Is Superwhisper cheaper than SayControl?

Yes. Superwhisper Pro is $8.49 a month against SayControl’s $12 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 once for a lifetime licence. The lifetime licence costs less than SayControl Pro from month 21. Its free plan is also unlimited, on local models without the AI cleanup.

Does SayControl work offline?

No. SayControl turns speech into words in the cloud, so it needs a connection. Superwhisper can run entirely on your Mac with its local models, which is the better choice if you dictate offline or can’t send audio anywhere.

Superwhisper works with Claude Code too. What is different?

Both let you answer Claude Code and Codex by voice, and both send your reply straight into that session. Superwhisper opens a window with the agent’s message as text, and you reply by voice, by typing or by picking an option. SayControl sums up what the agent did and says it out loud, so you hear that a session finished or wants permission without looking, and you can talk to every session at once (“any updates?”, “tell all agents to commit”). SayControl’s free plan includes 10 agent conversations, Pro 300 a month.

Can Superwhisper take screenshots or attach files by voice?

Its docs don’t describe it. Superwhisper’s Super mode can apply formatting commands to text you’ve selected, such as title case. SayControl’s spoken controls take a screenshot, attach a file, copy a link or path, or open a terminal in the middle of a sentence, in any app.

Which keeps my audio?

Neither keeps it on its servers. Both keep recordings on your Mac: SayControl your latest 1,000 clips (or 1 GB), which you can turn off or delete in Settings; Superwhisper its History, forever unless you change the setting. With a local model, Superwhisper’s audio never leaves your Mac at all; SayControl’s goes to the cloud to be turned into words and is dropped.

Can I try SayControl without leaving Superwhisper?

Yes. The free week needs no card, so there is nothing to cancel. Quit Superwhisper while you try it, so only one app is listening when you hold a key to talk.

SayControl vs Superwhisper: which Mac dictation app fits you?

Superwhisper hands you the dials: local or cloud models, modes with your own prompts, a licence you buy once. SayControl has fewer dials and more verbs: say what you want, and it happens.

SHSorower Hossan, maker of SayControl·Updated 12 October 2026·8 min read

We make SayControl, so read this knowing that. Every Superwhisper fact here comes from Superwhisper’s own pages, linked at the end and checked on 12 October 2026. Where Superwhisper is the better pick, we say so.

TL;DR

The short answer

Both are good at the main job: hold a key, talk, and clean text appears in whatever app you’re in. They differ in what they think you want next.

Pick Superwhisper if you want control over how it works: dictating offline on local models, picking which AI cleans up your words, transcribing recordings, or paying once and owning it. Pick SayControl if you want your voice to do things: drop a screenshot or a file into a sentence, ask ChatGPT without switching windows, and hear your coding agents when they need you.

Nothing ticked yet. If none of these matter to you, both will do the job: try each one’s free plan and keep the one you like.

At a glance

The twelve things people ask about

SayControl and Superwhisper at a glance
Feature	SayControl	Superwhisper
Free plan	2,000 words a week, with cleanup	Unlimited on local models, no cleanup
Pro, monthly	$12 a month	$8.49 a month
Pro, yearly	No yearly plan	$84.99 a year
Pay once		$249.99
Works offline
Style for each app
Screenshots, files, links by voice		Not available
Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Perplexity		Not available
Coding agents	Summed up, out loud	Shown in a window
File and meeting transcription		Pro
Runs on	Mac	Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Languages	60+	100+

Common ground

What both do well

More than you might expect. Both clean up the “um”s and the sentences you restarted, both change style by app, and both let you answer Claude Code and Codex by voice.

Hold a key, talk, and it types in any app
Fillers and false starts cleaned up
A different style for each app
Your own words and replacements
Rewrite selected text by voice
Answer Claude Code and Codex by voice

The styles are where they start to part. SayControl has four tones, Personal, Work, Email and Agents, that switch with the app. Superwhisper calls them modes (Message, Mail, Note, Super and Meeting) and lets you write your own with a custom prompt.

Two ideas

Dials or verbs

Superwhisper is built for people who like to choose. You pick a voice model, local or cloud. You pick the AI that tidies the text, or bring your own API key. Each mode gets its own instructions. It’s a well-made workshop, and if you enjoy tuning, you’ll like it.

SayControl makes those choices for you and spends the effort on what your voice can do instead. There are no models to download and no keys to paste, on any plan, and cleanup works from the first free word.

SayControl

You say what should happen

Nothing to set up: sign in, hold fn, talk
Cleanup and tones on the free plan
Screenshots, files and links land mid-sentence
Agents speak up when they need you

Superwhisper

You tune how it listens

Local Whisper models free, more local models on Pro
Cloud models from several AI companies, or your own key
Modes with your own prompts, switching by app
Works offline, entirely on your Mac

Where SayControl goes further

Dictation that does things

Say “attach the PDF from downloads” in the middle of an email and the newest one is attached, and your sentence carries on. Say “ask ChatGPT” and the question opens there, already asked. Say “open terminal in the downloads folder” and it does.

Illustration: an email reading “Here is the signed contract” with contract.pdf attached, after saying “attach the PDF from downloads” — Name the file mid-sentence; it’s attached where you’re writing.

Numbers for August: payout-august.pdf. Tell me if page two reads right.

📎 Attached payout-august.pdf

attach the PDF from downloads

The newest match, attached for real. Pick another to watch it land.

Superwhisper’s docs describe nothing like this. Its Super mode can apply formatting commands to text you’ve selected, like title case, which is closer to SayControl’s command mode (“make it a list”, “make it formal”). The spoken controls work in any app and come with Pro. See everything you can say.

Close, but not the same

Agents, out loud

This one is close, so it’s worth being exact. Superwhisper has plugins for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others: when an agent asks something, wants permission or finishes, Superwhisper opens a window over whatever you’re doing with the agent’s message, and you reply by voice, by typing or by picking an option. The reply goes back into that session. Its plugin calls these “voice notifications”; its docs describe them on screen and don’t mention reading them aloud.

SayControl does the same over your ears instead of your eyes. It sums up what the agent did and says it out loud: you hear that a session finished, hit a limit or wants permission, so you can be in another window, or away from the desk, and answer out loud. You can also talk to every session at once: “any updates?”, “tell all agents to commit”.

Illustration: a terminal speaking “Finished. What next?” through a speaker, answered at a microphone with “Yes, commit it” — You hear the agent; you answer the same way.

Free accounts get 10 agent conversations to try it, and Pro includes 300 a month.

Credit where due

Where Superwhisper is ahead

Quite a lot, and if any of these matter to you, they probably decide it:

It works offline. Its Whisper models run on your Mac for free, and Pro adds more local models and an on-device clean-up model for English. SayControl needs a connection.
It costs less, and you can pay once. Pro is $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 for a lifetime licence. SayControl Pro is more each month and has no lifetime option.
It runs everywhere. One licence covers Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, in 100+ languages with the right model. SayControl is Mac only, in 60+.
It does recordings. Pro transcribes audio and video files, and its Meeting mode records system audio and separates speakers. SayControl does neither.
You pick the models. Choose between local and cloud models from several AI companies, write your own mode prompts, or bring your own API keys.

Price

What it costs

Superwhisper is cheaper. Its free plan is unlimited on local models, though without the AI cleanup. SayControl’s is 2,000 words a week, cleaned up. Superwhisper Pro is $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 once; SayControl Pro is $12 a month, with no yearly or lifetime option. Move the slider to see where the lifetime licence pays off.

If you use it for12 months

SayControl · Pro, monthly$144
Superwhisper · Pro, monthly$101.88
Superwhisper · Pro, yearly (paid up front)$84.99
Superwhisper · Lifetime licence$249.99

A yearly plan is paid a year at a time, so 12 months on it means paying for a whole year. Superwhisper’s lifetime licence is one payment of $249.99: it costs more than SayControl Pro for the first 20 months, and less from month 21 on. Prices before tax.

Privacy

What happens to your voice

Superwhisper can keep everything on your Mac: use a local voice model and either no AI step or its on-device one, and nothing leaves. That’s a real advantage, and SayControl doesn’t offer it.SayControl works in the cloud and never keeps your audio on its servers. Both keep recordings on your Mac so you can replay them: SayControl your latest 1,000 clips, Superwhisper its whole History unless you change the setting.

What SayControl and Superwhisper keep
Feature	SayControl	Superwhisper
Where speech becomes text	In the cloud	On your Mac with a local model, or in the cloud
Audio kept on their servers?	Never	Never, its docs say
Audio kept on your Mac?	Your latest 1,000 clips (or 1 GB); can be turned off	In History, forever by default; can be changed
Used to train models?	No	No, its docs say

Our privacy policy has the whole round trip.

Every row

The full comparison

Every feature, side by side.

Dictation

Dictate into any app
Hold a key, talk, let go.
SayControlYes
SuperwhisperYes
Cleanup
Fillers, false starts and spoken corrections.
SayControlEvery plan
SuperwhisperPro
Style for each app
SayControlPersonal, Work, Email, Agents tones
SuperwhisperMessage, Mail, Note, Super and custom modes
Dictionary and replacements
SayControlDictionary and phrases
SuperwhisperVocabulary and replacements
Reads the app you’re in
SayControlNames read off your screen
SuperwhisperSuper and custom modes (Pro)
Choose your model or bring a key
SayControlNo
SuperwhisperPro
Languages
SayControl60+
Superwhisper100+ (depends on the model)

Doing things with your voice

Command mode
“make it a list”, “fix the grammar” on what you selected.
SayControlPro
SuperwhisperFormatting commands in Super mode
Spoken controls mid-sentence
Screenshots, files, links, terminal and apps, in any app.
SayControlPro
SuperwhisperNot available
Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Perplexity
Say the question; it opens in that AI, already asked.
SayControlPro
SuperwhisperNot available
Coding agents
Claude Code and Codex tell you when they need you; you answer by voice.
SayControlSummed up and said out loud. 10 free, 300 a month on Pro
SuperwhisperShown in a window; you reply by voice or typing
Transcribe audio and video files
SayControlNo
SuperwhisperPro
Meeting recording
SayControlNo
SuperwhisperMeeting mode; system audio on Pro

Privacy

Where speech becomes text
SayControlIn the cloud
SuperwhisperOn your Mac or in the cloud
Works offline
SayControlNo
SuperwhisperWith local models
Your audio
SayControlNot on our servers; latest 1,000 clips on your Mac
SuperwhisperNot on their servers; kept on your Mac in History, forever by default

Plans

Free
SayControl2,000 words a week, with cleanup
SuperwhisperUnlimited on local Whisper, no AI step
Pro, paid monthly
SayControl$12 a month
Superwhisper$8.49 a month
Pro, paid yearly
SayControlNo yearly plan, so no year up front
Superwhisper$84.99 a year
Lifetime licence
SayControlNo
Superwhisper$249.99 once
Teams
SayControlEnterprise, priced with you
SuperwhisperEnterprise: SOC 2 Type II, SSO, HIPAA BAA

Where it runs

Platforms
SayControlmacOS 13 and later
SuperwhispermacOS 14+, Windows, iPhone, Android

SayControl and Superwhisper, line by line
Feature	SayControl	Superwhisper
Dictation
Dictate into any appHold a key, talk, let go.	Yes	Yes
CleanupFillers, false starts and spoken corrections.	Every plan	Pro
Style for each app	Personal, Work, Email, Agents tones	Message, Mail, Note, Super and custom modes
Dictionary and replacements	Dictionary and phrases	Vocabulary and replacements
Reads the app you’re in	Names read off your screen	Super and custom modes (Pro)
Choose your model or bring a key	No	Pro
Languages	60+	100+ (depends on the model)
Doing things with your voice
Command mode“make it a list”, “fix the grammar” on what you selected.	Pro	Formatting commands in Super mode
Spoken controls mid-sentenceScreenshots, files, links, terminal and apps, in any app.	Pro	Not available
Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or PerplexitySay the question; it opens in that AI, already asked.	Pro	Not available
Coding agentsClaude Code and Codex tell you when they need you; you answer by voice.	Summed up and said out loud. 10 free, 300 a month on Pro	Shown in a window; you reply by voice or typing
Transcribe audio and video files	No	Pro
Meeting recording	No	Meeting mode; system audio on Pro
Privacy
Where speech becomes text	In the cloud	On your Mac or in the cloud
Works offline	No	With local models
Your audio	Not on our servers; latest 1,000 clips on your Mac	Not on their servers; kept on your Mac in History, forever by default
Plans
Free	2,000 words a week, with cleanup	Unlimited on local Whisper, no AI step
Pro, paid monthly	$12 a month	$8.49 a month
Pro, paid yearly	No yearly plan, so no year up front	$84.99 a year
Lifetime licence	No	$249.99 once
Teams	Enterprise, priced with you	Enterprise: SOC 2 Type II, SSO, HIPAA BAA
Where it runs
Platforms	macOS 13 and later	macOS 14+, Windows, iPhone, Android

Questions

What people ask when switching

Sources

Checked on 12 October 2026. Superwhisper and its logo are trademarks of their owner, shown here only to identify the product; SayControl is not affiliated with it. Something out of date? Write to support@saycontrol.com and we’ll fix it.