Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
Speech recognition terms describe different parts of one technology: voice input is the general name, speech recognition (ASR) is the process of turning sound into text itself, and dictation is the same thing from the user's point of view. Potok (potok.now) has a response time of about 0.4 seconds: hold the hotkey, speak, release, and the text is ready.
Speech recognition, ASR, dictation, hotkey, WER: behind these words there are often simple things that are easier to explain in one phrase than to work out from context. Voice input as a phenomenon and the specific technical terms inside it are things of different levels, and they are easy to mix up.
Speech recognition terms in plain words
- Voice input is the general name of the technology: what is said aloud turns into text and appears in the active text field.
- Speech recognition (ASR, automatic speech recognition) is the process of turning the sound of a voice into text itself, what happens “under the hood” of voice input.
- Dictation is the same action from the user's point of view: you speak instead of typing by hand.
- Transcription is turning an already finished recording, audio or video, into text, unlike dictation, which happens in real time.
- Hotkey is the key combination that turns voice recording on and off; in Potok it is Ctrl+Space by default.
- WER (word error rate, the share of recognition errors) is the percentage of words recognized wrongly; the smaller the number, the more accurate the program.
- Language model is the part of a recognition system trained on a specific language and vocabulary; it determines how well terms, names and mixed speech are recognized.
- Personal dictionary is a list of words and names that the user adds by hand so that the program recognizes them more accurately; Potok has such a dictionary.
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All articles in this section, in Russian (181): potok.now/slovar
Which terms to start with
- What voice input of text is and how it works (in Russian): in Potok it is the Ctrl+Space hotkey by default: hold, speak, release.
- What turning speech into text is called (in Russian): in Potok it is cloud recognition by its own model trained for Russian speech.
- Local speech-to-text recognition (in Russian): Potok works not locally but in the cloud: without the internet, recognition will not start.
- What dictation is (in Russian): in Potok the free plan gives 2500 words of dictation per week on one device.
- Glossary of terms for dictating contracts and lawsuits (in Russian): the Potok personal dictionary stores terms and names that are often repeated in one text.
Where Potok does not fit
These terms describe the technology as a whole, and not what Potok specifically can do. For example, offline recognition from the list above exists in some programs, but not in Potok: it is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. Transcription of finished audio files and recordings is not what Potok does either: it recognizes live speech at the moment of dictation and does not transcribe what is already recorded. For finished recordings Potok has a Telegram bot, @potok_now_bot.
Frequently asked questions
Speech recognition (ASR) is the technology of turning sound into text itself, while voice input is how this technology is applied in practice: a hotkey, recording, inserting text into a field. ASR is part of voice input, not the same thing: voice input also includes the interface, the hotkey and inserting text into the active window.
WER (word error rate) is the share of words recognized with an error out of the total number of words in the text. The smaller the number, the more accurate the program: a WER of 5% means that on average about every twentieth word is wrong. It is the standard metric for evaluating the quality of speech recognition systems.
Speech recognition terms. 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 Speech recognition terms you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Speech recognition terms. 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 Speech recognition terms you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Speech recognition terms. 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 Speech recognition terms you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Speech recognition terms. 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 Speech recognition terms you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Download Potok
Works with a single key in any program. 14 days of full access, then Free with 2500 words per week or Pro at 690 ₽/mo (499 ₽/mo paid yearly). Potok is a cloud service, so it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokA voice message from a messenger or a call recording can be forwarded to the bot @potok_now_bot, and it sends back the text. The bot is part of the same subscription as the Potok 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