Dicta vs Apple's built-in dictation
Last verified: 2026-08-13
The short version
Apple’s dictation turns speech into text. Dicta turns speech into finished text, and it does it on the Macs Apple just left behind.
At WWDC 2026 Apple announced a big accuracy upgrade to system-wide dictation for macOS 27 and iOS 27, shipping around September 2026. The catch: it needs 12 GB of unified memory. Every 8 GB Apple Silicon Mac, M1 through M3, stays on the old model. Dicta runs its whole pipeline, speech recognition and the on-device AI rewrite, in roughly 1.5 GB, so it works on exactly the Macs Apple’s own upgrade shuts out.
And even where they run side by side, they are not the same tool. System dictation stops at raw text: no AI rewrite, no per-app writing styles, no custom vocabulary, and nothing kept for later. Dicta removes the filler, fixes your terms, matches the tone of the app you are in, and keeps a searchable history, all on-device.
Fact table
| Dicta | Apple system dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware requirement | About 1.5 GB, any Apple Silicon Mac | 12 GB unified memory for the macOS 27 accuracy upgrade |
| Works on 8 GB M1/M2/M3 Macs | Yes, full pipeline | No, excluded from the upgraded model |
| AI rewrite (filler removed, tidied) | Yes, on-device | No, raw text only |
| Custom vocabulary / corrections | Yes (My Words) | No |
| Per-app writing styles | Yes | No |
| Dictation history | Local, searchable | Not retained |
| Runs fully offline | Yes, after a one-time model download | Limited: on-device only where the language and Mac support it |
| Availability | macOS 26+ today | Announced at WWDC 2026, ships ~September 2026 |
Who should pick which
If all you want is the OS turning your voice into plain text and your Mac qualifies, the built-in dictation is right there and free. Pick Dicta when you want the text to arrive finished, when you want it to learn your words, when you want it to fit chat versus mail on its own, or when Apple’s 12 GB gate leaves your Mac on the old model. Dicta was built for exactly that Mac.
Sources
The 12 GB unified-memory requirement and the ~September 2026 ship date are drawn from Apple’s own WWDC 2026 dictation announcement, as covered by press at the time this page was written, and are re-checked when we update this comparison. If something above is out of date, tell us at [email protected] and we’ll fix it.
Dicta is in preview. Join the waitlist to hear when it ships.