Potok or Diktuy: two Russian voice input tools

Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.

Potok (potok.now) and Diktuy are Russian voice input apps for Windows and macOS with payment in rubles. Diktuy is cheaper, openly names its model and can transcribe finished files. Potok does not disclose its model, but offers a personal dictionary of terms and 14 days of full access with no card. There is no independent accuracy comparison between them.

Platforms

Potok runs on Windows 10, Windows 11 and macOS. According to its own site, Diktuy also has clients for Windows and macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel). There is practically no difference in platforms: both cover the two main desktop operating systems.

Fit for the Russian language and the model

This is where the positioning differs most. Diktuy openly states in its llms.txt file that it uses Whisper Large-v3-turbo, a ready-made multilingual model. On its site it claims 95-98% accuracy on clean Russian speech and support for 50+ languages. Potok does not name a vendor or a model: it is its own development, trained for Russian speech.

You cannot check from open sources who is more accurate on mixed Russian and English speech or on professional terminology. Neither service has published a comparative measurement against the other. Our figure for Potok is a WER of 2.1% on the GolosTest benchmark. This is our own result on an open set, not a comparison with Diktuy, and the methods behind the two claims differ.

Price and the free plan

Diktuy's plans are as on the page diktuy.ru/pricing. The free plan gives 30 minutes of dictation per month plus unlimited local transcription of finished audio and video files. Profi costs 239 ₽ per month when paid for a year (2870 ₽ for a year) and includes 300 minutes of dictation and 300 minutes of cloud processing per month. Max costs 479 ₽ per month when paid for a year (5750 ₽ for a year): unlimited dictation and 1200 minutes of cloud processing per month.

Potok has two plans. Free: 0 ₽, 2500 words per week, one device, no card. Pro: 690 ₽ per month or 499 ₽ per month when paid for a year, unlimited use, a personal dictionary, snippets, priority support. In money terms Diktuy is cheaper; the difference is in what the top plan includes.

Data and privacy

Both services build their positioning around Russia and the 152-FZ law. For Potok you can check it: the personal data processing policy (potok.now/privacy) directly says that the audio recording and the transcript obtained from it are stored on the Operator's servers in the territory of Russia, and the local copy of the audio on the device is deleted after 14 days. Diktuy writes about servers and a database in Russia in its llms.txt file, but the pricing page does not state where the servers are. We did not carry out a separate audit, and it is worth keeping this in mind if jurisdiction is essential to you.

Neither service claims certification or attestation under the 152-FZ law and FSTEC requirements. This is a separate procedure, and it is worth asking the vendor directly if it is critical for your organization.

Who each one suits

If price matters most and you sometimes transcribe finished recordings (interviews, calls, videos), Diktuy has this built in and is cheaper. If you dictate a lot of live speech with professional terms and want frequent words and names to be fixed for you personally, Potok's personal dictionary covers that scenario. Pro's unlimited use is not tied to the number of minutes per month.

For a freelancer or sole proprietor who dictates little and irregularly, a difference of 200-450 ₽ per month may be decisive. In that case start with the free plans of both services and see where you hit the limit sooner: 30 minutes of dictation at Diktuy or 2500 words per week at Potok. In a law firm where several employees constantly dictate contracts and correspondence, a one-time saving on a subscription matters less. What decides it is how cleanly recurring names of counterparties and terms are recognized, and a personal dictionary quickly pays back the price difference.

Extra features: transcription and dictionary

Besides live dictation, Diktuy has a separate transcription of finished recordings. You can upload an audio or video file and get text with a split by speakers; local transcription on the free plan is not limited by the number of files. This is handy if you regularly need to transcribe recordings of negotiations or meetings, not only dictate from scratch. Potok has no such feature: only live speech while you hold the hotkey, hence the name. If transcribing finished recordings is a regular part of your work, this is a weighty argument for Diktuy.

On the other hand, Diktuy's public plan descriptions do not mention a personal dictionary of terms. For legal dictation it solves a specific and frequent problem: distortion of names of parties in Latin letters and recurring wording. If you work month after month with the same counterparties and terms, the time saved by the dictionary may outweigh Diktuy's lower price.

A short rule for choosing

If you are already used to transcribing finished recordings and budget is the priority, start with Diktuy: its plans are cheaper, and file transcription covers an adjacent task. If you mostly dictate live speech with a stable set of terms and counterparties and are ready to pay extra so that these words are recognized correctly the first time, start with Potok and its personal dictionary. Both have a free plan, so you can decide on your own texts rather than on the marketing promises of either side.

Potok is a cloud service, with recognition on servers in Russia; it does not work without the internet.

Frequently asked questions

Built-in dictation and Potok

Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com