Comparison

Flit vs Raycast

Dictation inside the launcher, on Pro

The short answer

Raycast added dictation to a launcher that thousands of people already keep open, and if you are on Pro it costs nothing extra. Flit is the choice when the dictation itself is the reason you are looking: Raycast sends your audio to its speech-to-text partner to be transcribed, requires a Pro plan at $10 a month or $8 billed annually, and caps a session at 20 minutes. Flit runs on your Mac, has no account, no session limit and no subscription, and is $49 once. If you already pay for Raycast and dictate occasionally, its built-in dictation is a sensible free upgrade. If you dictate all day, or your words should not leave the machine, that is the switch.

Download for Mac Visit Raycast

Side by side

  Flit Raycast
Where transcription happens Your Mac, always Cloud, via their speech-to-text partner
Price $49 once, up to 2 Macs Pro only: $10/mo, or $8/mo billed annually
Account required No Yes
Platforms macOS only macOS, plus the Raycast keyboard on iOS
Works with no internet Fully No
Session length limit None 20 minutes per dictation
Custom vocabulary Unlimited terms stored, 40 per dictation 50 words, 20 characters each
Reads screen context Locally, in memory only App Context: app, focused field and nearby text, sent with the request
Knows your codebase Indexes it locally No
Exact times and commands Fixed rules Model decides
Languages 99, 25 streaming No list published

Compared against Raycast’s own published information. “Not stated” means they do not publish that detail. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.

Why people pick Flit

  • Your audio never leaves the Mac. Raycast’s own documentation says it is sent to their speech-to-text partner to produce the transcription, and not retained afterwards. Not retained is a promise; not sent is an architecture.
  • $49 once against $96 a year, every year, for a plan you may be buying mostly for other features.
  • No 20-minute ceiling on a dictation. Long-form is the case Flit is built for, and the project index covers your file and symbol names without you adding any of them to a list.
  • It works on a plane and in a dead zone. Raycast dictation stops when the connection does.
  • A local index of your open project, so spoken file and symbol names come out right without adding each one to a vocabulary list.
  • Times, prices, spoken punctuation, snippets and dictionary words are handled by fixed rules rather than by a model deciding each time.

In fairness

  • If you already pay for Raycast Pro, dictation is included and costs you nothing more. That is a real argument and we are not going to talk around it.
  • It is part of a launcher you already have open, so dictating into the AI Chat composer or straight into a Note needs no second app.
  • The Raycast keyboard brings the same dictation to an iPhone. Flit has no answer on a phone.
  • Styles, vocabulary and instructions sync between your machines through Cloud Sync, because there is an account holding them.

Listed because they are true. None of them changes the answer if you dictate on a Mac and want your words to stay there.

What actually decides it

A feature in a launcher, against a product

This is the honest frame for the whole comparison. Raycast is a launcher with an enormous surface: clipboard history, window management, notes, extensions, AI chat, and now dictation. Dictation is one item on that list and is priced as part of it. Flit does nothing except turn speech into finished text, which is why it can afford things a feature cannot: streaming as you speak, formatting rules that cannot drift, an index of the project you have open, and different tone per app. If dictation is a convenience for you, a good feature beats a second app. If it is how you write, the depth is the point.

The two limits worth knowing before you commit

Raycast documents a 20-minute cap per dictation session, after which the session ends and whatever it has is transcribed, and a custom vocabulary of up to 50 words at 20 characters each. Neither matters if you dictate Slack replies. Both matter if you talk through a long document in one go. Flit has no session cap. On vocabulary the comparison is closer than it looks and worth stating precisely: Flit stores as many terms as you like, but sends at most 40 into any one dictation, picked by how often you use them and filtered to the language you are speaking. The larger difference is that its project index covers the names in your open codebase without you listing any of them by hand.

The verdict

Choose Flit if

dictation is how you write, or your audio should not be sent anywhere at all.

Download for Mac

7 days free · $19 once, up to 2 Macs · macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon

Choose Raycast if

you already pay for Raycast Pro, dictate in bursts, and want one less app on the machine.

Questions

Is Raycast dictation free?

No. Raycast’s own pricing page lists Dictation under Raycast Pro, which is $10 a month, or $8 a month billed annually. The free plan does not include AI features. Flit is $49 once with no plan behind it.

Does Raycast dictation run on my Mac?

No. Raycast’s documentation states that your audio is sent to their speech-to-text partner to produce the transcription and is not retained on Raycast servers afterwards, and that your voice is never used to train models. Flit transcribes and formats on your Mac, so nothing is sent to anybody.

Does Raycast dictation work offline?

No, because the transcription happens in the cloud. Flit works with wifi off.

Can I use Flit alongside Raycast?

Yes, and many people will: they are not competing for the same key. Keep Raycast as your launcher and leave its dictation off, and Flit handles the talking. Nothing about the two conflicts.

Pricing

Pay once. Keep it forever.

Flit for Mac

$19

was $49

once

One payment. No subscription, no account.

Launch price for the first 50 licenses 50 left

The price goes up when they are gone.

Get it for $19 Or try it free for 7 days
  • 2 Macs, move it whenever you like
  • All 99 languages, every engine included
  • A year of updates, then keep the app forever
  • Runs offline. Nothing you say leaves your Mac

Flit Lifetime

$59

was $99

once

Buy it once and never think about it again.

Launch price for the first 50 licenses 50 left

The price goes up when they are gone.

Get Lifetime for $59 Or try it free for 7 days
  • 2 Macs, move it whenever you like
  • Every update, forever. Nothing to renew
  • All 99 languages, every engine included
  • Runs offline. Nothing you say leaves your Mac

No card for the trial. macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon. 30-day refund, no questions.

Questions? The pricing page answers the usual ones.

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