FreeFlow

FreeFlow is a free, open source dictation app for Mac and a Wispr Flow alternative: hold a key, speak, and the words land in whatever you were typing, cleaned up by an AI model that knows the names and terms on your screen. It is a native app written in Swift, it runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs from macOS 13, and there is no subscription, no account and no FreeFlow server.

Hold Fn to talk and let go to paste, or tap Command-Fn to start and stop a longer dictation. Both shortcuts are yours to change, and a toggle shortcut that extends the hold shortcut lets you start in hold mode and latch into tap mode without stopping the recording. The text goes into the current field, so the same key dictates an email, a terminal command, a document or a chat message. The project names Wispr Flow, Superwhisper and Monologue as the apps it set out to replace, and the difference is the monthly fee.

Raw speech-to-text comes back full of filler and misspelled names. FreeFlow reads nearby app context so names, terms and phrases are spelled the way they appear on your screen, keeps a custom vocabulary of the jargon and project words you want preserved, and strips the ums without changing what you meant. Edit Mode turns the same shortcut into an editor: highlight existing text, say "make this shorter" or "turn this into bullets", and it is rewritten in place.

FreeFlow talks to Groq by default, which means a free API key and transcription fast enough to feel instant. Any OpenAI-compatible provider works in its place: set the API base URL and model ids in settings, point transcription at a different endpoint if your stack splits them, or run everything on your own machine through Ollama or LM Studio for a dictation setup that never leaves the laptop.

There is no FreeFlow server and nothing is stored or retained; the only data that leaves your Mac is the API call to the provider you configured, and the screen context it reads for spelling can be switched off. The code is MIT licensed, written by Zach Latta, the founder of Hack Club, and maintained with a community of contributors, with more than 2,800 stargazers behind it.

The complete source of release 1.3.1 as published by Zach Latta, with the project's MIT licence inside, plus an install guide written for this listing that covers the signed app, the Groq key, running a local model and building from source, and a Claude prompt that walks you through setup.