Zumbo vs the dictation that is already on your Mac.
One of these is free and installed. The other is fifteen dollars and built for the work where a wrong word costs something. Here is every row, including the ones Apple wins.
| Feature | Zumbo | Apple Dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $15 once, $20 for three Macs, $79 for ten | Free, part of macOS |
| Engine on device | Yes, inside the app, always | On Apple silicon; server for some languages and older Macs |
| Session length | No limit, you decide when it ends | Ends automatically, with a setting to turn that off |
| Custom vocabulary | 21 packs, plus your own words | Voice Control vocabulary, 1000 terms |
| Learns from corrections | Yes, Teach a word once | No |
| Terms for a field | Developer, legal, medical, design and more | - |
| History of what you dictated | Yes, searchable, on the Mac | No |
| Notes and reminders | Yes, say a time and it becomes a reminder | No |
| Meeting mode | Yes, live, through the microphone | No |
| Speaker labels | Yes | No |
| Works in every app | Yes, wherever the cursor is | Yes |
| Account required | No, ever | Part of macOS |
| Languages | 25 European languages, English first | Many, some server backed |
| macOS minimum | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon | Built into macOS |
| Download size | About 570 MB | None, already there |
Read off Apple's own dictation and Voice Control vocabulary support pages on 21 September 2026. A dash means the vendor does not state it on its own public pages, not that the answer is no.
Price
Apple Dictation costs nothing and is already installed. That is a real advantage and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. The question is only whether the places it stops are places you go.
Engine on device
Apple states that dictation runs on device on Apple silicon Macs, and that some languages and older hardware use Apple's servers instead. Zumbo has one answer in every case, because the engine ships inside the download and there is no server to fall back to.
Session length
The complaint that sends most people looking is dictation stopping part way through a thought. macOS has a switch for it under System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation. Zumbo has no session length at all: hold your shortcut and it listens until you let go.
Custom vocabulary
There is no vocabulary for Dictation itself. Apple puts it under Voice Control, at System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control, Vocabulary, capped at 1000 terms you type in advance. Zumbo starts with packs for your field so the language is there before you type anything.
Learns from corrections
This is the difference that compounds. Apple's vocabulary is a list you fill in up front, for mistakes you can predict. Teach turns a mistake you just watched happen into a permanent fix in about three seconds, at the only moment you were ever going to fix it.
Terms for a field
A general model spells what it thinks it heard, which is ordinary English. Library names, drug names and case citations come out as the nearest everyday word. Twenty one packs exist precisely for that.
History of what you dictated
Apple Dictation writes into the field and the text is gone. Zumbo keeps every dictation, searchable, so a sentence pasted into the wrong window is not lost.
Notes and reminders
Press New note and talk, without pasting anywhere. Say remind me to call Dana tomorrow at ten and there is a reminder for tomorrow at ten.
Meeting mode
Dictation is one voice into one field. Zumbo transcribes the room while the meeting happens, a timestamp for each paragraph. On a call, use the speakers rather than headphones and the other side is in the notes too.
Speaker labels
Each speaker is labelled. The labelling model is an optional add on of about 220 MB downloaded once; everything else is already inside the app.
Works in every app
Both put words into the focused field, which is the one thing they genuinely agree about.
Account required
Neither asks you to sign up for dictation. Zumbo has no account at all: a licence key activates the app and nothing else is exchanged.
Languages
Apple covers far more languages than Zumbo does, and for some of them the work happens on Apple's servers. If your language is not among Zumbo's twenty five, Apple is the answer and that is the end of it.
macOS minimum
Zumbo needs Apple silicon because the engine runs on the Neural Engine. On an Intel Mac, Apple Dictation is your option.
Download size
The size is the engine. Nothing to download is obviously better, right up to the point where you need a word the model does not know.
Who should pick which
Stay with Apple Dictation if you dictate a line at a time, if you are on an Intel Mac, if your language is outside Zumbo's twenty five, or if you have never once been annoyed by a word coming out wrong. It is free, it is there, and nothing on this page is worth fifteen dollars to you.
Ship the Q3 roadmap before Friday.
Pick Zumbo if dictation keeps ending before you have finished, if your field has words a general model has never seen, if you want the app to learn from the corrections you make, or if you need meetings transcribed with each speaker labelled and none of it leaving the machine.
They coexist. Installing one does not disable the other, and plenty of people use the built in one for a sentence and Zumbo for a paragraph.
Related: the Apple Dictation alternative that does not time out, why dictation keeps stopping, and adding custom words to Mac dictation.
Is Apple Dictation good enough?
For a reply, a search box or a note to yourself, yes, and there is no reason to install anything. It stops being enough when the words have to be right: technical terms, names, anything in a professional vocabulary.
Why does Apple Dictation stop on its own?
It ends a session when it decides you have finished. There is a setting under System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation that turns that off, and it is worth trying before anything else.
Can I add words to Apple Dictation?
Not to Dictation. Apple puts a custom vocabulary under Voice Control, at System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control, Vocabulary, capped at 1000 terms that you type in advance.
Should I use both?
Many people do. Apple Dictation for a quick line, Zumbo for anything longer or anything where a wrong word costs something.
What if my language is not in Zumbo?
Then use Apple Dictation. Zumbo covers twenty five European languages with English first, and Apple covers many more.
Free for 3 days, everything unlocked. Then $15 once. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon.