Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
Typing text by voice on a computer is done both by the built-in tools of the system, Win+H in Windows and dictation in macOS, and by separate programs, from free offline apps like GigaType or Molvi to cloud services with a subscription. Potok (potok.now), for example, has a free limit of 2500 words per week and a response time of about 0.4 seconds.
Yes, such programs exist, and there are noticeably more than one. Some of the capabilities are already built into the system itself with no installation, and some are separate apps that differ in where exactly speech recognition happens, how much free volume they give and in which languages they work best.
What the system has without installation
Windows has ready voice input on the Win+H shortcut: it records speech, sends it to the Microsoft cloud and inserts the recognized text into the field where the cursor is. Without an internet connection this function does not start, because Win+H does not perform speech recognition on the device itself. Russian is available in it only in Windows 11; in Windows 10 this language is not supported at all, and the set of languages there is different.
Separately from voice input, Windows 11 has Voice Access: this is a function for controlling the computer by voice (open an app, click a button, say a command), and not just dictating text, and it should not be confused with Win+H.
macOS and iOS also have built-in dictation with Russian support: it turns on wherever you usually type text from the keyboard, and works without installing third-party apps. The difference between the systems in Russian specifically is substantial: on Windows 10 you cannot get Russian voice input without a third-party app at all, while macOS has no such limitation.
Separate programs and how they differ
Voice input programs fall into two groups by the place of recognition. The first is local, offline: GigaType recognizes speech right on the device, on Sber's GigaAM neural network trained for Russian. Molvi also works offline and is completely free, with no accounts and no payment. Voisty recognizes speech with local models, but only 5 minutes of transcription are available for free, more for a trial than for everyday work. WhispeRu is also offline, but available only on Windows, with no version for macOS.
The second group is cloud services. SpeakFlow and Diktuy send the sound to a server and both give 30 minutes of dictation per month for free. Talkpad is available on Windows, macOS and Android, and its free limit is noticeably larger: 2500 words per week on a computer. Lispr recognizes speech through the Groq service in the USA and gives 60 minutes of dictation per week for free. Potok is from the same group: it works on Windows, macOS and Linux, recognizes speech with its own model trained for Russian speech, and inserts the text into the active field by hotkey; 2500 words per week are available for free.
The choice between an offline program and a cloud service determines whether the internet is needed for dictation and where the sound goes during processing. This is worth deciding first, before comparing prices and functions within one group.
| 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) |
| 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.) |
Where Potok is not the best option
Potok is a cloud service, speech recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without an internet connection: for this scenario only an offline program like GigaType or Molvi will do. Potok has no apps for Android and iPhone, so for dictation from a phone you need a different tool, for example Talkpad has an Android version. Potok also does not support voice commands for editing text or transcription of ready audio recordings: for these tasks you need programs with a separate file transcription function, and not real-time dictation.
Frequently asked questions
Not necessarily: Win+H works without installation, but it needs the internet and understands Russian only in Windows 11. A separate program is needed if offline mode, a personal dictionary of terms or work on Windows 10 matters.
Yes, among separate programs there are fully free options too: for example, Molvi works without an account and without payment, and GigaType and other apps offer a free trial volume of dictation.
Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer. 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 Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer. 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 Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer. 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 Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer. 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 Is there a program that types text by voice on a computer 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: speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · blog.speakflow.ru