VoiceInk for Windows

No. VoiceInk is a macOS-only app. It requires Apple Silicon and macOS 14.4 or later, and there is no official Windows or Linux build. The app is open source under GPLv3, distributed through tryvoiceink.com with the code on GitHub, but the project targets the Mac only.

If you want VoiceInk's core idea (fully on-device, push-to-talk dictation with a one-time price) on a Windows PC, Whisperstream is the closest match. It runs the same NVIDIA Parakeet model family that VoiceInk uses, except natively on Windows and on your CPU.

For the primary sources, see VoiceInk's pricing page and the VoiceInk repository on GitHub. Both list macOS as the only supported platform.

VoiceInk and Whisperstream share a philosophy: a one-time price, on-device transcription, and a fast push-to-talk loop. The split that matters is the operating system. Here is the practical shape of each, side by side.

Pricing

$25 lifetime (Solo tier, single Mac); or build from source under GPLv3

Platform

macOS 14.4+ (Apple Silicon only)

On-device

Yes (Whisper via whisper.cpp, plus Parakeet V3 via FluidAudio)

Best for

Live push-to-talk on Mac, indie ethos

• $25 lifetime for a single Mac (Solo tier), with $39 and $49 tiers for more devices, or build from source under GPLv3 for free.
• Runs Whisper and NVIDIA Parakeet V3 locally on your Mac, via whisper.cpp and FluidAudio. Parakeet V3 is the same model Whisperstream runs on Windows.
• Live push-to-talk dictation with a focus on speed and a clean, indie-built interface.
• 100% offline by design, with the full source on GitHub for anyone who wants to audit it.

VoiceInk is the indie, open-source pick. It runs both Whisper (via whisper.cpp) and NVIDIA Parakeet V3 (via FluidAudio) locally on a Mac, and the Solo tier is a one-time $25 for a single device. The source is on GitHub under GPLv3, so you can read every line of the inference path or build it yourself.

Browse the VoiceInk Wall of Love and the same notes repeat: a one-time payment, a clean native interface, no subscription. Made by an indie developer who goes by Pax, it has become a favorite for Mac users who want local dictation without a cloud account.

Here is the part that makes the switch easy. VoiceInk runs NVIDIA Parakeet V3 on the Mac. Whisperstream runs the same NVIDIA Parakeet V3 model on Windows, through ONNX Runtime, entirely on your CPU. It is the same underlying speech model, so the transcription character you know from VoiceInk carries over.

Parakeet V3 is a 2025 NVIDIA model that beats Whisper Large v3 on English word-error-rate (6.3% vs 7.4% on the Open ASR Leaderboard) while running fast enough for live dictation without a GPU. On both apps the audio stays on your machine; nothing is uploaded.

Pricing

$29 once

Platform

Windows 10/11 x64

On-device

Yes (NVIDIA Parakeet V3 via ONNX Runtime, on CPU)

Best for

Live push-to-talk on Windows

• $29 one-time and activates on up to 2 of your own PCs, with a 30-day refund and a 7-day free trial with unlimited dictation.
• NVIDIA Parakeet V3 via ONNX Runtime, running entirely on your CPU. Audio never leaves your PC.
• Push-to-talk hotkey (default right shift) that pastes text into whatever window has focus.
• A searchable, encrypted history of everything you dictate, with audio playback, encrypted at rest on your device and never synced to a server.
• Optional AI cleanup that runs a local model on a capable GPU (free cloud fallback for older hardware), no API key, off by default.
• The same one-time, no-cloud, no-subscription philosophy VoiceInk built on the Mac.

Whisperstream is built for Windows the way VoiceInk is built for the Mac: a one-time purchase, audio that never leaves your machine, and a fast push-to-talk loop you can map to whatever key feels right. The model is NVIDIA Parakeet V3, running on your CPU through ONNX Runtime, so there is no GPU requirement and no cloud round-trip.

If you split your day across a Mac and a Windows PC, you do not have to force one app onto both. Keep VoiceInk on the Mac for the native experience its developer built, and install Whisperstream on the Windows PC for the same on-device, push-to-talk feel and the same Parakeet model.

For the broader Mac-to-Windows picture including MacWhisper, see our MacWhisper for Windows guide. For the full Windows field ranked, see the Wispr Flow alternatives roundup, and for the most-asked head-to-head, see Whisperstream vs Wispr Flow.