Comparison

Flit vs Talkify

Free, MIT, and the quickest to land

The short answer

Talkify is free, MIT licensed, and honest about what it is: the quickest way to get raw words into a text field on a Mac running macOS 26. It carries no speech model of its own, borrowing Apple’s system engine instead, which is why the download is under 10 MB and why it covers thirty locales across ten languages rather than ninety-nine. Its own documentation says version one inserts raw text with no cleanup pass, and that its advantage is speed rather than accuracy. Flit is $49 once and spends its time on exactly the part Talkify skips: formatting fixed by rules, per-app tone, a local project index, and 99 languages. If you want free and fast on a new Mac, take Talkify. If you want the text to arrive finished, Flit.

Download for Mac Visit Talkify

Side by side

  Flit Talkify
Where transcription happens Your Mac, always Your Mac, via Apple’s system speech engine
Price $49 once, up to 2 Macs Free, MIT licensed
Source available No Yes, MIT
macOS required 14 or later, Apple silicon 26 or later, Apple silicon
Account required No No
Text appears as you speak Yes Yes, a rough guess then the final wording
Finished formatting Rules, plus per-app tone Optional rewrite prompts; raw text by default
Transcribes audio files No Yes, drop one on the notch
Reads text aloud No Yes, with Apple voices
Knows your codebase Indexes it locally No
Languages 99, 25 streaming 30 locales across 10 languages

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 “Not stated” means they do not publish that detail.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

Why people pick Flit

  • 99 languages against thirty locales in ten, because Flit ships its own models rather than borrowing the system’s.
  • macOS 14 rather than macOS 26, so it runs on Macs that cannot take this year’s release.
  • The text arrives finished. Times, prices, spoken punctuation, snippets and dictionary words are fixed by rules, and the tone follows the app you are in.
  • A local index of your open project, so spoken file and symbol names are spelled correctly.
  • Spoken commands and exact times cannot drift, because a model is not deciding them.

In fairness

  • Free and MIT licensed, with the source and the latency harness both public.
  • It is quicker to land. Talkify measures about 123 milliseconds from releasing the key to the words appearing, on an M4 Max, with a published benchmark you can rerun.
  • Under 10 MB downloaded, because it carries no speech model: macOS holds one and shares it.
  • It transcribes dropped audio and video files, translates as you dictate, and reads selected text back aloud. Flit does none of those.

Listed because they are true. Talkify runs on your Mac and makes no network requests, so trust was never the question here, and its own FAQ is unusually straight about the trade: it finalizes soonest, which makes it fastest and least consistent, and version one inserts raw text. The comparison is speed against finish.

What actually decides it

Borrowing Apple’s engine, and what it costs

Talkify’s central decision is to carry no model at all and use the speech engine that ships with macOS 26, the one behind Notes and Voice Memos. That buys a great deal: a 9 MB download, no model management, updates handled by Apple, and latency that is very hard to beat because nothing has to spin up. It also sets the ceiling. Language coverage is whatever Apple supports, which Talkify states as thirty locales across ten languages, and the machine has to be on macOS 26. Flit carries its own models, which is why the download is larger and why the answer to "does it speak my language" is 99 rather than 10.

Speed to the cursor, against speed to finished text

These two apps measure different finish lines, and both are being honest about it. Talkify measures the gap between releasing the key and raw words appearing, and reports about 123 milliseconds. Flit measures the gap between releasing the key and finished, formatted text appearing, and reports about 0.7 seconds, or about 0.15 seconds with formatting set to Clean. If the deliverable is words you will tidy up yourself, Talkify wins that race outright. If the deliverable is a sentence you can send, the tidying has to happen somewhere, and doing it in the app is faster than doing it by hand.

The verdict

Choose Flit if

you want finished text rather than a transcript, 99 languages, or a Mac that is not on macOS 26.

Download for Mac

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

Choose Talkify if

you want free, open source and fastest on a macOS 26 Mac, and you speak one of its ten languages.

Questions

Is Talkify really free?

Yes. It is MIT licensed and free to download, with the source on GitHub. Flit is $49 once.

Which is faster, Flit or Talkify?

Talkify, to raw words: it publishes about 123 milliseconds from key release to text, measured on an M4 Max with a public harness. Flit measures about 0.7 seconds to finished, formatted text, or about 0.15 seconds with formatting set to Clean. The two numbers stop at different points, so they are not directly comparable.

Do I need macOS 26 for Talkify?

Yes. It uses the speech engine introduced in macOS 26 and requires Apple silicon. Flit needs macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon.

How many languages does Talkify support?

Thirty locales across ten languages, because it uses the languages macOS provides. Flit ships its own models and covers 99, with 25 available while you speak.

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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