Vito vs superwhisper
This is the closest comparison on this site, and the one where we lose the most rows. superwhisper runs the recognition on your own machine, has a free tier that never expires, and sells a lifetime licence instead of a subscription. If you are on a Mac, it is very probably the better tool. Here is the honest version, checked against their own pages.
At a glance
| Vito | superwhisper | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free app, ~€0.15 per hour to your own provider | Free tier, or $8.49/month, $84.99/year, $249.99 once |
| Free option | Demo mode, sample content only | Real dictation, never expires |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Planned | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | No |
| Phone | No | iOS |
| Where it runs | Cloud only | On your machine, or cloud |
| Works offline | No | Yes |
| Dictation languages | 60 | 100+ |
| Bring your own key | Required | Optional, on Pro |
| Account | None | Required for Pro |
| Source code | Open | Not published |
superwhisper's figures were checked on their site in July 2026. They may have changed since; theirs is the authority.
Where superwhisper is the better choice
You want dictation that works with no connection
This is the real difference between the two, and superwhisper wins it outright. It can run the recognition model on your own computer, so it works on a plane, on a train, in a building with bad wifi, and with no audio leaving the machine at all. Vito always sends audio to a cloud provider. If that matters to you — and for some work it genuinely does — the comparison ends here.
You are on a Mac or an iPhone
Vito runs on neither. macOS is planned; there is no mobile version.
You want a free tool, permanently
superwhisper's free tier does real dictation and does not expire. Vito's demo mode only works on sample content, so the first time you dictate your own words you will have set up a provider account. That is a meaningful difference and it favours them.
You dictate a great deal, for years
Their lifetime licence is $249.99 once. At Vito's ~€0.15 an hour that is somewhere around 1,600 hours of speech — a lot, but a heavy daily user reaches it eventually. Past that point superwhisper is the cheaper of the two, and it keeps working with no further payment to anyone.
You would rather not manage two provider accounts
superwhisper is one app from one company with one bill, and the option to plug in your own API keys if you want to. Vito requires two keys before it does anything at all.
Where Vito is the better choice
You are on Linux
superwhisper covers macOS, Windows and iOS. Not Linux. Vito does, with a setup helper that detects missing system utilities and explains hotkey configuration per desktop environment.
You want cloud-grade accuracy on an ordinary machine
Local models are a real advantage and also a real trade. They want a capable GPU to be both fast and accurate; on an older or lighter laptop they run slowly or not at all, and they drain the battery while they work. superwhisper's free tier runs what they call small models, with the larger ones behind Pro.
Vito takes the other side of that trade deliberately: the heavy lifting happens elsewhere, so an eight-year-old ThinkPad gets the same accuracy as a new workstation and your processor stays free while you dictate. The cost is about fifteen cents an hour and the fact that your audio goes to the provider you chose. Neither position is wrong — they are different answers to the same question, and it is worth knowing which one you are buying.
You want to read the code
Vito is open source. superwhisper does not publish its source, which is ordinary for commercial software and says nothing bad about them — it means the privacy claims are theirs to make and yours to trust, where with Vito you can check. Note the irony in both directions: their local-first design means less needs trusting in the first place.
You want no account at all
Vito has none. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to cancel, no licence tied to an identity.
What they both do
Hotkey anywhere on the system, talk, cleaned-up text appears where your cursor is. Both go well beyond a raw transcript — filler words removed, sentences mended, formatting applied. Both let you bring your own API keys, though for Vito that is the only mode and for superwhisper it is an option on Pro. Both keep a personal dictionary.
So which one
- Linux? Vito. superwhisper isn't there.
- Mac or iPhone? superwhisper. Vito isn't there.
- Need it to work with no internet? superwhisper.
- Older or lighter machine, or a laptop you need the battery on? Vito.
- Want something free forever and are on Mac or Windows? superwhisper's free tier.
- Want to audit the code handling your voice? Vito.
On Windows the two overlap most and the honest answer is that it depends on whether you would rather spend the CPU or the fifteen cents.