Built-in macOS dictation is a transcriber: every um, every false start, every missing comma lands in your document, and the editing becomes your job. Amlin treats your speech as a draft and hands you the finished text.
Comparing Amlin with the dictation built into macOS, August 2026.
Say the sentence on the right into a Mail draft with built-in dictation and you get it back word for word, ums included, with punctuation only where you dictated it aloud. Say it while holding Amlin's dictation key and the cleaned-up version is typed at your cursor.
The cleanup runs on your Mac. Nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing needs a network connection.
Credit where due: Apple's dictation is free, built in, and processed on-device on Apple silicon. For a quick sentence it's fine. Here is where the paths diverge.
| What matters | Amlin | macOS dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Filler words | Removed. Ums, uhs, and "you know" never reach the page. | Transcribed as spoken. |
| False starts | Resolved. "Send it Monday, no wait, Tuesday" comes out as Tuesday. | Both versions land in your text. |
| Punctuation & casing | Handled for you, including names and sentence structure. | Basic auto-punctuation; commas and structure are hit-or-miss on longer passages. |
| Your jargon | Learned. Dictation shares a custom dictionary with your meeting notes, so product names, teammates, and terms you actually use come out spelled right, and keep getting better. | Recognizes contacts; niche terms often garbled. |
| Formatting | Shaped for the destination. An email arrives with the greeting on its own line and clean paragraphs. Ask for a bullet list and you get real bullets; say "new line" or ask for a 🙂 and both land where you meant them. | Spoken commands insert punctuation and breaks verbatim; arranging the text stays your job. |
| Long-form drafting | Think out loud for a paragraph; it arrives as readable prose. | Verbatim output means the longer you speak, the more you edit. |
| Where it works | Any text field in any app, via a hold-to-talk key. | Any text field, via a keyboard shortcut. |
| Privacy | On-device, audio never leaves your Mac. | On-device on Apple silicon for supported languages. |
| Price | Included in Amlin's free plan, never metered. | Free, built into macOS. |
Amlin's meeting-hour limits apply to meeting transcription only. Dictation is unmetered on every plan.
Most people speak around 150 words a minute and type around 40. Dictation should be the fastest way to get words out of your head, and with the built-in tool it often isn't, because you pay the speed back in editing. Once the cleanup is automatic, speaking becomes the default way to answer email, capture a task the moment you think of it, or draft the first version of anything. That's the habit Amlin's dictation is built for, and it's the same engine that writes up your meetings.
Yes. It runs entirely on your Mac: the audio never leaves the device, and the cleanup happens on-device too. This is a different path from Amlin's meeting transcription, which streams audio for live transcription and never stores it. The full picture is in our privacy policy.
No. System-wide dictation is included in the free plan and never metered. The free plan's 4 meeting-hours apply to meeting transcription only.
Any app with a text field: Mail, Slack, your code editor, your browser, a form on a website. Hold the dictation key, speak, and the finished text is typed where your cursor is.
For a short sentence you'd have typed anyway, it's free and fine, and we'd say use it. The gap opens up in longer, messier speech: drafting emails, capturing tasks, thinking out loud. If you've tried dictating a full email with the built-in tool and gone back to typing, that's the experience Amlin exists to fix.
Download Amlin and dictate your next email instead of typing it. Dictation is free and unmetered.
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