LumeVoice vs Voicy: Which Dictation App Fits You?

LumeVoice vs Voicy mostly comes down to two questions: where do you write, and do you ever need to dictate without the internet? Voicy reaches more places, with a Linux app, a Chrome extension and an offline mode on desktop. LumeVoice concentrates on what happens to your words: it strips filler words, applies your self-corrections and works in 100 languages.

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

Who should pick which#

Pick Voicy if you:

• need to dictate with no internet connection on a Mac, Windows PC or Linux machine
• use Linux, or want a browser extension
• are buying for a team of three or more
• pay month to month and want the lowest monthly price
• want to edit selected text by voice, or write your own AI instructions for formatting

Pick LumeVoice if you:

• want filler words, stutters and self-corrections ("five, actually six" becomes "six") cleaned up automatically
• dictate in a language outside Voicy's 50-plus, or want to speak one language and get text in another
• are a student, or find typing hard because of a disability, injury or health condition
• are setting up an older Mac (LumeVoice needs macOS 11.5; Voicy needs macOS 13)

LumeVoice vs Voicy at a glance#

Voicy details as of October 2026, from usevoicy.com, its help center and its app store listings.

Price and 3-year cost#

Voicy's pricing is simple (Voicy pricing). Its yearly plan works out to about $6.83 a month, roughly 20% less than paying $8.49 every month ($101.88 a year). One detail worth knowing: in the US App Store, Voicy's iPhone app lists Lifetime as a $219.99 in-app purchase (App Store listing).

Here is what each option costs if you keep it for three years:

Month to month, Voicy is the cheaper app. On yearly billing, compare $79.99/year with $82. Voicy's own Lifetime license only beats its yearly plan if you keep using it for more than about three years ($260 against $82 a year).

Discounts are where the gap is widest. Voicy gives students and people with disabilities 20% off all its plans, with no proof needed for either: you email the founder and get a code (disability discount, student discount). LumeVoice gives students and teachers 50% off (email from a school address, or attach proof of enrollment), and gives 50% off to anyone who finds typing hard because of a disability, injury or health condition, with no proof asked. With that code, LumeVoice Pro is $7.49 a month or $39.99 a year; Voicy's yearly plan with its 20% discount works out to about $65.60. Our codes are entered at checkout on Mac or Windows; purchases made on a phone go through the App Store or Google Play, where codes don't apply. See the accessibility discount and student pricing.

To try them, Voicy gives you 30 minutes of recording time. LumeVoice starts every new account with 3,000 free words, no card required, and Pro Monthly and Pro Annual begin with a 7-day free trial the first time you upgrade in the app (card required). See LumeVoice pricing.

Platforms: where each app runs#

Mac. LumeVoice lives in the menu bar: hold fn (Globe), speak and let go. It runs on macOS 11.5 or later. Voicy's Mac app supports macOS 13 or higher on Apple silicon and Intel, and its offline mode needs macOS 15 (Voicy for Mac, offline dictation). If you're setting up an older Mac for a parent, that difference can decide it. More on LumeVoice for Mac.

Windows. Both support Windows 10 and 11. LumeVoice sits in the system tray: hold Ctrl + Win and talk, tap Space while holding it to go hands-free, or press Esc to cancel. It installs per user, with no admin rights needed, which helps on a locked-down work PC. See LumeVoice for Windows.

Linux. Only Voicy. It offers packages for Ubuntu and Debian, Fedora and RHEL, plus an AppImage, with a setup step for pasting on Wayland (install guide).

In the browser. Voicy has a Chrome extension and says it also works in Edge, Brave, Opera, Arc and Vivaldi (Chrome extension). LumeVoice has no extension; on a Mac or PC its desktop app types into any website anyway, but that doesn't help where you can only install extensions.

iPhone. Both are keyboards: switch to the Lume keyboard (iOS 17 or later) or the Voicy keyboard (iOS 17.6 or later) and talk.

Android. The two work in much the same way. Each shows a floating button and uses Android's Accessibility Service to find the text field and insert your words, so you keep your usual keyboard (Voicy for Android).

Chromebook. LumeVoice has no ChromeOS app. Voicy's own guide suggests its Android app on Chromebooks that support Google Play (Voicy's Chromebook guide).

Features: cleanup, editing and extras#

Both apps add punctuation from context, follow spoken commands such as "new line", keep a custom dictionary for names and jargon (Voicy's holds 600 characters), and expand a short spoken cue into saved text: snippets in LumeVoice, voice shortcuts in Voicy. Both transcribe audio and video files on desktop; Voicy's file transcription needs a paid plan and takes files up to 60 minutes long (file transcription).

Where they differ:

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. Voicy's desktop formatting adds paragraphs and bullet lists by default. Removing "um" and "uh" is a separate setting that starts switched off, and its help center doesn't describe handling self-corrections (automatic formatting, filler words).

Editing and custom instructions. This is Voicy's strong suit. Rewrite Mode lets you highlight text and say how to change it, such as making it more formal or translating it. Custom Modes apply your own AI instructions to each new dictation, for example to always shape it as an email (Rewrite Mode, Custom Modes). LumeVoice doesn't edit existing text by voice. It offers preset writing styles (Default, Casual, Excited and Casual Lowercase on desktop) and an output-language setting, so you can speak English and get Spanish.

Languages. LumeVoice works in 100 languages and detects them automatically. Voicy supports more than 50 online, with automatic detection and switching mid-sentence, and 25 in offline mode (recording languages).

How you start. LumeVoice is hold-to-talk (fn on a Mac, Ctrl + Win on Windows), with a double-press for hands-free, and you can change the shortcut in Settings, on Windows even to a single key such as an F-key. Voicy is tap to start and tap to stop, and you can assign a mouse side button or a scroll-wheel click, which helps if holding keys is hard (recording shortcut).

Privacy: where your voice goes#

Online, the two work the same way: your audio goes to the cloud and comes back as text, and both use Whisper speech models running on Groq. LumeVoice uses Whisper large-v3-turbo, with Mistral's Voxtral as a fallback, and then a language model for the cleanup. Voicy's security policy names Groq-hosted Whisper V3.

• 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.
• Voicy: its privacy policy says it doesn't store recordings or transcripts or use them for training, that Groq's zero data retention setting is on, and that audio passes through its servers in the EU or the US (US users go to US servers). It keeps anonymized usage analytics, which its security policy says you can switch off. Desktop history stays on your computer and is cleared after three days, and voluntary problem reports are kept for 30 days (privacy guide).

The real difference is offline mode. With Voicy's offline mode on, normal dictation is transcribed on your computer, and the audio isn't sent to Voicy's servers or to Groq. LumeVoice has nothing like it. If your audio has to stay on the machine, Voicy is the better fit. Its AI features, Rewrite Mode and Custom Modes, still need a connection.

Where Voicy is the better choice#

• Offline dictation on Mac, Windows and Linux, in 25 languages.
• Linux, and a browser extension for Chrome and other Chromium browsers.
• A team plan with priority support (Voicy for Teams).
• The lowest monthly price of the two, and a simple 30-minute trial with no card.
• Rewrite Mode and Custom Modes for editing by voice and writing your own instructions.
• A disability discount with a track record: its security policy, last updated in July 2025, already lists it.

Where LumeVoice is the better choice#

• Cleanup by default: filler words, stutters and self-corrections handled without changing settings.
• 100 languages against Voicy's 50-plus, plus an output-language setting.
• Larger discounts: 50% off for students and teachers and 50% off for accessibility, against Voicy's 20%.
• Older Macs: macOS 11.5 or later, where Voicy needs macOS 13.
• No admin rights on Windows, thanks to a per-user install.

Switching from Voicy to LumeVoice#

1. Install LumeVoice on the computer and phone you use most, and keep Voicy for now.
2. Re-add your words. Copy the names and terms from Voicy's dictionary into LumeVoice's custom dictionary, and recreate your voice shortcuts as snippets.
3. Use your free words on real work for a few days.
4. Ask for your discount before you buy. Email hello@lumevoice.com for the student or accessibility code, then upgrade on Mac or Windows.
5. Cancel Voicy from Manage account in the Voicy app before it renews (manage your subscription). Its refund policy covers cancellations within 7 days of purchase (refund policy).

For more depth, see our Voicy review, the Voicy pricing breakdown and our list of Voicy alternatives.

The bottom line#

Voicy is the broader app: it runs on Linux and in the browser, can work offline on desktop, sells a team plan, and costs less month to month. LumeVoice is the narrower one: no offline mode, no Linux, no extension. It's built around cleaning up how people actually talk, in 100 languages, with larger student and accessibility discounts. If any of Voicy's extras is a must-have, choose Voicy. If not, dictate a week of real writing in both and keep the one you edit less.