Aqua Voice is subscription-only. The free tier is a one-time 1,000-word allotment, not a trial that resets, and Pro runs $8 a month billed annually, or $96 a year with no real annual discount. Performance is fast and accurate, but the headline accuracy number is Aqua's own benchmark, and reliability depends on your connection.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1,000 words total, one time (not a monthly reset) |
| Pro | $8/mo billed annually ($96/yr) | Unlimited dictation, full Avalon model, all platforms |
| iOS Pro | ~$119/yr | The mobile plan, priced separately |
| Team | $12/user/mo | Shared billing and admin for groups |
| Enterprise | Custom | Contact sales |
The free tier ends after 1,000 words. Pay month to month and Pro climbs closer to $10, with effectively no discount for annual billing. Students with a .edu address get 70% off.
Aqua starts listening in well under a second and streams text back in the 450 millisecond to one second range. On technical speech, Aqua claims 97.3% accuracy on coding and AI terms against Whisper Large V3 at 65.1%. That is Aqua's own benchmark, not an independent test. Over a two-week hands-on trial, 9to5Mac praised the accuracy but reported connectivity errors and roughly a twenty-minute outage.
Pros:
Streams text in under a second as you speak
Handles code and technical vocabulary with strong accuracy
Adds paragraph breaks and punctuation you never dictate
Works across Mac, Windows, and iOS
Cons:
Runs only in the cloud, with no offline mode at any tier
Subscription that never becomes a one-time purchase
Free tier is a one-time 1,000 words, not a real trial
Reliability depends on a steady internet connection
How to use Aqua Voice
Create an account and install the app
Sign up on aquavoice.com and download the Windows or Mac app. Aqua is account-based, so you log in before you can dictate.
Grant microphone permission
On first launch, allow the app access to your microphone. On Windows, check that Aqua is your default recording device if you have more than one mic.
Set your dictation hotkey
Pick the push-to-talk key you will hold to dictate. Aqua listens while you hold it and inserts text into the app in focus.
Place your cursor and speak
Click where you want the text, hold your hotkey, and talk in natural phrases. Aqua streams the words in and adds paragraph breaks.
Let it format, then review
Avalon adds punctuation and paragraph breaks, but check proper nouns and commands it misread.
On a shared or public PC, sign out when you are done to keep your dictation history private.
SayOnce - Voice Dictation Software
Voice to Text Dictation Software for Windows allows you to input text 4x faster. Just hold a hotkey and speak instead of typing text. Convert your audio and video files into text for quick reading.
SayOnce - Voice Dictation Software
