Gobbl
The short version
Pick Gobbl if you want free dictation on a Mac with Apple silicon, with no word cap, no account, and audio that never leaves your Mac.
Pick Wispr Flow if you need dictation on Windows, iPhone or Android as well, or want its team and cloud features, and are fine with audio going to the cloud.
Gobbl and Wispr Flow, side by side
| Feature | Notch, dictation, memoryGobbl | DictationWispr Flow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. AI features free during the beta | Free tier; Pro $15/month |
| Open source | Yes, MIT | No |
| Platforms | macOS 14+ | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android |
| On-device dictation | Yes, Whisper on your Mac (Apple silicon) | Cloud only |
| Free-tier word cap | None | 2,000 words a week on desktop |
| Screen memory and to-dos | Yes, opt-in beta, with auto-ticking to-dos | No |
| MCP connector | Yes, one switch for 9 AI apps (Memory beta) | Yes, for its notes |
| AI coding agents in the notch | Claude Code and Codex status, Allow/Deny for Claude Code | No notch |
| Pet | Yes, Gob | No |
| Privacy | Local first; AI via a provider that keeps no data; log of every request | Cloud; optional zero-retention mode |
Checked against each product's own website and public sources on 14 September 2026. Prices are in US dollars where the maker lists them; NotchNook's price differs between sources, so we don't quote one. Products change quickly: if something here is out of date, open an issue and we'll fix it.
Where Wispr Flow is stronger
- Runs on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android; Gobbl is Mac-only.
- A mature, polished product focused on dictation, with team plans and SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance.
- Cloud models can handle context and formatting in ways that are hard on-device.
- Works on Intel Macs; Gobbl's dictation needs Apple silicon.
Where Gobbl is stronger
- Free, with no word cap. Wispr Flow's free desktop tier is capped at 2,000 words a week, and Pro is $15 a month.
- On-device: your voice is transcribed on your Mac with Whisper and never uploaded.
- No account needed.
- About 0.5 s per sentence on Apple silicon, and it works offline once the model is downloaded.
- Custom words, language lock, hands-free mode and three clean-up levels, including Polish with AI (text only) when you want it.
- Open source under MIT, and dictation is one part of a bigger app: the notch, the pet, the Gobbl key for rewriting, chat and Memory.
Which to pick
If you dictate mostly on a Mac and care about privacy or cost, Gobbl is a strong free Wispr Flow alternative: offline Whisper dictation with no limits. If you dictate across several devices, Wispr Flow's cross-platform sync is worth paying for.
Learn more about Gobbl's offline dictation.
Wispr Flow's website: wisprflow.ai.