Alternatives/Flit vs FluidVoice
Flit vs FluidVoice
Flit has no cloud path at all, and every command is a fixed rule.
The short answer
Flit and FluidVoice both run open speech models on the Mac, so the model roster is not what separates them. What separates them is everything after the transcription. Flit resolves times, punctuation and more than 60 spoken commands by fixed rule, keeps a dictionary that asks before learning, indexes your open project so file names come out spelled right, and has no cloud path anywhere in the product. FluidVoice is free and open source under GPLv3, runs on Intel, and its optional AI cleanup can route through OpenAI or Groq. If free and open source is the deciding factor, FluidVoice is the real thing. If dictation is your all-day input method, Flit is the one built and maintained as exactly that.
Flit vs FluidVoice, side by side
Flit FluidVoice From FluidVoice’s own published information, checked August 2026. “Not stated” means they do not publish that detail. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.
Why people pick Flit
- No cloud path at all. FluidVoice can route cleanup through OpenAI or Groq; Flit has nothing to route anywhere, so there is no setting to check before a sensitive dictation.
- Times, punctuation and more than 60 spoken commands resolved by fixed rule, so the same phrase gives the same character every time.
- A local codebase index that repairs misheard file and folder names against your real project.
- A dictionary that learns with your permission, scoped per language, plus snippets on a spoken trigger.
- macOS 14 support. FluidVoice starts at macOS 15.
- More than 1,600 languages across its models, all local, and when the model you picked does not cover a language, Flit uses another one you have installed. The widest coverage comes from Meta’s Omnilingual model, so accuracy varies by language.
Where FluidVoice differs
- Free, with the source public under GPLv3.
- Runs on Intel Macs.
- Multi-hour long-form transcription.
- Optional cloud cleanup through OpenAI, Groq or your own provider.
Local-first and local-only are different products
FluidVoice processes speech on your Mac and states that 0 bytes leave it, and we have no reason to doubt that for the transcription. But its AI cleanup can optionally go through OpenAI, Groq or a custom provider, which means the private configuration is a setting rather than a property. Flit has no cloud integration to enable, so the guarantee is structural: there is nothing to misconfigure, and a network monitor shows the same silence on the day you install it and a year later.
What free and open source actually buys
GPLv3 source you can read is a trust argument, the same one VoiceInk makes. What $19 buys instead is that Flit is somebody's full-time job: a release gate of self-tests before every build, support with a person behind it, and 12 months of updates with a stated $19 renewal rather than a roadmap that depends on a maintainer's spare evenings. The two models fail differently, and you should pick the failure mode you can live with.
The engine roster is a tie, so the product is the difference
Both apps run open speech models on the Mac, which tells you the transcription quality question is mostly settled for everyone. Flit spends its effort downstream: deterministic spoken commands, a dictionary that asks before learning your words, per-app style rules, and a workspace index that spells UserAuthService.swift the way your repo does. That downstream stack is the part you feel 200 times a day, and it is the part a raw engine cannot give you.
The verdict
Flit
Choose Flit if dictation is your all-day input method and you want deterministic commands, your own vocabulary, a codebase index, and no cloud door anywhere in the product.
7 days free · $19 once, up to 2 Macs
FFluidVoice
Choose FluidVoice if free and open source is the deciding factor, you are on an Intel Mac, or you need multi-hour recordings transcribed.
Questions
Why pay $19 when FluidVoice is free?
You are not paying for the speech engine, which is why this page does not pretend the engines differ much. You are paying for what surrounds it: fixed-rule commands, the learning dictionary, snippets, the codebase index, a release gate before every build, and support that answers. If none of that moves you, FluidVoice is a genuinely good free tool and we would rather you use it than a cloud subscription.
Do both keep my audio on the Mac?
For transcription, yes. The difference is the cleanup pass: FluidVoice can optionally send text through OpenAI, Groq or a custom provider, while Flit has no cloud path in the product at all. One is a good default you maintain, the other is a property you cannot lose.
Which supports more speech models?
The rosters are close and not the deciding factor: both run open speech models locally. Flit adds automatic engine switching when a model cannot handle the language you spoke, which matters more in daily use than the length of the list.
What about Intel Macs and older macOS?
The trade runs in both directions. FluidVoice supports Intel but needs macOS 15. Flit needs Apple silicon but runs back to macOS 14. Check which half of that describes your machine before either product's other arguments matter.
