Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
A Mac has a separate section of dictation commands called “Math symbols”: equals, greater than, less than, minus, the multiplication sign and plus, each said aloud as a separate phrase. Potok (potok.now) has no voice commands at all, and it has no separate phrase for these signs: its free plan gives only 2500 words per week on one device.
Formulas and mathematical expressions are not only numbers: they contain signs of equality, comparison and arithmetic operations. In ordinary speech such signs are not pronounced as words, so dictating them needs a separate voice command, as for any other symbol.
How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac
Before dictating a formula, you need to turn Dictation on once: Apple menu, then System Settings, in it the Keyboard → Dictation section → the Enable button. After that you start it each time anew: with the microphone key in the row of function keys (if there is one), with your own dictation keyboard shortcut or with the Start Dictation item in the Edit menu.
Apple's official list of dictation commands gives math a separate section called “Math symbols”: it has six commands, the sign “equals” (=), the sign “greater than”, the sign “less than”, the sign “minus” (−), the multiplication sign (×) and the sign “plus” (+).
On a Mac you dictate a formula like this: you name numbers and variables with ordinary words, and instead of each math sign you say the matching command from this list. An exponent, a fraction and a root are not described in the “Math symbols” section: the official list has no commands for them.
| 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 |
| Lispr | Windows, macOS | 60 minutes of dictation per week for free; the key features (push-to-talk, translation, dictionary, local history) always stay free, without an account | $7.99/mo (Pro, monthly); $79/yr (Pro, yearly (from $44.90 with regional discounts)) | unknown (not confirmed) | cloud (USA; recognition is done by Groq, Inc.) |
| Aqua Voice | macOS, Windows, iOS | Starter: 1000 free words (Avalon model), no card required | $8/mo (Pro, billed yearly); $10/mo (Pro, monthly); $24/mo (Max, billed yearly) | unknown: the website shows payment in USD, and there is a separate purchase through the iOS App Store; acceptance of Russian cards is not confirmed (not confirmed) | cloud (own Avalon model; the country of the data center is not publicly disclosed) (not confirmed) |
| 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) |
| Spokenly | macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS | local models (Whisper/Parakeet) are free forever with no word limit; connecting your own API keys (BYOK) is also free | $9.99/mo (Pro, monthly); $99.99/yr (Pro, yearly (≈$8.33/mo)) | not disclosed | hybrid: locally on the device (Whisper/Parakeet, free) or in the cloud (GPT-4o Transcribe, Deepgram Nova 3, Soniox and others, via BYOK or Pro) |
| 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) |
| MacWhisper | macOS | A free version is available ("Free forever", limited functionality), Pro is paid | €64/one-time (Pro, one-time purchase through Gumroad, lifetime updates); $29.99/yr (Pro, App Store version ("Whisper Transcription"), subscription); $99.99/one-time (Pro, App Store version, one-time purchase) | not disclosed | on the device (offline) by default, with local Whisper models; there are optional cloud transcription providers, but not as the main mode |
| 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) |
| Google voice input (Google Docs voice typing + Gboard) | Web (Google Docs, Chrome/Edge/Safari, current versions), Android (Gboard), iOS (Gboard) | free, built into Google Docs and the Gboard keyboard | — | not disclosed | cloud: in Google Docs, speech recognition is handled by the browser, which manages the speech-to-text service and determines speech processing, after which the text is sent to Google Docs (that is, a cloud service of the browser or Google is used, not local processing). In Gboard some advanced voice typing features for certain locales run on the device and are not sent to Google servers by default, but ordinary Gboard voice input is generally cloud-based |
| Dragon NaturallySpeaking | Windows | not disclosed | $699.99/one-time (Dragon Professional Individual v16, perpetual licence) | not disclosed | device (offline) — local acoustic engine (~8 GB neural network) after installation; internet is only needed to activate the licence |
| 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 |
What to say on a Mac for a formula
- “iks v kvadrate znak plyus igrek v kvadrate znak ravno zet” (x squared, plus sign, y squared, equals sign, z) is our example phrase for dictating a formula; “znak plyus” (plus sign) and “znak ravno” (equals sign) are commands from the official list, and the other words of this example have no separate voice commands in the official list.
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- Free
- Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed
- Pro
- Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly
- Payment
- Russian bank cards, rubles
- Where speech is recognized
- cloud, servers in Russia; internet required
Potok is a cloud service, so it does not work without the internet. Download: potok.now/download
Where Potok reaches its limit
Potok is a cloud service: recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without an internet connection. It has no voice commands at all, and it has no separate phrase for the signs equals, greater than, less than, minus, multiplication or plus; Potok has no section of math symbols like Mac dictation. The free limit of 2500 words per week may not be enough for someone who dictates a lot of formulas every day. How dictation is set up on any MacBook in general is in a separate breakdown about voice input on a MacBook, and the basic steps for converting speech to text on a computer are in the article about the dictation process itself (in Russian).
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In the “Math symbols” section of the official list of Mac dictation commands there is the command “znak plyus” (plus sign).
No: Potok has no voice commands at all, and it has no separate phrase for the equals sign.
How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac. 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 How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac. 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 How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac. 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 How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac. 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 How to dictate a formula or math signs on a Mac you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
If you want to compare for yourself
Take one of your own tasks and dictate it in Potok. The first 14 days have no limits and need no card. Potok is a cloud service, so it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokOne subscription, two tools: dictation in any program on your computer and @potok_now_bot in Telegram, which transcribes voice messages, audio and video.
Built-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
Primary sources: support.apple.com · support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com