Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
Free online voice text input is available with no installation, through Windows and macOS system dictation or voice input inside individual online services, and also through the free tier of individual programs such as Potok (potok.now), where 2500 words per week are free on one device. The difference is where exactly recognition runs and in which apps the finished text appears.
Free online voice text input is either what is already in the system with no installation, or a separate program or site with a free access tier. System tools are free in an absolute sense, but limited by the capabilities of the specific operating system. For separate programs the free tier is usually limited: by a word limit per period, by the number of devices or by a set of features. Potok (potok.now), for example, gives 14 days of full access with no card right after installation, and if you do not move to a paid plan after the trial period, access moves to the free tier: 2500 words per week on one device.
Free online voice text input: what is already in the system
The first free option is always at hand: modern Windows and macOS have long had system dictation built in. It is turned on in the settings, works on top of the system's text fields and needs neither installation nor registration. It is the freest option of all: there is no payment in principle, because the feature is already part of the operating system, which you paid for when you bought the computer.
In Windows this is the Win+H shortcut: the recognition panel opens over the active text field and closes with the same shortcut or a click away from it. Russian works in it only starting with Windows 11. In Windows 10, according to Microsoft, the supported languages are English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Chinese, but not Russian. Next to Win+H, Windows 11 also has Voice Access, which is controlling the computer by voice with commands like "open the browser", not text dictation, and this feature does not work with Russian either. A detailed breakdown of system versions is in the material does Windows 10 support keyboard voice input in Russian (in Russian). In macOS dictation is turned on in the keyboard settings and understands Russian without this split by system version: a hotkey brings up the panel, and the text appears where the cursor is.
This kind of free comes with a price of a different sort. Win+H in Windows works through the internet: the voice goes to the Microsoft recognition server, and without a network the panel goes silent.
The second free option is voice input inside a separate online service: a web mail client, a cloud document editor or a similar web page. It also costs nothing, but it works only in the browser and only inside that one tab. Switch to another app, and this voice input disappears together with its tab: you have to type in all other places the old way. Often such input is even simpler than the system one: it does not distinguish fields at all, and just listens to the whole active tab as long as the microphone is on.
Both options share one thing: they are free because they are already part of what you use anyway, the operating system or a specific site. They are limited by the same thing: the set of apps or pages where dictation is available at all. How much this coverage changes from one system version to another is shown in the table below.
Separate programs: how the free tier differs from the system one
The third path is a separate program with a hotkey that recognizes speech not only inside one app but in any active window: mail, a messenger, a document, a code field. Some of these programs have no free tier at all, and some have one, but with a limit.
Such programs usually limit along three axes: how many words you can dictate per period, on how many devices at once, and which features stay only in the paid version. Potok's free plan gives 2500 words per week on one device. This is enough for correspondence and notes, but not for dictating a whole working day without a break. The personal dictionary, voice snippets and priority support are not part of the free tier and are available only on the Pro plan.
Right after installing Potok there are 14 days of full access with no limits and no card. This is a trial period, not a free plan. If you do not move to a paid plan when this period ends, access moves to the free tier with a limit of 2500 words per week.
Recognition in separate programs is usually cloud-based: the audio goes to a server, is turned into text there, and the result returns to the app. In Potok this is its own model trained for Russian speech, including names, terms and mixed Russian and English phrases, and the response takes about 0.4 seconds. Only some local programs work fully offline, keeping the model right on the device, and their free tier is set up differently, because it is not tied to server costs. A list of such free options for Windows specifically is collected in the material on free voice input for Windows with no limits.
Before choosing between system dictation, voice input in the browser and a separate program, work out how often you dictate at all and in how many different apps. The summary table below compares several programs at once: pay attention to the columns on the word limit and the number of supported devices, since free options differ most on those. A breakdown of similar options in Russian specifically is in the article speech to text for free in Russian (in Russian).
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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 free option
Free online voice input does not always mean Potok. Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work at all without the internet. If you need to dictate where there is no network or where audio must not leave the computer, a local offline program will be closer to what you need.
If dictation inside one site or document is enough for you and you do not go beyond it, a separate program is an extra installation for something that already works for free in the browser. Potok has no mobile versions, neither for Android nor for iPhone, so for those who dictate mostly from a phone, the built-in keyboard with voice input is closer.
And for those who dictate the whole working day without stopping, the free 2500 words per week are enough for a couple of emails, not for constant work. Then you cannot do without a paid plan, and the question stops being only about free options.
Frequently asked questions
The recognition model is the same in Potok's free and paid plans: its own model for Russian speech with a response time of about 0.4 seconds. The difference between the plans is not accuracy but the limit: 2500 words per week on the free tier versus dictation with no limit on the Pro plan.
Potok has no ready-made mobile apps for Android and iPhone: the program is free on Windows, macOS and Linux. On a phone, the built-in voice keyboard of the system usually works for free. It costs nothing either, but it is not connected to Potok and its dictionary.
Free online voice text 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 online voice text input you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Free online voice text 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 online voice text input you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Free online voice text 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 online voice text input you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Free online voice text 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 online voice text input 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 PotokThe Potok subscription also includes the Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message or a long meeting recording and it returns the text. Without a subscription the bot gives 60 minutes per month for free.
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