Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
This is the name of a desktop app for voice input of text on Windows, macOS and Linux: Potok (potok.now). The user holds a hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), speaks and releases it, and the text is inserted at once into the field with the cursor, in any program. Recognition runs in the cloud, on servers in Russia, and the app places punctuation and capital letters itself. For the first 14 days all features are free, with no card.
Some people are looking for an answer to what kind of program Potok is and what it does on a computer. It is a separate desktop app for voice input of text, not a browser extension and not a built-in function of the operating system.
What kind of app Potok is
Potok is a cloud program: it does not recognize speech on the device itself, but sends the audio to a server and gets the finished text back. The model is trained for Russian speech, including terms and Russian mixed with English, and the servers are in Russia. The text is inserted where the cursor is at the moment of dictation, in any window and any program, not only in the app itself.
Besides dictation itself, the app has a personal dictionary for your own terms and names and ready-made snippets; both features are part of the Pro subscription. For the first 14 days after installation all features, including the dictionary and snippets, are free and without a card attached. After the trial period, without a subscription, a free mode of 2500 words per week on one device remains.
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| v2txt.ru | Windows, macOS | Start plan: 2000 words/week | 0 ₽/n/a (all of Pro is free until the end of 2026 (the regular Pro/Premium price after 2026 is not published on the website)) | rubles directly (Visa, Mastercard, Mir cards and T-Bank are accepted) | cloud (Russia) in online mode; offline mode processes on the device |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| Win+H (Windows voice typing) | Windows | free, built into Windows 10 and Windows 11 | — | not disclosed | cloud (Azure Speech services, Microsoft) — an internet connection is required |
| 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) |
| Glas (LidFly) | Windows, macOS | 0 ₽ — 2000 words per week free for life, no card and no email sign-up; the first 2 weeks have no word limit | — | rubles directly: payment via SBP; invoices for companies and sole proprietors | cloud (Russia) — the site says “Russian servers, works without a VPN” |
How to try Potok yourself
- Download the version for your system: for Windows, macOS or Linux.
- On first launch, give the app access to the microphone: without this permission dictation will not start.
- Put the cursor in any text field, hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), say a phrase and release the key, and the text appears where the cursor was.
- If Ctrl+Space is taken by another program, replace it in the Potok settings with your own: any key, a combination or a side mouse button.
If the microphone does not respond because of protection settings, this is covered separately in the article what to do if an antivirus blocks the microphone (in Russian).
When Potok does not suit
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia; without an internet connection it does not work. There are no apps for Android and iPhone, and no offline mode either, and the program does not understand voice commands for editing text: it places punctuation and capital letters itself, and writes numbers, sums and times as digits. For someone who dictates all working day, the free limit of 2500 words per week may not be enough; for that there is Pro without a limit. How much it costs is in the article how much voice input costs in Potok (in Russian).
Frequently asked questions
It is a computer program: you install it on Windows, macOS or Linux and run it as a separate app. The potok.now website is for downloading the installer and viewing plans, while the dictation itself happens in the installed program, not in the browser.
What is the Potok app. 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 What is the Potok app you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
What is the Potok app. 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 What is the Potok app you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
What is the Potok app. 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 What is the Potok app you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
What is the Potok app. 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 What is the Potok app you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Try it on your own texts
Download Potok for Windows, macOS or Linux: full access for the first 14 days, no card needed. After that, 2500 words per week for free or Pro for 690 ₽ per month. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com