Start dictating — free, no sign-up
Click the microphone and talk. Your words appear as you speak. Nothing is uploaded to VexaScribe and nothing is stored — your browser does the recognition and the text stays on this page until you copy or clear it.
Works in Chrome, Edge, and Safari.
Have a recording instead? Upload an audio file
How voice typing works here
Click the microphone
Your browser asks for microphone permission the first time. Allow it once and the prompt does not come back for this site.
Talk normally
Text appears as you speak, in grey while the engine is still deciding and in solid text once it settles. Pause whenever you like — the session keeps running.
Copy or download
Copy the text into whatever you are writing, or download it as a .txt file. Clearing the box discards it — nothing is saved anywhere.
Which browsers support voice typing?
Dictation on this page uses the Web Speech API, which is built into Chromium browsers and Safari. Firefox has never shipped it, so the microphone will not work there — use one of the alternatives below instead.
| Browser | Dictation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome (desktop) | Works | Recognition runs on Google servers |
| Edge | Works | Chromium-based, same engine |
| Safari (macOS & iOS) | Works | Apple processes on-device for many languages |
| Chrome (Android) | Works | Gboard's mic is often smoother on mobile |
| Firefox | Not supported | API not implemented — use OS dictation or upload a file |
If the microphone does nothing: check that the site is allowed to use your mic (the icon in the address bar), that no other app has taken it over, and that you are not on Firefox. The page needs an internet connection in Chrome and Edge, because recognition happens on Google's servers rather than on your machine.
What is actually free
Two different things on this page, with two different limits. Worth being precise, because most tools blur them.
Dictation on this page
Free with no limit and no account. Your browser does the recognition, so it costs us nothing to run and there is no meter to hit.
- No sign-up, no credit card
- No time or word cap
- Nothing reaches our servers
- Text is gone when you close the tab
Uploading a recording
30 minutes free, then paid. Files are processed on our servers with Whisper large-v3, which is why this side has a limit and dictation does not.
- 30 minutes free, no credit card
- Speaker labels and timestamps
- TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON export
- Paid plans start at $2/mo — see pricing
Dictation for dyslexia and writing difficulty
Dictation removes spelling from the act of writing. For someone with dyslexia, that is often the difference between a paragraph that takes ten minutes and one that takes two — not because the ideas were slower, but because spelling and word retrieval were consuming the effort. Speaking a sentence bypasses that step entirely.
Two honest limits. First, dictation helps you produce text; it does nothing to help you read it back. If reading is the harder half, a text-to-speech tool that reads your draft aloud is the thing to pair with it — that is a separate category of software.
Second, you will still need to edit. The engine produces a run of text with approximate punctuation, and reviewing it is a reading task. Many people find it easier to dictate in short passes and fix each one than to dictate at length and face a wall of text.
- Say punctuation out loud — "period", "comma", "new paragraph" — rather than fixing it afterwards.
- Dictate a rough version without stopping to correct. Interrupting to fix a word tends to cost the sentence you were holding in your head.
- For anything long, your operating system's dictation (
Win + HorFn Fn) types straight into your document, which saves the copy-paste round trip.
Languages
The dictation box above covers 18 languages, picked from what Chromium and Safari handle reliably. Change the language in the dropdown before you start talking — the engine reads it when the session begins, so switching mid-sentence restarts it.
File upload is a different engine with much wider coverage: Whisper large-v3 handles 99 languages and detects the language automatically. If the language you need is not in the dropdown, recording it and uploading the file will usually work.
Accuracy varies a lot by language in both systems. English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese are the strongest; less-resourced languages degrade noticeably, and regional dialects degrade further still.
Voice to text vs text to speech — which one do you want?
These get mixed up constantly, and searching for one reliably surfaces the other. The distinction is just direction.
Voice to text — this page
You have speech, you want writing. Talking into a document, transcribing an interview, captioning a video.
Text to speech — different tools
You have writing, you want speech. Having an article read to you, generating a voiceover, audiobook narration. Tools like NaturalReader or ElevenLabs.
Quick check: if you are about to talk, you are in the right place. If you are about to paste in text and press play, you want the other kind of tool.
Dictating on your own device
Your computer and phone already have dictation built in, and it types into any text field rather than a box on a web page. For writing directly into a document, that is usually the better tool — including for typing into the box above.
Windows
Press Win + H in any text field. Voice Access in Windows 11 adds full voice control — commands for editing and navigation, not just transcription. First use downloads a language pack; after that it runs on-device.
macOS
Press the Fn key twice, or turn it on under System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation. On Apple Silicon it runs on-device for supported languages, so it works offline and nothing leaves the machine. Our guide to speech to text on Mac compares Dictation with MacWhisper and local Whisper setups.
iPhone and iPad
Tap the microphone on the on-screen keyboard. It works in any app with a text field, handles automatic punctuation, and runs on-device on recent models.
Android
Tap the microphone on Gboard. On Pixel devices the on-device model is particularly good and keeps up with continuous speech without pausing.
Google Docs
Tools → Voice typing, or Ctrl + Shift + S. Chrome desktop only — the menu item is missing in other browsers and on mobile. Full walkthrough and the common failure modes: voice typing in Google Docs.
Need to transcribe a recording instead?
Dictation only listens to a live microphone — it cannot open a file. If you already have audio, that is a different job: the file is uploaded, processed with Whisper large-v3, and comes back with timestamps and speaker labels. Accuracy is higher than browser dictation, and it handles overlapping speakers, which dictation cannot.
Common questions
Is there a free voice to text?
Yes. The dictation box on this page is free with no account and no time limit — your browser does the recognition, so there is nothing to meter. Your computer also has one built in: Win+H on Windows, Fn Fn on macOS, the microphone key on iOS and Android keyboards. All free. Paid plans only come in when you upload a recording for us to process, and the first 30 minutes of that are free too.
How do I turn on voice typing?
On this page, click the microphone and allow the browser's microphone prompt — text appears as you speak. To dictate into any app on your computer instead, press Win+H on Windows or tap Fn twice on macOS. In Google Docs, use Tools → Voice typing, or Ctrl+Shift+S, which works in Chrome on desktop only.
Why doesn't dictation work in Firefox?
Firefox has never implemented the Web Speech API, which is what browser dictation runs on. This is a Firefox decision, not something a website can work around. Use Chrome, Edge, or Safari for the microphone on this page, or use your operating system's dictation (Win+H, Fn Fn), which works regardless of browser. You can also upload a recording instead — file transcription works in every browser.
Is voice to text accurate?
Browser dictation is generally reliable for clear speech in a quiet room, and degrades with background noise, strong accents, technical vocabulary, and cheap microphones. A headset microphone is the single biggest improvement over a laptop's built-in one. Uploaded files are usually more accurate than live dictation, because the model sees the whole recording at once rather than guessing in real time, and it can label speakers.
Does this record or store my voice?
The dictation box does not send anything to VexaScribe and does not store your text — closing or clearing the tab discards it. Your browser handles recognition, and where that happens depends on the browser: Chrome and Edge send audio to Google's servers, while Safari processes many languages on-device. If you need a guarantee that audio never leaves your machine, use macOS or Windows dictation, or run Whisper locally.
What's the difference between voice to text and text to speech?
Opposite directions. Voice to text takes speech and gives you writing — that is this page. Text to speech takes writing and gives you audio, which is what tools like NaturalReader and ElevenLabs do. If you are about to talk, you want this page; if you are about to paste text in and press play, you want a text-to-speech tool.
Can I dictate from an audio file?
No — dictation only listens to a live microphone and cannot open a file. Transcribing a recording is a separate job: upload the file and it is processed with Whisper large-v3, returning a transcript with timestamps and speaker labels. VexaScribe gives 30 minutes free for that, and it handles MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, and video files.
Note: Dictation accuracy depends on your microphone, background noise, and how clearly you speak. A headset mic in a quiet room is the single biggest improvement over a laptop's built-in mic.
Related tools
Transcribe an audio file
Upload MP3, WAV, M4A, or video and get a timestamped transcript
Voice typing in Google Docs
Chrome-desktop setup, the command reference, and the ways it breaks
MP3 to text
Convert MP3 recordings into editable text
Meeting transcription
Zoom, Teams, and Meet recordings with speaker labels