once. One key for everyone.
$34 per Mac from 10.
More than 100? Let us talk.
macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon
Questions? The pricing page answers the usual ones.
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