Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
Free voice input comes in two kinds: built-in system tools with no payment at all, and the free plans of paid services with a volume limit. Molvi, for example, is free forever, with no account, and recognizes speech right on the device; Talkpad gives 2500 words per week free on a computer. Potok (potok.now) gives 2500 words per week with no card, and the first 14 days give full access with no limits.
Free voice input is any way to dictate text without paying: from a button built right into the operating system to a trial or permanently free plan of a separate program. The difference between them is fundamental: some tools cost nothing at all and do not limit volume, while others are free only in part, up to a certain limit of words per week or month.
What free voice input is, in plain words
Free voice input exists in several forms at once, and they should not be confused: each has its own pluses and its own limits. The first is built-in system tools: Win+H in Windows and Dictation in macOS come with the system for free, nothing needs to be installed, and this is the simplest start for those who have not yet decided what to choose.
The second form is programs that are free forever, with no time limit on use. Molvi works without an account and without payment, recognizes speech right on the device with no network access, and this approach also removes the question of where the audio goes. A similar breakdown is in the material free voice input for Windows with no limits.
The third is the free plans of paid services, limited by volume: at Talkpad it is 2500 words per week on the desktop, at SpeakFlow and Diktuy it is 30 minutes of dictation per month, and at Lispr it is 60 minutes of dictation per week with a free personal dictionary and history even without an account. A breakdown of a specific case with a foreign service is in the material Wispr Flow for free.
Whether free voice input really exists with no limits at all as a class, and not as an advertising phrase on the site of a specific program, has a separate breakdown in the material free voice input with no limits: myth or reality.
- Wispr Flow free: how many words the limit gives and when it runs out
- Free voice input for Windows with no limits: what is truly unlimited
- Free online voice text input: what is available right now
- Free voice input with no limits: myth or reality
- Download Potok for free: an opinion on a voice input program
- How to turn an audio file into text on a computer for free
- Trial period or free forever
All articles in this section, in Russian (24): potok.now/besplatnyy-golosovoy-vvod
The most common tasks
- Try the built-in system tool first: Win+H on Windows 11 or Dictation on a Mac, without installing anything.
- Compare the free limits of several programs at once, rather than choosing from the first site you find: they differ several times over, from a few minutes per week to a couple of thousand words.
- Check whether audio stays on the device, if that is essential: Molvi and WhisperU are built this way, for example.
- Ask a Russian service such as v2txt.ru what it says about the 152-FZ law and data storage in Russia, if that matters for your work.
- Judge the free limit on a real task over a week, not on a test phrase: that way it is clearer whether it is enough for constant work.
Where Potok will not help
Potok will not help those who need free voice input with no volume limits at all: the free plan gives 2500 words per week, and for more active dictation you need the paid Pro subscription.
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet, so those who need to work fully offline should look at Molvi, WhisperU or Voisty instead.
Frequently asked questions
Built-in system tools, Win+H in Windows 11 and Dictation in macOS, come with the system for free, and there is nothing to install. The free plans of individual programs are usually limited by the number of words or minutes per week or month, and some, like Molvi, are free forever with no limits at all.
Technically yes, but hotkeys may coincide between programs, and then only one will work. It is easier to compare limits and features in advance and pick a main option, keeping the second program for tasks the first does not cover.
Free voice input. 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 Free voice input you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Free voice input. 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 Free voice input you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Free voice input. 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 Free voice input you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Free voice input. 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 Free voice input 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 PotokYou dictate in the app, and recordings and voice messages are transcribed by @potok_now_bot in Telegram. 60 minutes per month are free; the Potok subscription removes the limit in the bot and in the app.
Related software: terms compared
| 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) |
| Diktuy | Windows, macOS | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 239 ₽/mo (Profi (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)); 2870 ₽/yr (Profi (year, billed in full)); 479 ₽/mo (Max (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)) | rubles directly (not confirmed) | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| 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) |
| Voisty | Windows, macOS | 5 minutes of transcription (to judge the quality) | $6.7/mo (Pro); $67/yr (Pro (year)); $99/one-time (Lifetime) | Visa/Mastercard/Amex cards, PayPal; whether Russian cards are accepted is not stated (not confirmed) | device (offline, local models such as Whisper Large V3 Turbo / NVIDIA Parakeet) |
| 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) |
| GigaType | Windows, macOS | free with no limits: open source under the MIT license (Copyright (c) 2026 Disrupt Builders), all features are available without payment | — | not needed: there are no paid plans | device (offline, Sber's GigaAM neural network) |
| 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) |
Built-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | Windows 10 and 11 | Windows 11 only | Microsoft cloud, does not work offline |
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
Primary sources: speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · blog.speakflow.ru