Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
People usually look for SpeakFlow alternatives because of the narrow free plan, 30 minutes of dictation per month, or because they need a macOS version, which SpeakFlow does not have: only Windows and the browser. Potok (potok.now) handles the first with a different approach, 2500 words per week for free on a permanent basis, and also works on Windows and macOS.
Thirty minutes a month run out quickly if dictation is not a one-off experiment but part of the working day: one long email to a client easily eats half the limit. Then comes the choice between a paid subscription and looking for another service. For some users the question comes up before the limit: SpeakFlow works on Windows and in the browser, while the work machine is a MacBook, and there is simply no macOS version. This section covers what to look at when replacing it and how an alternative such as Potok is built differently, rather than by a single line in the price list.
Why people look for a SpeakFlow replacement
The first reason is the size of the free plan: 30 minutes of dictation per month split into a few short sessions, and for daily work this lasts a day or two, not a whole month. After that comes either a paid subscription or a service with a plan designed for regular use rather than for trying it out. What such a switch looks like in practice is in the article six months of voice input instead of the keyboard: an honest account (in Russian).
The second reason is platforms. SpeakFlow works on Windows and in the browser; there is no macOS version. Those who moved to a Mac or alternate between both systems have to either keep two different tools or look for a program that has both versions at once.
The third reason is the transparency of data processing. SpeakFlow's website does not state in which country the recognition servers are located: the service is cloud-based, but the specific place where sound is processed is not disclosed. For most tasks this is not critical, but for those who want to know the jurisdiction in advance, and not only hear that “data is protected”, such uncertainty is a reason to look at a service with a clearer policy.
Separately, there is the feature of dictating in Russian and inserting an English translation, a specific capability that not every competitor has. If you are replacing SpeakFlow because of it rather than because of the limit or the platform, check in advance whether the chosen alternative supports translation at all, not just voice input itself.
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| SpeakFlow | Windows, Web | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 690 ₽/mo (Personal (unlimited)) | rubles directly | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| WhispeRu | Windows | 7-day free trial (no card) | 290 ₽/mo (monthly license); 1990 ₽/yr (yearly license); 4990 ₽/one-time (lifetime license) | rubles directly (payment via YooKassa) | device (offline) |
| Talkpad | macOS, Windows, Android | 2500 words/week on desktop, 1500 words/week on mobile, free forever; plus a 14-day Pro trial | $6/mo (Pro (billed yearly, $72/yr)); $8/mo (Pro (monthly billing)) | unknown (not confirmed) | cloud (the legal entity is registered in Australia; the website is hosted on Cloudflare; the exact location of the ASR servers is not disclosed in the privacy policy) (not confirmed) |
| Voice Access in Windows 11 | Windows | free, built into Windows 11 version 22H2 and newer | — | not disclosed | on the device (offline): speech recognition on the device after a one-time download of the language pack; the internet is needed only for the initial language download |
| Voco (TsRT) and Laitis: legacy voice input programs for Windows | Windows | Voco: unknown, was a paid product with Basic/Professional/Enterprise versions, there was no free version. Laitis: there is a free version ("free, no ads"), plus a separate paid version which, according to the developers, is distinguished by stable operation | — | not disclosed | Voco: judging by the user manual (2022), Voco's speech recognition historically worked locally on the PC (offline, no internet), which set it apart from modern cloud services, but this is not confirmed on the current site, since the product is not found in the current catalog. Laitis: the laitis.ru site states that speech recognition requires an internet connection, that is, cloud processing |
| Wispr Flow | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | 2000 words/week on desktop, 1000 words/week on mobile | $15/mo (Pro, monthly payment); $12/mo (Pro, when paid for a year ($144/year)) | there is no standard payment with a Russian card: on Windows/Mac/web payment is only in USD; per earlier data, from Russia it is actually possible to pay through an iOS subscription in the App Store, but the exact amount in rubles is not verified (not confirmed) | cloud (the data center country is not publicly disclosed) (not confirmed) |
| Typeless | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | 8000 words per week (Free plan); new users get a 30-day Pro trial, then move to Free if they do not pay | $12/mo (Pro billed yearly (effectively $144/yr)); $30/mo (Pro billed monthly) | Visa/Mastercard cards; whether Russian cards are accepted is not stated | cloud (the server country is not officially disclosed; the privacy policy only says 'processed in real time on our cloud servers') (not confirmed) |
| SpeechPad (voice notepad) | Web (Chrome), Chrome extension, Android, iOS, integration modules for Windows/Mac/Linux | basic voice input in the notepad is free; transcription of audio/video up to 15 minutes is free | 100 ₽/mo (extended mode (integration of voice input with Windows/Linux OS, removal of the 15-minute transcription limit): the amount appears in user comments/reviews, and no exact official price list was found on the site) | yes: Robokassa and bank cards are accepted (for payment from abroad, an alternative site voicenotebook.com with PayPal is mentioned) | not disclosed |
| A-Golos | macOS, Windows, Android | 20 minutes of audio per month free, no card attached | 490 ₽/mo (Lite, 120 min/mo); 4900 ₽/yr (Lite, yearly); 950 ₽/mo (Pro, 300 min/mo) | rubles directly (through an external payment provider, card data is not stored by the service) | cloud: the policy states that personal data is stored on servers in Russia, but the speech recognition itself is performed by OpenAI (USA); results and audio are not stored on the company's servers |
| Molvi | Windows, macOS | free forever, no accounts and no payment | — | not needed: the product is free; voluntary donations are accepted via Telegram Tribute or by card on the website, amounts are not fixed | device (offline; best quality on an NVIDIA GPU, otherwise a fast model on the CPU) |
What to check in a replacement
- Platforms. Make sure the system you need is supported: Potok has Windows, macOS and Linux, SpeakFlow only Windows and the browser.
- The size and duration of the free plan, not only the limit number but the period too: Potok gives 2500 words per week with no time limit, SpeakFlow 30 minutes per month.
- Payment method. Both services accept rubles directly by a Russian bank card, so switching does not by itself solve a payment issue, if there was one at all.
- Where the sound is physically processed. Ask the new service about the server country and how it handles personal data if this matters for your task, rather than relying on a general statement that “data is protected”.
- The legal entity you sign the public offer with. SpeakFlow operates as a self-employed person, Potok as a sole proprietor; for some tasks, for example purchasing on an invoice from a legal entity, this matters.
- Specific features. If you used translation on insertion, a personal dictionary or snippets, check that the new program has the same, not just basic dictation.
- Response and stability on long phrases. Check not by the description on the website but on your own text: Potok responds in about 0.4 seconds, but judge it on your own task.
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| SpeakFlow | Windows, Web | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 690 ₽/mo (Personal (unlimited)) | rubles directly | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| WhispeRu | Windows | 7-day free trial (no card) | 290 ₽/mo (monthly license); 1990 ₽/yr (yearly license); 4990 ₽/one-time (lifetime license) | rubles directly (payment via YooKassa) | device (offline) |
Where Potok will not replace SpeakFlow
If you used SpeakFlow's feature to dictate in Russian and insert an English translation, Potok has no direct replacement: the service does not translate between languages on the fly, it inserts the text of what you said in the same language.
A browser version is not Potok's thing either: the program works only as a desktop app for Windows and macOS, installation is required, and there is no version without downloading.
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet, just like SpeakFlow, so in this respect switching changes nothing: if you need offline work, you need a separate local tool such as WhisperU; neither SpeakFlow nor Potok fits here.
Potok does not support voice commands for editing text either: such edits are still made by hand, whichever service you are switching from.
Frequently asked questions
No, voice input has no common format for moving a dictionary between different services: the terms and names SpeakFlow recognized will have to be added again in any alternative, including Potok. It takes a few minutes of corrections in the first days of use, not a one-time import.
Yes, both are cloud dictation services for Russian with direct payment in rubles. The difference is in the platforms (Potok has macOS, SpeakFlow only Windows and the browser) and in the size of the free plan: 2500 words per week with no time limit versus 30 minutes per month.
SpeakFlow alternatives. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For SpeakFlow alternatives you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
SpeakFlow alternatives. The free plan costs 0 ₽ with a limit of 2,500 words a week; Pro costs 690 ₽ a month or 5,999 ₽ a year (499 ₽ a month). Here is how Potok works: hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), speak, release — and the finished text is inserted into the active field of any app. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For SpeakFlow alternatives you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
SpeakFlow alternatives. Versions are available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and the default hotkey is Ctrl+Space; there are no mobile versions. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. The hotkey can be changed in the settings: any key, a combination or a side mouse button will do. Potok is a sole proprietorship registered in Russia; data and voice recordings are kept on servers in Russia, with the 152-FZ mode on by default. For SpeakFlow alternatives you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
SpeakFlow alternatives. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For SpeakFlow alternatives you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to start
Potok is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. For two weeks everything is open for free, after that 2500 words per week without paying. Potok is a cloud service, so it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokThe Potok subscription also includes the Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message or a long meeting recording and it returns the text. Without a subscription the bot gives 60 minutes per month for free.
Primary sources: speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · blog.speakflow.ru