Parrot does one thing and charges nothing for it. Hold the fn key, talk, and cleaned-up text appears in whatever Mac app you're in — filler words removed, style applied — with transcription and cleanup both running on your machine. There's no account, no sign-in, no word cap, and no paid upgrade path. It positions itself directly against Wispr Flow at $15/month and superwhisper at $8.49/month by simply being free.
Local AI cleanup, for free. The rewriting pass that turns a transcript into finished prose runs on-device. Getting that without a subscription puts Parrot in a very small group alongside Amical.
No account at all. Nothing to sign up for, no email harvested, no session to expire. Rarer than it should be.
The fn key default is the right one. Matches Apple's own dictation muscle memory instead of asking you to learn a new chord.
Searchable history. Past dictations are stored and findable, locally.
Custom vocabulary. Names, acronyms, and jargon, which is where every dictation tool otherwise falls down.
Where it falls short
No stated business model. "Free for life" with no paid tier and no visible funding raises the obvious question of what keeps development going. That's not a criticism of the software, but it is a risk if you're standardising a team on it.
Apple Silicon Macs only. No Intel, no Windows, no Linux, no mobile.
No independent reviews. I found no third-party testing at all. Everything here comes from the vendor's own site; the accuracy and speed of the cleanup pass are unverified.
Local models cap the ceiling. As with every on-device tool, output quality trails the cloud services running frontier models.
Feature set is deliberately thin. No file transcription, no meeting notes, no mobile companion, no team features.
Pricing
Free. One tier, no upgrade, no trial expiry, no word cap.
Who it's for
Apple Silicon Mac users who want private dictation with AI cleanup and object to paying monthly for it. Given it costs nothing to try and needs no account, it's worth ten minutes before you subscribe to anything else. If you need it to be around in three years, VoiceInk at $29 has a licence revenue stream behind it and is open source besides.
Last verified: 9 August 2026. No independent reviews located; details are from the vendor's own site.
Similar to Parrot
Parrot: Free forever, local only, no account — and no business model – Dictation Database
Free, on-device, already installed — try this before you pay for anything
General Dictation
Apple's built-in dictation runs fully on-device on Apple Silicon with no time limit and no cost. WWDC 2026 added on-device auto-punctuation and formatting.
