COMPARISONEvery claim sourced · verified Jun 2026

Hedy vs Wispr Flow: the honest comparison.

Hedy is for live meeting coaching and bot-free capture. Wispr Flow is for system-wide cloud dictation. Ottex, our product, covers dictation, meetings, and finished work on Mac and iOS.

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.

Hedy

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Web · Limited free · $12.99/mo · $299 one-time

Hedy is strongest as a bot-free live meeting coach and searchable conversation memory, with local/offline options and broad platform support, but it is not a system-wide dictation tool and lacks proven speaker labels, hotkeys, snippets, or

Choose if

You want real-time coaching during meetings, with questions, blind-spot alerts, talking points, summaries, to-dos, and follow-up recaps after the session.
You need bot-free capture for Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, in-person conversations, or imported audio/video, with apps across iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and web
You value privacy controls: local speech recognition by default, optional local AI, optional cloud sync, GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 Type I claims.

Look elsewhere if

You need system-wide dictation that inserts polished text into any app; Hedy explicitly does not support system-wide insertion or context-aware dictation.
You need meeting transcripts with publicly claimed speaker identification, timestamp exports, or speaker labels; those claims are not present here.

Wispr Flow

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android · Limited free · $12/mo

Wispr Flow is a polished cross-platform dictation app for turning speech into formatted writing, but it is cloud-only and does not cover meeting recording, notes, or file transcription.

Choose if

You want system-wide voice dictation across Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android.
You want cloud dictation with formatting help, snippets, custom dictionary, command mode, and 100+ languages.
You are comfortable paying $15/user/month, or $12/user/month billed annually, for unlimited dictation.

Look elsewhere if

You need offline or local transcription; Flow says transcription always happens in the cloud.
You need meeting recording, summaries, action items, speaker identification, or meeting memory workflows.

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

Ottex wins pricing flexibility: it has free local AI, free BYOK, $0.20/hour PAYG, $14/mo Pro, and $24/seat/mo Team. Hedy is the best one-time path with Free up to 5 hours/month, Pro at $12.99/mo, and Lifetime at $299. Wispr Flow is cheaper than both monthly if billed annually at $12/seat/mo, but its free cap is only 2,000 words/week on Mac or Windows, about 15 minutes of dictation, and 1,000 words/week on iPhone, or

See the evidence — 13 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Wispr Flow
Free tier	YesForever free with local models and BYOK providers.	PartialUp to 5 hours per month; Real-time AI insights (first 30 min/session)	Partial2,000 words per week on Mac or Windows; 1,000 words per week on Flow for iPhone; Unlimited words per week on Android (limited time only)
Subscription	$14/mo$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.	$12.99/moPro adds unlimited sessions, recording import, cross-session organization, Zapier, and API integrations.	$12/moAnnual price is published as $12/user/mo billed annually.
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).	$299 one-timeAll future updates included	NoSubscription only
Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman	YesOpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.	No public claim	NoNo bring-your-own-key option is published; Flow uses its own model providers.
Education discount	NoSame pricing for everyone.	No public claim	YesStudents get three months free and 50% off the Pro plan.

Platforms

Hedy wins platform coverage with Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Web. Wispr Flow covers Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, so it is strong for dictation across personal devices but lacks Web. Ottex is the narrowest at Mac and iOS, and no native-vs-Electron distinction is stated for Hedy, Wispr Flow, or Ottex.

See the evidence — 5 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Wispr Flow
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Web	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke	YesNative Swift app, ~50MB RAM.	YesVendor describes a native macOS application.	No public claim

Meetings & team memory

Hedy wins meeting capture because it supports meetings, bot-free capture, imported audio or video, and live coaching across Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, in-person conversations, and files. Ottex also supports meetings and file transcription, so it is the broader Mac/iOS option when dictation and meetings need to live together. Wispr Flow does not support meetings or file transcription, so it loses this section outright.

See the evidence — 17 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Wispr Flow
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all	YesWith speaker separation.	YesHedy records live sessions and meeting conversations.	NoNot supported.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call	YesSystem-audio capture, no bot joins the call.	YesFeature page says no bot joins calls.	NoNot supported.
Speaker separation	Yes	No public claim	NoNot supported.
Calendar detection	YesCalendar-based meeting detection.	YesGoogle Calendar is listed in the help center and news page.	NoNot supported.
Cross-meeting search	Yes	YesPro users can group sessions and ask questions across conversations weeks ago.	NoNot supported.
Shared team memory	PartialPublic share links, not a full team workspace.	YesSharing sessions and topics is listed in the help center.	NoNot supported for meetings.

From meeting to finished work

Ottex wins meeting intelligence when the output needs to become finished work, because it can turn dictation and meetings into follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs. Hedy is better than Wispr Flow for meeting help because it offers questions, blind-spot alerts, talking points, summaries, to-dos, and follow-up recaps. Wispr Flow is a dictation tool, not a meeting memory or action-item system.

See the evidence — 11 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Wispr Flow
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear	YesDecisions with owners extracted.	YesGoogle Play listing says Hedy can find decisions across past conversations.	NoNot supported.
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized	YesDrafted from templates or your own.	YesAuto-recap emails are listed for sharing insights.	NoNot supported.
CRM update / ticket draft	YesStructured for the target app.	No public claim	NoNot supported.
Your rough notes steer the result	YesRough notes and instructions steer the result.	YesHedy 3 added in-meeting note-taking that powers AI suggestions.	NoNot supported.

Dictation & transcription AI

Wispr Flow wins pure cross-platform dictation because it offers system-wide dictation on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android with snippets, custom dictionary, command mode, and 100+ languages. Ottex beats Hedy for dictation depth with system-wide dictation, local and BYOK options, 100+ languages, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules, but only on Mac and iOS. Hedy has 30 languages, local

See the evidence — 12 claims across 3 toolsverified Jun 2026Show table

	Ottex	Hedy	Wispr Flow
Engines	Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.	Two local and two cloud speech recognition providersUsers can choose between private on-device transcription and cloud-based speech recognition.	cloud transcription using open-source models and proprietary LLM providersData controls say transcription always occurs in the cloud and Flow uses LLAMA 3.1 plus providers such as OpenAI.
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine	YesWhisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.	YesLocal speech recognition and local AI processing can run on-device and offline.	NoTranscription always occurs on the cloud.
Model selection per task	YesChoose the model per task and per provider.	YesSpeech recognition provider can be changed in Settings > Speech & AI.	No public claim
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence	Yes100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.	Yes30+ languages · App Store listing says Hedy supports multilingual conversations while returning insights in the preferred language.	No public claim
Per-app output rules	YesPer-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.	No public claim	PartialFlow uses the app name to format messages, but no user-configurable per-app rules are published.

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.

Wispr FlowFlow Pro$312/yr$144 + $168Annual price is published as $12/user/mo billed annually. · Unlimited words per week on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android

Wispr FlowFlow Pro$348/yr$180 + $168Monthly price is published as $15/user/mo. · Unlimited words per week on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android

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.

Hedy vs Wispr Flow: which should I pick?

Pick Hedy if the job is meeting coaching, bot-free capture, summaries, to-dos, and follow-up recaps. Pick Wispr Flow if the job is system-wide dictation across Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android. Consider Ottex if you want one Mac/iOS tool for dictation, meetings, and finished work outputs.

Is Hedy free?

Hedy has a free plan with up to 5 hours per month and real-time AI insights for the first 30 minutes of each session. That is a useful trial, but the Pro plan is $12.99/mo and the Lifetime plan is $299 one-time. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex, which supports free local AI or your own key.

Is Wispr Flow free?

Wispr Flow Basic is free, but the Mac and Windows cap is 2,000 words/week, which is about 15 minutes of dictation a week at 130 words per minute. The iPhone cap is 1,000 words/week, about 8 minutes, while Android is unlimited for a limited time only. For a genuinely free option, consider Ottex, which supports unlimited local use or BYOK on Mac.

How much does Hedy cost compared with Wispr Flow?

Hedy costs $12.99/mo for Pro or $299 one-time for Lifetime, with a limited free plan. Wispr Flow Pro costs $15/seat/mo, or $12/seat/mo when billed annually. Hedy has the cleaner one-time path, while Wispr Flow has the lower annual per-seat subscription.

Is Hedy safer than Wispr Flow?

Hedy is the better privacy pick because it has local speech recognition by default, optional local AI, optional cloud sync, and GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 Type I claims. Wispr Flow says transcription always happens in the cloud, so it is not the pick for offline or local transcription. Ottex is also worth considering for privacy because it supports local models and BYOK.

Is it worth switching from Hedy to Wispr Flow?

Switch from Hedy to Wispr Flow only if your main problem is system-wide dictation with formatting help, snippets, custom dictionary, command mode, and 100+ languages. Stay with Hedy if you rely on bot-free meeting capture, live coaching, imported files, and follow-up recaps. Wispr Flow does not replace Hedy for meetings.

Does Hedy or Wispr Flow work on Windows or Android?

Both work on Windows and Android. Hedy also works on Mac, iOS, and Web, while Wispr Flow works on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Ottex does not cover Windows or Android because it is Mac and iOS only.

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