COMPARISONEvery claim sourced · verified Jun 2026

FluidVoice vs Ottex: the honest comparison.

FluidVoice is the simpler pick if you only want free macOS dictation. Ottex is broader: Mac and iOS dictation, file transcription, meetings, and finished work from voice.

Ottex

Mac, iOS · Free tier · $14/mo · PAYG

Ottex is unusually broad for a young Mac/iOS-first tool: it turns dictation and meetings into emails, tickets, CRM updates, notes, and docs, but it is not the pick if you need Windows, Android, web, browser extension, or compliance paperwork.

Choose if

You want one tool for system-wide dictation, meeting recording, and finished written outcomes like follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs
You want a real free path: unlimited local dictation, file transcription, and meetings on Mac with Whisper/Parakeet, or BYOK instead of a forced subscription
You need multilingual dictation with 100+ languages, auto-detection, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules

Look elsewhere if

You need Windows, Android, Linux, web access, or a browser extension
You need mature team infrastructure such as a shared workspace, API/webhooks, third-party note destinations, or assistant chat over transcripts today.

FluidVoice

Mac · Limited free

FluidVoice is a free, open-source macOS dictation tool with local model options and system-wide insertion, but it is not a meeting assistant and its public claims are thin on formatting, collaboration, and enterprise controls.

Choose if

You want a free, GPLv3 macOS dictation app with no paid tiers.
You use macOS 15 Sequoia or later and want voice input that works across text fields with a global hotkey.
You want control over speech models, including local options and Whisper support for up to 99 languages.

Look elsewhere if

You need Windows, web, iOS, Android, Linux, or browser-extension support.
You need meeting recording, summaries, action items, speaker identification, calendar integration, or shared team memory.

The evidence

What actually differs, claim by claim.

Each section opens with the takeaway. The table underneath is the receipt — every cell carries its source and the date we checked it.

Pricing

FluidVoice wins on raw price for Mac-only dictation because it has one plan: free forever, with no paid tiers. Ottex is still not subscription-only: it has free local AI, free BYOK, PAYG at $0.2/hour, Pro at $14/mo, and Team at $24/seat/mo, so it wins when you want meetings or finished outputs without being forced into one pricing model.

See the evidence — 9 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	FluidVoice
Free tier	YesForever free with local models and BYOK providers.	PartialFree forever, no paid tiers
Subscription	$14/mo$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.	NoNo subscription plan
Pay-as-you-go / one-timeEscape the flat subscription	$0.2/hourHosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).	NoSubscription only
Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman	YesOpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.	YesOptional AI provider API keys can be added for enhanced transcription.
Education discount	NoSame pricing for everyone.	No public claim

Platforms

Ottex has the wider platform story with Mac and iOS. FluidVoice is Mac-only, so it is the cleaner fit for a macOS 15 Sequoia-or-later dictation setup, but it loses if you need iPhone access; neither tool covers Windows, Android, Linux, web, or browser extensions.

See the evidence — 4 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	FluidVoice
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Mac
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke	YesNative Swift app, ~50MB RAM.	YesThe vendor describes FluidVoice as a native macOS app.

Meetings & team memory

Ottex wins meeting capture because it supports meetings, while FluidVoice does not. If you need recording, meeting transcription, or a path from calls into written follow-ups, Ottex is the only option in this pair; FluidVoice is a dictation app, not a meeting assistant.

See the evidence — 12 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	FluidVoice
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all	YesWith speaker separation.	NoNot supported.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call	YesSystem-audio capture, no bot joins the call.	NoNot supported.
Speaker separation	Yes	NoNot supported.
Calendar detection	YesCalendar-based meeting detection.	NoNot supported.
Cross-meeting search	Yes	NoNot supported.
Shared team memory	PartialPublic share links, not a full team workspace.	NoNot supported.

From meeting to finished work

Ottex wins meeting intelligence because it turns voice and meetings into follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, notes, and docs. FluidVoice can help you enter text, but it does not claim meeting summaries, action items, calendar integration, speaker identification, shared team memory, or downstream work automation.

See the evidence — 8 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	FluidVoice
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear	YesDecisions with owners extracted.	NoNot supported.
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized	YesDrafted from templates or your own.	NoNot supported.
CRM update / ticket draft	YesStructured for the target app.	NoNot supported.
Your rough notes steer the result	YesRough notes and instructions steer the result.	NoNot supported.

Dictation & transcription AI

Ottex has the stronger dictation-AI package: 100+ languages, local AI, BYOK, auto-detection, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules. FluidVoice is still compelling for free Mac dictation with BYOK, file transcription, and 99 languages, but the input does not give it the same breadth of output controls or an explicit local option.

See the evidence — 8 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	FluidVoice
Engines	Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.	Nemotron Speech 3.5, Parakeet Flash, Parakeet TDT v3, Parakeet TDT v2, Cohere Transcribe, Apple Speech, Whisper Tiny/Base/Small/Medium/LargeThe README lists these supported speech models.
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine	YesWhisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.	PartialLocal speech models are supported, while Cohere and AI enhancement use optional cloud providers.
Model selection per task	YesChoose the model per task and per provider.	YesUsers can choose among multiple supported speech models.
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence	Yes100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.	No public claim
Per-app output rules	YesPer-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.	No public claim

Cost

What a year actually costs at your volume.

Personal or team — switch tabs. Subscriptions are flat; usage-based pricing depends on how much you speak and meet.

You dictate about 3 h a week≈ 23,400 words at ~130 wpm

0 h5 h10 h

and sit in 4 h of meetings a weekhours you'd want captured and turned into follow-ups

0 h7.5 h15 h

Fill the gaps with:

Dictation appadded to meetings-only toolsMeetings appadded to dictation-only tools

OttexOttex Provider — PAYG$135/yrHosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).

OttexSubscription - Pro$168/yr$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.

Estimates, not quotes. Striped bar segments are the cost of the second app you picked above to cover the gap — rankings use that combined total. PAYG uses hosted at-cost estimates ($0.2/h dictation, $0.5/h meetings); BYOK is estimated at about a third of that because you pay the model provider directly. Bring-your-own-key plans still pay the model provider per use. One-time licenses are amortized over 2 years. Subscriptions use published pricing, checked Jun 2026.

FAQ

Questions people actually ask.

Ottex vs FluidVoice: which should I pick?

Pick FluidVoice if you only need free Mac dictation and 99 languages. Pick Ottex if you want dictation plus file transcription, meetings, iOS support, 100+ languages, and finished outputs like emails, tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, notes, and docs.

Is FluidVoice free?

Yes. FluidVoice is listed as free forever with no paid tiers, so it is the cheapest path for Mac-only dictation.

Is Ottex free?

Yes. Ottex has free local AI and free BYOK paths, plus paid options: PAYG at $0.2/hour, Pro at $14/mo, Team at $24/seat/mo, and Enterprise custom pricing.

How much does Ottex cost compared with FluidVoice?

FluidVoice costs $0 because it has a single free plan. Ottex can also be free with local AI or your own key, or you can use PAYG at $0.2/hour, Pro at $14/mo, or Team at $24/seat/mo.

Is Ottex safer than FluidVoice?

Ottex has the clearer privacy advantage if you want local AI or BYOK, because those paths are explicitly listed. FluidVoice is free and BYOK, but the input does not give the same local-AI assurance for privacy-sensitive work.

Does Ottex or FluidVoice work on Windows or Android?

No. Ottex works on Mac and iOS, while FluidVoice works on Mac; neither supports Windows, Android, Linux, web, or browser extensions.

Does Ottex or FluidVoice work offline?

Ottex is the better answer for offline-style use because it has a listed local AI option. FluidVoice is a Mac dictation app with BYOK, but this comparison does not list a local option for it.

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