LumeVoice vs Aqua Voice: Which Dictation App Should You Use?

LumeVoice vs Aqua Voice is a closer match-up than most. Both are cloud dictation apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android: you hold a key or tap a button, talk, and finished text lands where your cursor is. The differences are in the details. Aqua can rewrite text you've already written, runs its own speech model and sells a plan for teams. LumeVoice covers more languages, applies your self-corrections as you talk, and lets you pay once.

A quick disclosure: LumeVoice is our product. We haven't used Aqua Voice ourselves, so nothing below is a hands-on test. What we say about Aqua comes from its website, user guide, FAQ, changelog, policies and app store listings, checked on October 20, 2026. Prices change, so confirm them on Aqua's pricing page before you buy.

Who should pick which#

Pick Aqua Voice if you:

• want to rewrite text by selecting it and saying the change (Edit Mode, on every plan)
• dictate prompts and code, where file tagging, a command-line tool and an MCP server help
• are a student with a school email address
• are buying for a team that needs single sign-on, SCIM or a SOC 2 report
• pay month to month ($10 for Pro)

Pick LumeVoice if you:

• dictate in a language that isn't on Aqua's list of 49
• want "five, actually six" to come out as "six" without writing any rules
• would rather pay once than renew
• find typing hard because of a disability, injury or health condition (50% off, no proof needed)
• want audio and video files transcribed in the same desktop app

LumeVoice vs Aqua Voice at a glance#

Aqua Voice details as of October 2026, from aquavoice.com, its user guide and its app store listings.

Price and 3-year cost#

Aqua sells three plans for individuals and one for teams (Aqua pricing). Free covers your first 1,000 words, which Aqua's own Mac page puts at about seven minutes of talking. Pro removes the word limit and adds Custom Instructions and a larger dictionary. Max adds Realtime Mode and the "send it" voice command.

Here is what each option adds up to over three years:

Month to month, Aqua Pro is the cheaper subscription. On yearly billing, LumeVoice Pro Annual ($79.99/year) costs less than Aqua Pro's $96. If you'd keep either app for years, LumeVoice's Lifetime license is the option Aqua doesn't have. And if Realtime Mode is the feature you want, Aqua's price is Max, not Pro: $288 a year.

Where you pay matters at Aqua. Its iPhone page notes that App Store billing may differ from its web prices, and the US App Store lists Aqua Voice Pro at $12.99 and Pro (Annual) at $119.00 as in-app purchases (App Store listing). Subscribing on the web is the cheaper route.

Discounts point in different directions. Aqua's student deal is the biggest here: 70% off with a school email, which brings Pro to $2.40 a month on annual billing. LumeVoice gives students and teachers 50% off, and gives 50% off to anyone who finds typing hard because of a disability, injury or health condition, with no proof asked; Aqua lists no accessibility discount. Our codes are entered at checkout on Mac or Windows. See the accessibility discount, student pricing and LumeVoice pricing.

Platforms: where each app runs#

Mac. LumeVoice lives in the menu bar: hold fn (Globe), talk, let go. It runs on macOS 11.5 or later. Aqua's Mac app is a single download for Apple silicon and Intel Macs, its default key is also Fn, and its site doesn't list a minimum macOS version (Aqua for Mac). More on LumeVoice for Mac.

Windows. Both support Windows 10 and 11. LumeVoice sits in the system tray: hold Ctrl + Win, tap Space while holding to go hands-free, or press Esc to cancel. It installs per user, without admin rights. Aqua's default key on Windows is Right Alt; you double-press it or hold it and tap Space for hands-free (Send It announcement). Aqua can also start from a middle or side mouse button. See LumeVoice for Windows.

iPhone. Both are keyboards that need iOS 17 or later, and both open their app for a moment to start the microphone before you dictate. Aqua adds an Action Button shortcut on supported iPhones and voice editing in the keyboard (Aqua for iPhone). See LumeVoice for iPhone.

Android. The two work in much the same way: a floating button beside the keyboard you already use, with Android's Accessibility Service putting the words into the text field. Aqua's Android app arrived on Google Play on October 6, 2026, needs Android 10 or later and runs on phones and tablets, though not on Android Go devices (Aqua for Android). See LumeVoice for Android.

Linux and Chromebooks. Neither company makes a Linux dictation app. Aqua's command-line tool runs on Linux, but it manages your settings and transcribes files rather than dictating. LumeVoice has no ChromeOS app.

One plan, every device. Both say one subscription covers Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.

Features: cleanup, editing and extras#

Cleanup. LumeVoice removes filler words and stutters, applies self-corrections ("let's meet at five, actually six" becomes "Let's meet at six."), turns spoken lists into numbered or bulleted lists, and fixes grammar and spelling, with a choice of writing styles and output language. Aqua's model adds punctuation, corrects grammar and removes filler words, and Aqua says it shapes the output for the app you're in, for example by recognizing when you're writing an email. On Pro you can add your own rules with Custom Instructions, such as UK spelling, and an optional Deep Context setting lets it use what's on your screen (Aqua FAQ).

Editing by voice. This is Aqua's strongest feature. Highlight text in any app, hold your Aqua key and describe the edit: "make it shorter", "change 5pm to 6pm", or simply the corrected sentence. Edit Mode arrived in the desktop app in July 2026 and is included on every plan; search fields, address bars and selections over 6,000 characters fall back to normal dictation (Edit Mode guide). LumeVoice doesn't edit existing text by voice.

Live text and "send it". In Aqua's Realtime Mode the text builds up in its toolbar while you're still talking, and ending with "send it" submits the message for you. It runs on Mac and Windows and comes with Max and Business; Aqua says Pro subscriptions from before the change kept it (Realtime Mode). LumeVoice shows a waveform while you talk and types the finished text when you're done.

Dictionary and shortcuts. Both keep a custom dictionary for names and jargon; LumeVoice feeds it to speech recognition on Mac and Windows and applies its corrections on phones. Aqua's Replacements work like LumeVoice's snippets (say a short cue, get your calendar link), and Aqua syncs your dictionary, replacements and instructions across all four platforms.

Speech engine and accuracy. Aqua runs its own model, Avalon, and reports 97.4% key-term accuracy on AISpeak-10, its own benchmark of technical terms, against 65.1% for Whisper Large v3; it notes that isn't a measure of overall accuracy. LumeVoice uses Whisper large-v3-turbo on Groq, with Mistral's Voxtral as a fallback, plus a language model for the cleanup. We don't publish an accuracy score or know of an independent test of the two, so the useful test is your own writing.

Developer extras. Aqua leans into coding: it turns a spoken file name such as "main dot py" into an @main.py tag in Cursor, Windsurf and a few other editors, and it offers a command-line tool, an MCP server and an API (file tagging, Aqua CLI). LumeVoice types into any editor or terminal, including Cursor and Claude Code, without editor-specific features.

Files. LumeVoice's desktop apps transcribe audio and video files (mp3, m4a, wav, mp4, mov and more). Aqua handles files through its command-line tool and API, billed by usage (Avalon API).

Privacy: where your voice goes#

Both apps send your audio to the cloud for transcription, so neither is the answer if your audio must stay on your device.

• LumeVoice: your audio isn't stored after processing, what you say is never used to train models, and your dictation history stays on your device. It needs an internet connection.
• Aqua Voice: its privacy policy, effective July 29, 2026, says that with Privacy Mode off it may store transcripts on its servers to improve the product; with it on, transcripts aren't collected, though session metadata such as device type may be. Its terms say it won't train AI models on your content, or let third parties do so, unless you explicitly agree. On desktop, History keeps recent audio on your computer for three days (History guide).

On Android, the two use accessibility access differently. LumeVoice uses it only to find the text field and insert your words. Aqua says it reads the active text field, the visible text and the app you're in, to place and format your words, and that password fields are excluded.

For organizations, Aqua offers more: zero data retention on Business, an org-wide Privacy Mode for teams, and a SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate available through its Trust Center. It also describes itself as GDPR and HIPAA compliant, and asks healthcare teams to contact it about a Business Associate Agreement first (GDPR and HIPAA).

Where Aqua Voice is the better choice#

• Editing by voice, included on every desktop plan and built into the phone apps.
• Realtime Mode and "send it" if you pay for Max.
• Students: 70% off Pro and Max with a school email.
• Teams and procurement: a Business plan with single sign-on, SCIM, reporting and zero data retention, plus security reports.
• Coding: file tagging in AI code editors, a command-line tool, an MCP server and an API.
• The lower monthly price for unlimited dictation: $10 for Pro.
• Settings that follow you across Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.

Where LumeVoice is the better choice#

• Languages: 100 against Aqua's 49, plus an output-language setting.
• Self-corrections handled by default, along with fillers, stutters and spoken lists.
• Pay once: $249 for Lifetime, which Aqua doesn't offer.
• A bigger free start: 3,000 free words, no card required, against Aqua's 1,000 words.
• Yearly price: $79.99/year against $96 for Aqua Pro.
• Accessibility discount: 50% off, trust-based.
• A money-back guarantee: 14-day, 10,000-word money-back guarantee.
• File transcription built into the desktop apps.

Switching from Aqua Voice to LumeVoice#

1. Install LumeVoice on the computer and phone you use most, and keep Aqua for now.
2. Bring your words over. If you use Aqua's command-line tool, aqua dict list prints your dictionary, which you can add to LumeVoice's custom dictionary. Recreate your Replacements as snippets.
3. Check your writing rules. LumeVoice has preset writing styles rather than free-form instructions, so see whether a preset covers what your Custom Instructions did.
4. Use your free words on real work for a few days.
5. Ask for your discount before you buy. Email hello@lumevoice.com for the student or accessibility code, then upgrade on Mac or Windows.
6. Cancel Aqua before it renews. Web subscriptions are managed from Aqua's account page; subscriptions bought in the iPhone or Android app are managed by Apple or Google (Aqua FAQ). Aqua's terms say fees are non-refundable, so time it to your renewal date.

For more depth, see Aqua Voice pricing, our list of Aqua Voice alternatives, and how Aqua compares with Wispr Flow and Superwhisper. Other head-to-heads are on the comparisons page, including LumeVoice vs Voicy.

The bottom line#

Aqua Voice is the richer app for editing and for teams: it rewrites selected text by voice on every plan, sells Realtime Mode to power users and a Business plan to companies, and gives students the deepest discount. LumeVoice is the simpler option with wider language support: it cleans up how people actually talk in 100 languages, starts you with more free words, and lets you pay once. Neither works without a connection. If Edit Mode or a team plan is a must-have, choose Aqua; if not, dictate a week of real writing in both and keep the one you fix less.