# Flit vs Willow Voice

Canonical page: https://flit.fyi/alternatives/willow-voice

Flit never sends your words anywhere, so there is nothing to certify. Checked against Willow Voice's own site in September 2026. Flit is ours.

**Short answer:** Flit is the local alternative to Willow Voice: the same hold-a-key, finished-text-at-your-cursor dictation on a Mac, without the cloud, the account, or the monthly bill. Willow runs on cloud infrastructure in the United States and is $15 per user a month, or $12 billed annually, with a free tier limited to a weaker model and Business at $35 for the SOC 2 and HIPAA controls. Flit does the same job entirely on your machine for $19 once, adds a local codebase index and formatting that cannot drift, and has no account to attach anything to. Willow keeps the edge if you dictate on Windows or an iPhone, or if your procurement team needs certificates rather than architecture.

| | Flit | Willow Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Where transcription happens | Your Mac, always | Cloud, on US infrastructure |
| Price | $19 once, up to 2 Macs | Pro $15/user/mo, $12 annually. Business $35. Limited free tier |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Platforms | macOS today, Windows in the works | Mac, Windows, iPhone. Android coming |
| Works with no internet | Fully | Offline mode, on your device |
| Free tier | Not applicable: no free tier | Unlimited, but on the weaker model |
| Compliance certifications | None, and none needed | SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA, on Business |
| Data retention | Nothing is ever sent | Zero by default; enforced org-wide on Business |
| Knows your codebase | Indexes it locally | No |
| Exact times and commands | Fixed rules | Model decides |
| Languages | 1,600+, 30 streaming | 100+ |

## Why people pick Flit

- Nothing leaves your Mac: no audio, no text, no screen context. You can verify that with a network monitor rather than a certificate.
- One payment. Willow Pro is $15 per user a month, $12 billed annually, for as long as you use it, and the controls you may actually need sit on Business at $35.
- No account. Flit never asks who you are.
- It works on a plane, in a tunnel, and on the day their service has an outage. Willow has an offline mode; Flit has only offline.
- Times, spoken punctuation, snippets and your dictionary are handled by fixed rules, so they cannot drift between releases.
- A local index of your open project, so spoken file and folder names come out spelled right.

## Where Willow Voice differs

- Mac, Windows and iPhone, with Android listed as coming.
- SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA with a BAA, zero retention and admin controls on Business; SSO above that.
- A free tier with no word cap, on a smaller model.
- Willow Scribe rewrites a spoken draft; style memory and dictionary sync through the account.

## What decides it

### Two answers to the same question

Certification and staying on the machine solve the same worry from opposite ends. Willow says: your data goes to our servers, here is an independent audit that we handle it correctly, and on Business we will enforce zero retention across your whole organization. Flit says: your data never goes anywhere, so there is nothing to audit. For a regulated company the certificate is often the literal requirement, and Flit cannot satisfy it because it has no service to certify. For an individual, not moving the data is the stronger guarantee, because it does not depend on anybody keeping a promise.

### What the plans actually cost

Willow publishes four tiers. Free is unlimited but runs their smaller model with limited personalization and 20 Scribe uses a week. Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 billed annually, for the full model, priority transcription and unlimited Scribe. Business is $35, or $28 annually, and that is the tier carrying enforced privacy mode, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and admin controls. Enterprise is quoted. Read that ladder carefully before comparing: the compliance story that makes Willow attractive to a company is not on the individual plan. Flit is $19 once for up to 2 Macs, with every capability included and no tier above it.

## The verdict

you need Windows or an iPhone, or your organization requires SOC 2, HIPAA, SSO and admin controls

you dictate on a Mac and would rather the words never left it than be certified in transit

## Questions

**What does Willow Voice cost?**

Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 billed annually. Business is $35, or $28 annually, and adds enforced zero retention, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and admin controls. Enterprise is quoted. The free tier is unlimited on a weaker model with 20 Scribe uses a week. Flit is $19 once for up to 2 Macs.

**Does Willow Voice run on my Mac or in the cloud?**

In the cloud. Willow’s own security page states that it runs on secure cloud infrastructure in the United States, with audio discarded after transcription and zero retention by default. It also offers an offline mode powered by your device. Flit has no cloud path at all.

**Is Flit HIPAA compliant?**

Flit is not certified for anything, and cannot be: certification applies to services that handle data, and Flit has no service. Audio and text stay on your Mac. Whether that satisfies your compliance team is a question for them, and for some teams the certificate is the requirement regardless.

**Which is faster?**

Willow states text in as little as 200ms. Flit measures about 0.7 seconds to finished, formatted text, or about 0.15 seconds with formatting set to Clean. The two numbers may stop at different stages, so treat them as indicative rather than a race result.

Every comparison: [Flit alternatives](https://flit.fyi/alternatives). Ranked: [the best dictation apps for Mac](https://flit.fyi/best-dictation-app-for-mac). Flit: [flit.fyi](https://flit.fyi/).