Handy

What is Handy?

Desktop dictation app that types what you say into any text field, fully offline.

Who is Handy best for?

Handy is best for writers and accessibility users who want free dictation that works offline in any app.

• Dictating into any app

  Hold a shortcut, speak and release, and Handy pastes the text into whatever field you are typing in.

• Private or offline work

  Audio never leaves the computer: Silero filters out silence and Whisper or Parakeet transcribes locally.

• Laptops without a strong GPU

  Parakeet V3 is tuned for CPUs and detects the language on its own, while Whisper models use the GPU when there is one.

• Tinkerers

  Command-line flags, a Raycast extension and a transcription hook let you script recording and rewrite text before it is pasted.

How much does Handy cost?

Handy is free and open source under the MIT licence, with no paid plan; sponsors and donations fund it.

Handy has no paid tier or cloud service. Sponsors, GitHub Sponsors and donations keep it free. Full pricing on github.com. We checked these prices on 8 Nov 2026.

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Is Handy open source?

Yes. Handy's code is public under the MIT licence, so you can run it on your own server.

What are the best Handy alternatives?

Handy is an open source alternative to Aqua, Superwhisper, Typeless and Wispr Flow. VoiceInk does the same job and is open source too.

AquaFreemium

Dictation that writes the document as you speak.

SuperwhisperFree

Voice-to-text for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android with local or cloud models.

TypelessFree

Voice-to-text that comes out polished.

Wispr FlowFree

Dictate across apps three to four times faster than typing, with voice commands.

VoiceInkOpen Source

Mac dictation that turns speech into text in any app with on-device models, for a one-time fee.

Articles about Handy

One of our articles covers Handy, with every price checked on the makers' own pages.

Questions about Handy