Aqua Voice vs Typeless on Mac in 2026: prices, privacy and which app fits you

Start with the job you need done. Do you want to type emails and documents by voice, or talk to your Mac for a whole day? Aqua Voice and Typeless both focus on dictation, so they compete on price, privacy, platforms and how clean the text looks in your app. Use the sections below to find the best dictation app for Mac for your own work.

Aqua Voice pricing and Typeless pricing, month by month

Aqua Voice has a free plan with 1,000 words. Its Pro plan is $10/month billed annually or $12/month month-to-month. Pro gives you unlimited words, custom instructions and a personal dictionary. Max is $19/month billed annually or $24/month month-to-month, and it adds Realtime Mode, Voice Commands and early access. Business is $19 per seat per month billed annually, with a 2-seat minimum. For more options, see Aqua Voice alternatives.

Typeless has a free plan for beginners at $0, with limited words. Its pricing page gives no number for that limit. Pro is $12 per member per month billed yearly, or $30 when billed monthly. Pro adds unlimited words, enhanced accuracy, priority access, cloud sync and team usage analytics. Enterprise costs a custom amount and adds SSO, SCIM provisioning and audit logs.

Worked example: what a full year of Pro costs

Do the math on a full year. Multiply the monthly rate by twelve. Aqua Voice Pro billed annually is $10 times 12, which is $120 a year. Typeless Pro billed yearly is $12 times 12, which is $144 a year. That is a $24 difference in favor of Aqua Voice. Pay month to month and the gap grows. Aqua Pro at $12 a month comes to $144 a year. Typeless Pro at $30 a month comes to $360 a year.

Two details can change the math. Aqua Voice offers 70% off Pro and Max with a school email, according to its pricing page. Older reviews still quote Aqua at $8 a month. A 9to5Mac review called that price 'a fair amount of money.' Use the figure on aquavoice.com, not a review from last year.

Typeless's App Store listing shows four 'Typeless Pro' in-app purchase options at $30.00, $60.00 and two at $143.99. The listing does not say what each one covers or how long it lasts. Before you pay inside the app, compare those prices with the pricing page at typeless.com.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux and phones

Both apps run on your Mac. Aqua Voice lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android on its download page, and Linux is not on that list. Typeless lists macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android on its pricing page. Its homepage says it works across the apps you use on those platforms.

If you only use a Mac, the platform list matters less. It matters more if you move between a Mac at work and a Windows PC at home, or if your team runs Linux. Neither page lists a minimum macOS version in the text checked here. Look for that detail on the download page before you pay.

Aqua Voice privacy and Typeless privacy: what happens to your audio

Aqua Voice says that when Privacy Mode is on, nothing is stored on its servers. Its homepage also says you can access your past transcripts any time. Those two statements can conflict, so test them. Turn Privacy Mode on, dictate a short note, and check whether that note shows up in your history.

Aqua Voice's pricing page says it holds a SOC 2 Type II audit report and is ISO 27001 certified. It also says it is GDPR and HIPAA compliant, and a BAA can be signed in the app. Max and Business include the BAA. Zero Data Retention is listed as a Business feature.

Typeless says it never trains on your data, keeps zero cloud data retention, and stores dictation history on your device. Its homepage says audio is processed in real time and never stored in the cloud. Its pricing page says HIPAA-ready, while its homepage says HIPAA compliant. Read the privacy policy and ask the vendor directly if your work needs a specific certificate.

Both apps appear to send audio to the cloud for transcription. A 9to5Mac reviewer criticized Aqua Voice for relying on a server. Neither page describes an offline mode, so do not count on one. If you handle client or patient data, get the privacy terms in writing before you dictate.

Accuracy claims: what the benchmarks and tests really show

Aqua Voice says its Avalon model scored 97.4% key-term accuracy on AISpeak-10. That benchmark comes from Aqua. A getvoibe.com review, written by a competing vendor, says Aqua created the benchmark itself. Treat 97.4% as a vendor figure, not a neutral result.

Typeless compares typing on a QWERTY keyboard at 45 words per minute with its voice keyboard at 220 words per minute. Typeless makes that claim on its own homepage. Use it as a reason to test the app, not as proof that it is faster for you.

The most direct test in this set came from 9to5Mac. One reviewer ran one test. macOS built-in dictation made 17 errors, and Aqua Voice made 1. That is a small sample from August 2025. A MakeUseOf review praised Typeless as 'the best I've used' as a voice companion on Android. It called the lack of a virtual keyboard an obvious limitation, and it noted occasional processing delays. That review discloses affiliate commissions.

A 2016 arXiv preprint found speech input was 3.0 times faster than a miniature smartphone keyboard for English. Its English error rate was 20.4% lower. Thirty-eight people took part, and 32 were analyzed. The study is not peer reviewed, and it does not test Aqua Voice or Typeless. It shows why dictation can save time, and nothing more.

Free plans and word limits you will hit first

Aqua Voice's free plan includes 1,000 words. Treat it as a trial, not a working plan. Say you dictate 300 words a day for email and notes. At that pace, 1,000 words lasts about three days. Plan to upgrade early in the week, or test Pro for a full week first.

Typeless is harder to size. Its pricing page says only 'Limited words'. A MakeUseOf review reports 4,000 dictated words per week, and that review discloses affiliate commissions. The Typeless site does not confirm that number in the text checked here. Read the live pricing page on the day you sign up, then decide.

Languages and everyday features

Aqua Voice lists 49 supported languages. It offers hold-to-talk with Space, a custom dictionary, Edit Mode, Deep Context, and MCP, CLI and API access. Typeless lists more than 100 languages, plus Translate and a Whisper mode. If you write in several languages, Typeless has the longer list. If you build tools on top of dictation, Aqua's developer access may matter more.

For daily use, the feature list matters less than the first draft. Run both apps on the same three paragraphs for one afternoon. Count the fixes you make after each draft. Note any names, numbers or product terms that come out wrong, because those cost the most time.

Where Aqua Voice is the better pick

Aqua Voice is the better pick when price and a clear free plan matter most. Its annual Pro rate is $24 a year lower than Typeless Pro billed yearly. Max adds Realtime Mode and Voice Commands if you want more. A 9to5Mac reviewer wrote, 'Aqua, in contrast, just works.' The same reviewer criticized Aqua for cloud transcription and for its lack of navigation control.

Choose Aqua Voice if your team needs SSO, usage reports and Zero Data Retention. Those sit on Business at $19 per seat per month billed annually, with a 2-seat minimum. Typeless lists SSO and audit logs on its custom Enterprise plan instead. Get quotes from both before you choose.

Where Typeless is the better pick

Typeless is the better pick if you need Linux, a longer language list or built-in translation. Its free plan also lists Translate and Whisper mode. Its pricing page lists dictation history control, so you can manage what gets saved. Typeless's Pro privacy list also includes on-device history storage.

Typeless has a 4.5 rating from 823 ratings on the App Store, where the app is free with in-app purchases. Ratings come from users, so use them as a sanity check. A higher rating does not prove the app is more accurate for your voice. For more options, see Typeless alternatives.

Where Lazur fits if you want more than dictation

Lazur is a voice assistant for the Mac that lives in the notch. Hold fn to dictate clean text at the cursor in any app. Hold ⌥ ⌘ to ask about anything on your screen, and Lazur answers out loud. Dictation is included, but it is not the headline. If dictation is your only need, Aqua Voice or Typeless may fit better.

When you ask where something is, Lazur draws a circle and a label around it. When you ask how to do something, it guides you one click at a time and waits for each click. Lazur does not click buttons, edit files or operate other apps for you. It is not a plugin or add-in for any app.

Lazur Pro is $18/month, or $15/month billed annually with 150 AI actions. Power is $120/month, or $96/month billed annually with 1,000 AI actions. Dictation is unlimited on both. The 3-day Pro trial needs no credit card and starts the first time you open the app. Lazur runs on macOS, on Apple silicon and Intel. Windows is planned, not available. For a direct comparison, see Lazur vs Typeless.

Mistakes people make when comparing dictation apps

1. Comparing only the monthly price. Aqua Pro is $12 a month month-to-month and Typeless Pro is $30. Annual billing shrinks that gap to $2 a month.
2. Trusting a vendor benchmark. The 97.4% figure and the 220 words per minute claim both come from the companies that sell the apps.
3. Testing with one short sentence. Use three real paragraphs or a five-minute voice memo instead.
4. Missing the free plan limit. Aqua Voice's 1,000 words can run out in a few working days at a steady pace.
5. Ignoring in-app purchases. Typeless's App Store listing shows $30.00, $60.00 and $143.99 options with no explanation.
6. Forgetting the privacy setting. Turn on Privacy Mode before you dictate sensitive text, not after.

Read reviews with their disclosures in mind. The getvoibe review comes from a competing vendor. The MakeUseOf piece discloses affiliate commissions. The 9to5Mac test used one reviewer and one run. Each source is useful, but none of them settles the question for your work.

How to test both apps on your Mac in one afternoon

1. Pick one text you write often, such as a client reply or a project update. Keep it open in front of you.
2. Install each app from its official site, not from a link in a review. Aqua Voice's download page lists its Mac app.
3. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and allow each app. macOS asks the first time you dictate.
4. Dictate the same three paragraphs into each app. Use the talk key each app shows you. For Aqua Voice, its homepage describes hold-to-talk with Space.
5. Count the fixes. Note wrong names, missed punctuation and any lag before the text appears.
6. Check the privacy setting you care about. Compare what each app says about history and storage.
7. Keep both apps for a week. Day two tells you more than day one. For a quick baseline, try the typing speed test first.

Switching between dictation apps without mixing them up

Some people run two dictation apps, or a dictation app and an assistant. Lazur uses fn for dictation and ⌥ ⌘ to ask about the screen. Aqua Voice uses hold-to-talk on the Space key, according to its homepage. When you run two apps, you can trigger the wrong one by habit. Give each key one job, and write the mapping down until it feels automatic.