spellsafe
spellsafe vs Aqua Voice
Checked October 15, 2026
Aqua Voice is a fast dictation app built on its own speech model, Avalon, which runs in Aqua's cloud. spellsafe uses a speech model that runs on your Mac.
At a glance
| spellsafe | Aqua Voice | |
|---|---|---|
| Where speech is recognised | On your Mac (NVIDIA Parakeet on the Neural Engine) | In the cloud (Aqua: “Aqua processes audio in the cloud”) |
| Works offline | Yes, after a one-time model download | No |
| AI cleanup and rewrite | On your Mac (Qwen3, runs locally) | Custom instructions on paid plans |
| Platforms | Mac with Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android |
| Languages | English | 49 languages |
| Price | $9/year | Pro $96/year; Max $288/year |
Where Aqua Voice is stronger
- Runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.
- 49 languages, where spellsafe is English only today.
- A real-time mode.
Where spellsafe is stronger
- Works with no internet connection at all. Aqua needs one, because your audio is sent to its servers.
- Nothing to switch on for privacy. Aqua's policy says transcripts may be stored on its servers unless you turn on Privacy Mode.
- AI cleanup and “rewrite that” run on a local model.
- $9 a year, compared with $96 a year for Aqua Voice Pro.
Which should you pick?
Pick Aqua Voice if you dictate in several languages or across devices and are happy with cloud processing. Pick spellsafe if you want dictation that works offline and keeps everything on your Mac.
Try spellsafe
spellsafe is a menu bar app for Macs with Apple silicon. Download it, grant microphone and Accessibility access, and press ⌃⌥D to start talking.
About this comparison. We make spellsafe, so we're not neutral. We checked Aqua Voice's details on its own site on October 15, 2026, and prices and features change. Aqua's privacy policy doesn't say whether stored transcripts are used to train its models, or where its custom instructions are processed. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@spellsafe.ai and we'll fix it.
Sources: Aqua Voice pricing, Aqua Voice privacy policy, Aqua Voice vs Superwhisper (Aqua's own page). Aqua Voice is a trademark of its owner; spellsafe isn't affiliated with it.