Voice dictation for Mac, without the subscription
SaySo is a small menu-bar app for macOS. Hold a key — Right Option (⌥) by default, or any key you pick — speak, and let go. Your words are typed wherever your cursor is: an email in Mail, a message in Slack, a document in Pages, a comment in Xcode. $19.99 once. No monthly plan.
How it works on a Mac
SaySo lives in your menu bar and shows a thin line at the bottom of your screen. While you hold your talk key, that line becomes a small listening pill; release the key and the transcribed, tidied text is inserted at your cursor. Prefer not to hold the key? Double-tap it and recording locks on hands-free until you tap again.
The speech recognition runs on your own Deepgram account — audio streams straight from your Mac to Deepgram and never touches a SaySo server. An optional Groq key adds AI cleanup: Clean removes the umms and false starts, Formal rewrites your words as a well-formed formal note. SaySo can also switch styles by app automatically — formal in email, exact words in a code editor.
What you need
- A Mac running macOS 12 or newer. The app is code-signed and notarized by Apple, so it passes Gatekeeper's standard checks.
- Two permissions. Microphone (to hear you) and Accessibility (to type at your cursor). SaySo walks you through both on first launch.
- A Deepgram API key — required for speech-to-text, on your own account. New accounts include free credit; after that, an hour of actual talking costs roughly 50¢. Setup takes about two minutes with the key guide.
- A Groq API key (optional) — adds the Clean and Formal styles. Groq offers a free tier subject to published rate limits; heavier usage can reach them.
- An internet connection. Dictation is processed by your cloud providers; there is no offline mode.
Honest limitations
- There is no offline mode — if your Mac is offline, dictation can't run.
- You manage your own API keys, and your providers bill you directly for usage (Deepgram is roughly 50¢ per hour of actual talking). It is a real setup step.
- Auto language detection covers ten languages; other languages (like Urdu) work by selecting them explicitly in Settings.
- SaySo types text — it doesn't do voice commands, app control, or text-to-speech.
Common questions
How is this different from macOS built-in dictation?
SaySo is built for the push-to-talk workflow: one held key, in any app, followed by AI cleanup that removes filler words or rewrites formally, with per-app style rules and a searchable local history. You also choose the speech engine it runs on (Deepgram's Nova-3, under your own account) rather than what ships with the OS.
Does it work in every Mac app?
SaySo inserts text wherever a text cursor is — mail clients, browsers, chat apps, editors, terminal. It pastes via the clipboard (restoring what you had there before) and falls back to simulated typing when needed.
Is it really $19.99 once?
Yes — one payment, license key by email, activate on up to two devices. Your only ongoing cost is your own API usage at the providers' published pay-as-you-go rates. See how pay-once pricing works and the full FAQ.
Try it on your Mac — setup takes about five minutes end to end.