The best Aiko alternative in 2026 — real-time dictation, current pricing, and platforms compared honestly

TL;DR

Choose FluidVox if you want…

• Real-time dictation into Slack, email, code editors, and docs — Aiko's stated non-goal
• File transcription too — on-device, included on every plan
• Per-app style matching — casual in Messages, professional in Outlook, code style in your IDE
• A personal dictionary that auto-learns your corrections
• A native Windows app (Aiko is Apple-only)

TL;DR

Stay with Aiko if you want…

• The cheapest one-time purchase — around $24 vs FluidVox's $39
• A focused, single-purpose file transcription app with zero setup
• Native visionOS and iPad support in one Universal Purchase
• First-class Shortcuts integration for automation workflows
• Structured exports — JSON, CSV, and SRT subtitles

Aiko went from free to paid — and the honest math

Aiko launched in 2023 as a completely free, on-device Whisper transcription app, which is why "is Aiko free" is still one of the most-searched questions about it. That changed: as of July 2026, Aiko is a one-time App Store purchase of around $24, sold as a Universal Purchase covering Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, with a 14-day free trial available through TestFlight.

Here's the honest part: if all you need is file transcription on Apple devices, Aiko at ~$24 is cheaper than FluidVox at $39. We're not going to pretend otherwise. FluidVox earns the difference only if you also want the second job — typing by voice, live, in every app you use. If you don't, keep Aiko.

FluidVox's three plans

• Local — $2.99/mo or $39 one-time — fully on-device dictation in 99 languages, works offline, personal dictionary, file transcription included, and Vox Agent with your own Gemini API key.
• Pro — $10/mo or $96/yr — adds a cloud engine (46 languages), the full Vox Agent with 10M AI tokens/month and 19+ tools, and 60 minutes/month of cloud file transcription. No API keys needed.
• Pro+ — $29/mo or $276/yr — 29M tokens and 300 minutes of cloud file transcription for power users.

Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial — full access, no credit card. For anyone comparing against Aiko, the $39 Local lifetime is the direct equivalent: on-device, private, offline, paid once — plus the live dictation Aiko doesn't do.

A deliberate design decision, not a missing feature

Aiko's developer is explicit about this: real-time transcription isn't planned, because the app's focus is transcription quality, and running Whisper live on-device would mean dropping to smaller, lower-quality models. Aiko's workflow is record (or import) first, transcribe after. It also skips in-app text editing — the recommendation is to export your transcript and edit it in a real text editor.

That's a defensible philosophy for a transcription app. But it means Aiko can never be your dictation tool. You can't hold a key and speak an email into Gmail, a message into Slack, or a comment into your IDE. If that's what brought you to this page, you need a different category of app entirely — see what is voice typing for how the two categories differ.

How FluidVox handles the same trade-off

FluidVox is built for the live job: hold the Fn key on Mac (Ctrl+Shift+Space on Windows), speak, release — and polished text lands at your cursor in whatever app has focus. On-device Whisper and Parakeet models handle the transcription locally, and six styles (natural, casual, professional, code, notes, email) are applied automatically per app.

And because FluidVox also transcribes imported audio and video files on-device — included on every plan — it covers Aiko's original job too. One app, both workflows. Curious how live on-device transcription manages accuracy? Read how AI dictation works.

Windows — no Aiko, but FluidVox is native there

"Aiko transcription Windows" is a real search people run, and the answer is simply no: Aiko is an Apple-platform app — macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS — with no Windows version and no indication one is coming. Sindre Sorhus builds exclusively for Apple platforms.

FluidVox ships a native Windows app with the same features as the Mac version — per-app styles, the learning dictionary, on-device transcription — at the same price, on the same license structure. If you split your day between a Mac and a Windows PC, that matters. See our best voice typing apps for Windows roundup for the wider field.

Android and Linux — neither app, honestly

Android: there is no Aiko for Android, and FluidVox doesn't have an Android app either — our mobile app is iPhone-first, with a custom keyboard that lets you dictate into any iOS app. Android users are best served by their keyboard's built-in voice typing for now. We'd rather say that plainly than let you find out after purchase.

Linux: same story — no Aiko, no FluidVox. Linux users typically run open-source whisper.cpp-based tools, which are free and capable but require manual setup. Where Aiko does shine on platforms is depth within the Apple ecosystem: it's one of the very few transcription apps with a native visionOS version, covered by the same purchase.

Minimalist vs power tool

This is the comparison Reddit threads keep coming back to, because both apps do the same core thing — on-device Whisper transcription of audio files on a Mac. The difference is philosophy. Aiko is deliberately minimal: one low price, drag in a file, get a clean transcript, automate it with Shortcuts if you like. MacWhisper is the power-user option: a free tier with smaller models, a paid Pro upgrade, a bigger feature surface including speaker labels and more export formats, and correspondingly more settings to learn.

If you transcribe interviews or meetings where who said what matters, MacWhisper wins — neither Aiko nor FluidVox offers speaker diarization. We've written a dedicated MacWhisper comparison if that's your primary need.

The job neither of them does

Here's what the Aiko-vs-MacWhisper debate misses: both are file transcription apps. MacWhisper's dictation works only inside its own window, and Aiko has no live mode at all. Neither lets you hold a hotkey and speak directly into Slack, Gmail, Notion, or your code editor.

FluidVox is unusual in covering both categories: system-wide real-time dictation plus on-device transcription of imported audio and video files. If your real question is "do I need a transcription app and a dictation app?", the answer can be one $39 purchase instead of two. For the dictation-first competitors, see our Superwhisper comparison and Wispr Flow comparison.

Credit where due

What Aiko genuinely does well

Aiko has a 4.7-star App Store rating across hundreds of reviews as of July 2026, and it's earned. Things it gets right:

• Privacy without asterisks — Whisper large v2 runs entirely on your Mac; nothing is uploaded, no account needed
• 100 languages, plus translate-to-English
• Structured exports — JSON, CSV, and SRT subtitle files
• Shortcuts support — batch workflows and automation, in typical Sindre Sorhus fashion
• Simplicity — no model picker anxiety, no subscription

Known limits

Where Aiko stops (by its own account)

These aren't hidden flaws — most come straight from Aiko's own product page and FAQ:

• No live/real-time transcription — and no plans for it
• No dictation into other apps — it's not that category of tool
• No speaker detection — recordings with multiple people come out as one stream of text
• No in-app editing — you export and edit elsewhere
• No custom vocabulary — niche terms and names can't be taught
• Apple-only — no Windows, Android, or Linux; on iPhone, the app must stay open while transcribing