Every message you write is throttled by your fi
Dictation for macOS
Stop typing. Start talking. 150 words a minute.
Hold one key and talk. The words land where your cursor is, in any Mac app, in about a fifth of a second, and nothing you say ever leaves your Mac.
Free for 3 days, everything unlocked. Then $15 once. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon.
Messages
Listening… 0:00
Note 0:00
Pasted
0:00
Reminder: Call the accountant about the Q3 estimate.
Zumbo 1.2.0 is available
Settings
General
How Zumbo starts and how you trigger it
Permissions
MicrophoneHears you while you hold or toggle the shortcut.
AccessibilityTypes the text where your cursor is.
Input MonitoringLets Escape cancel a recording and your shortcut work in every app.
Shortcut
Hold to dictateTap to toggle, hold for push to talkRight ⌥
Reset to Right Option
Single modifier keys work without extra permissions
Note shortcutStarts a note instead of dictatingOff
Dictation
What Zumbo cleans up after it hears you
Language
Main languageEnglish
I also dictate in other languagesLets the engine guess the language per sentence. Slightly less accurate in your main language.
Zumbo writes only in your main language's alphabet, so English never comes out in Cyrillic.
Clean speech
Clean speechDrops filler words (um, uh, like), trims false starts, and collapses repeated words.
Formatting
Numbers“two hundred” becomes “200”
Dictionary
The words you taught Zumbo
My words
Q3Heard as “cue three”2 uses
PostgresHeard as “post gres”11 uses
SararuHeard as “sarah roo”4 uses
Models
What is installed on this Mac
Speech engine
English, 25 European languagesInside the app, nothing to download570 MB
Speaker labelsOptional, used by meeting mode220 MB
License
Your trial and your key
Status
TrialEverything unlocked, no card3 days left
Paste your license key
Feedback
Write to the person who built it
Message
What went wrong, or what you wish it did
Only what you type is sent
About
Zumbo 1.2.0
This build
VersionReleased 12 September 20261.2.0
Made byDesigned and built in Romania by Claudiu Sararu.zumbo.app
Note 6m ago 9 words 0:00 Sun 10:25 PM×
Accountant call
Call the accountant about the estimate before Friday.
Teach Zumbo this word
Add to My wordsZumbo will recognise it next time you say it.
Type the correct spelling under Should be to replace it, or just teach the word as it is.
- On your device
- Works offline
- No account, ever
Speed
You think at 150 words a minute. You type at 40.
Listening 0:04
Ship the release notes, then tell the team staging is green.
Heard
Can you tell the team staging is green and the release notes are mergd
TypedCan you tell the team staging is green and the release notes are merged?
Teach: mergd → merged
Terminal git commit -m "drop the retry loop, the queue already backs off"
- Terminal
-
Slack -
Mail -
Xcode -
Notion -
Cursor
- Say it
- It fixes itself
- Use it anywhere
Say it
Every app. One shortcut.
Press your shortcut to start, press it again to stop. Or hold it and talk. Terminal, Slack, Mail, Xcode, Notion, a browser form: if you can put a cursor there, Zumbo can type there. Escape cancels. The shortcut is yours to pick in Settings.
It fixes itself
Wrong once. Never again.
Select the word Zumbo got wrong, type what you meant, press Teach. From then on it hears it your way. Corrections stay on your Mac and stack into a vocabulary that is yours alone. The more you use it, the more it sounds like you.
Use it anywhere
If you can put a cursor there, Zumbo can type there.
21 vocabulary packs, from developer tools to legal, medical, design and marketing, switched on by what you dictate most. Product names, technical terms and commands come out spelled right the first time.
Every message, commit, document and reply you write is throttled by your fingers. Zumbo removes the throttle. Talk at full speed and the words land where your cursor is, punctuated, in the app you were already using.
What it does
your shortcut
Listening… 0:04
Hold it to talk, tap it to toggle, Escape cancels. Pick the key in Settings.
Dictation
Every app. One shortcut.
Press your shortcut to start, press it again to stop. Or hold it and talk. Terminal, Slack, Mail, Xcode, Notion, a browser form: if you can put a cursor there, Zumbo can type there. Escape cancels. The shortcut is yours to pick in Settings.
In your note
Ship the Q3 roadmap before Friday.
Teach Zumbo this word
Replace here Replace everywhere and teach
Learning
Wrong once. Never again.
Select the word Zumbo got wrong, type what you meant, press Teach. From then on it hears it your way. Corrections stay on your Mac and stack into a vocabulary that is yours alone. The more you use it, the more it sounds like you.
Note Call Dana
Call Dana about the follow-up appointment tomorrow at ten.
Reminder set, Tue 10:00 Reminder: Call Dana about the follow-up appointment. Snooze 10 min Done
Notes
Notes without a notes app.
Press New note and talk. The text stays in Zumbo, searchable, never pasted anywhere. Say a time and it becomes a reminder: “remind me to call Dana tomorrow at ten” sets one for tomorrow at ten.
12:04
10:32Speaker 1We are holding the release until the migration lands.
10:33Speaker 2Then the changelog goes out Thursday, not Tuesday.
10:33Speaker 1Agreed. I will move the announcement.
Meetings
Meetings, written down while they happen.
Turn on Meeting mode and Zumbo transcribes the room through the microphone, live, a timestamp per paragraph, each speaker labeled. On a call, use the speakers instead of headphones and the other side is in the notes too. Nothing leaves the Mac.
Otter, Fireflies and Krisp promise not to misuse your meeting data. Zumbo never receives it. There is nothing to retain, train on or subpoena.How meeting mode works
Devtools 173 terms Marketing 329 terms Medical 89 terms Legal 87 terms Design 95 terms Finance 106 terms + 15 more
Vocabulary
It speaks your field.
21 vocabulary packs, from developer tools to legal, medical, design and marketing, switched on by what you dictate most. Product names, technical terms and commands come out spelled right the first time.
See all 21 packs- Speech engine inside the app
- 570 MB, downloaded once
- Works with the Wi-Fi off
- No account, no API key
- Unplug the internet and it works exactly the same.
Privacy
Your voice never leaves your Mac.
Zumbo has no server for your voice. There is no account, no API key and no network request needed to transcribe.
Audio is processed on your Mac by the speech engine that ships inside the app. Nothing is uploaded, cached or logged anywhere else.
Zumbo has no data retention policy to read, because there is no database to retain anything in.
The only things it ever sends: your license key when you activate, and a version number once a day to check for updates.
How it stays on your Mac Your setup
Built for the way you work
Pick what you dictate most during setup and Zumbo loads the vocabulary for it. Change it any time.
- Coding agents and code
- Knows developer tools, commands and technical names.
- Design
- Knows design tools, file formats and layout terms.
- Team messages and docs
- Knows workplace tools and product terms.
- Marketing and sales
- Knows campaign, channel and analytics vocabulary.
- Legal and contracts
- Knows contract and court terms.
- Medical notes
- Knows clinical terms and drug names.
- Writing and research
- Knows publishing and research terms.
- Video and audio
- Knows editing tools and formats.
How it compares
How it compares
Public pricing and feature pages, checked on the date in the source.
| Feature | Zumbo | Superwhisper | Wispr Flow | MacWhisper | Apple Dictation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $15 once, $20 for 3 Macs, $79 for 10 | Free, $8.49 a month, or lifetime (one-time) | Free up to 2,000 words a week, then $15 a month ($23 for teams) | Free, Pro €64 once | Free, built in |
| Runs offline | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Apple silicon only |
| Vocabulary | 21 packs, plus your own words | Custom vocabulary | Custom dictionary | - | - |
| Learns from corrections | Yes | - | - | - | - |
| Notes | Yes | Meeting notes | Notetaker | No | No |
| Meeting mode with speaker labels | Yes | Meeting notes, labels not stated | Notetaker, labels not stated | Recordings, with speaker recognition | No |
| Lives in the notch | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| No account | Yes | Not required to start | Account required | No account | - |
A dash means the vendor does not state it on its own public pages, not that the answer is no. Checked 21 September 2026.
Pricing
One price. Yours for good.
One Mac
$15
$9 for the first 10 buyers, 10 left
Buy for one MacThree Macs
$20
For a desk, a laptop and the one at home.
Buy for three MacsTeam, 10 Macs
$79
Zumbo for up to ten Macs in one team.
Buy for a teamFree updates. 3-day trial with everything unlocked, no card. Refunds within 14 days through our payment partner.
Questions
Questions people actually ask.
Does it need the internet?
No. The engine runs on your Mac. Internet is used once to activate your license and once a day to check for updates.
Which languages?
25 European languages, English first. Pick your main language in setup; Zumbo then writes only in that alphabet.
How accurate is it?
On our own recordings, technical terms come out right 9 times out of 10 with the packs on, and every correction you make raises that for your voice. Normal sentences are where it shines; a single word chanted three times is where any engine struggles.
Is it a subscription?
No. You pay once and keep it. Updates are free.
Does it work in the terminal and with coding agents?
Yes. That is where it started. Terminal, Xcode, VS Code, Cursor, the Claude Code prompt, all of it.
What leaves my Mac?
Your license key when you activate, a version number for the update check, and a feedback message only if you send one. Never audio, never text.
What Mac do I need?
An Apple silicon Mac on macOS 14 or later. The download is about 570 MB because the speech engine is inside.