A Dragon for Mac alternative

What happened to Dragon for Mac

Nuance discontinued Dragon Professional Individual for Mac effective October 22, 2018. It was no longer sold after that date, and Nuance said it would no longer provide updates. People who had bought version 6 kept a perpetual license and could keep using it, with phone support for 90 days from activation in North America and 180 days elsewhere.

Sources, checked on October 17, 2026: the text of Nuance's announcement as quoted by Dictate.com.au (October 26, 2018), and TidBITS (January 21, 2019).

The short answer

If what you used Dragon for was writing (emails, documents, notes, and messages by voice), OliType does that on a current Mac. Press your hotkey, talk, and OliType types what you say into the app you're in: Mail, Messages, Word, Google Docs, Slack, Terminal, and almost anywhere you can type. Speech becomes text on your Mac, using NVIDIA Parakeet, so your voice is never uploaded, and dictation works offline after a one-time model download during setup. It's $19 once for 1 Mac, or $29 for up to 3, after a 30-day free trial with no account and no card.

If you dictate because typing hurts

Many Dragon users dictated because of RSI, carpal tunnel, an injury, or because they type with one hand. OliType started as a way to write with one hand, and it's built so starting and stopping costs as little as possible:

• One key, four ways. Tap, Double-tap (the default, on Left Option), Hold, or Tap or hold. Pick any key you can reach without stretching.
• No keyboard at all. A middle or side mouse button, a foot pedal, or the floating Dictate button, which never takes focus from your app.
• Fix less afterward. Vocabulary exact fixes correct a word it keeps getting wrong, every time. Esc cancels without typing, and Restore brings a cancelled dictation back for a day, so nothing has to be said twice.
• VoiceOver announces "Listening," "Writing it down," and then "Typed" or "Copied to clipboard," and reads out any message OliType shows. Sound cues tell you when listening starts and stops.

How to set it up to save the most keystrokes: dictation for RSI, carpal tunnel, and wrist pain. More on how OliType works with one hand and with VoiceOver: Accessibility.

What OliType doesn't do

Before you switch, know what OliType is and isn't:

• It doesn't control your Mac by voice. OliType types what you say; it doesn't open apps, click buttons, or edit text by spoken command. macOS has a built-in tool for that, Voice Control (System Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control), which Apple describes in its Voice Control guide.
• It doesn't transcribe recordings or audio files. It's for live dictation; for files, see OliType vs. MacWhisper.
• It needs a current Mac: Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 15 or later. It doesn't run on Intel Macs, Windows, iPhone, or Android.
• Languages: 25 European languages, including English, Spanish, French, and German, detected automatically.

Dragon for Mac and OliType

Dragon column from the sources above, which describe Dragon Professional Individual for Mac version 6 in 2018.

Try OliType free for 30 days

The full app, no account, no card. Download the free trial, or see pricing. Already using Apple's built-in dictation? See OliType vs. Apple Dictation.

See all comparisons: Compare OliType.