Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
This section collects short answers to common questions: what Potok (potok.now) is, whether dictation works in Word, where data goes and how many words you can dictate for free. Potok's free limit is 2500 words per week on one device, and after that a paid plan with no limit is needed.
Voice input turns speech into text right in the active field, in a browser, an editor or a messenger, without typing on a keyboard. Questions about it are most often not about how it works in general but about a specific situation: why a program behaves in exactly this way, where a limit came from, or what to do if something does not open.
What questions people ask most about voice input
Most often the questions fall into five groups. The first is about a specific app: what it is called, what it can do and how it differs from other options. The second is about compatibility with a specific program or input field: whether dictation works exactly where a person types text every day, be it a text editor, mail or a chat. The third group is about data: where audio goes during recognition and whether it is stored anywhere besides the device itself. The fourth is about the operating system version: built-in tools like Win+H understand Russian not in every Windows build, and this is a common cause of confusion when it works for an acquaintance but not for you. The fifth group is technical: what to do if a program does not start, freezes or behaves differently from the instructions.
- What is the Potok app
- How Win+H voice input differs from Voice Access in Windows 11
- How does Potok, available on Windows, macOS and Linux, differ from built-in dictation in Windows and macOS?
- Voice input and a Mac on Intel: will it work
- Does Win+H work without the internet?
- Bot does not transcribe voice messages in a group: why
- How a summary differs from a task list in a recording transcript
- Why a transcript says Speaker 1 and Speaker 2, not names
- Where to find an old transcript in the Telegram bot
- How long transcripts are kept in the Telegram bot
- Are 60 minutes of free transcription a month enough
- What happens when the free transcription limit in the bot runs out
- Are minutes deducted if a transcription in the bot fails
- What the bot does with a long transcript: punctuation, case and how to turn off proofreading
- Does the bot transcribe English speech and translate into another language
- Potok bot or app: which to choose for dictation and for recordings
- Does Potok listen to the microphone all the time or only during recording
- What happens after the 14-day trial in Potok
- What the Potok Pro subscription includes: dictionary, snippets, support
- Can the Potok app transcribe an audio file or a meeting recording
- How to contact Potok support
All articles in this section (200): potok.now/voprosy
Common tasks and where to go for each
Six questions from this topic and where to go for the answer.
- What Potok is: an app for Windows, macOS and Linux with the Ctrl+Space hotkey, which recognizes speech in the cloud on a model for the Russian language.
- Is there voice input in Word: Word has no feature of its own, and it works as in any field: the Win+H panel in Windows 11 or dictation in macOS.
- Does a computer have voice input: yes, one option is already built in: Win+H in Windows 11 and dictation in macOS understand Russian without installing programs.
- Does data leak during voice input: in the cloud, audio goes to the recognition server; for some programs in the section the country of the data center is not disclosed, for example SpeakFlow and Talkpad.
- The best voice input for Windows 10: Win+H on Windows 10 does not support Russian, so a separate program is needed there.
- Potok does not open: a separate technical problem, not about speech recognition; the causes and steps are covered in a separate article.
Where Potok will not help
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work at all without the internet. It does not understand voice commands for editing text: it inserts what you said and does not edit what was written earlier. There are also no mobile apps for Android and iPhone, only desktop versions for Windows and macOS. Potok also does not transcribe ready-made recordings or translate between languages.
Frequently asked questions
For 14 days all features are available without a card. After that, on the free plan Potok gives 2500 words per week on one device; for a larger volume you need a paid plan with no limit, with a dictionary and snippets.
Yes, in some programs recognition runs right on the device: GigaType on the GigaAM model for Russian, Molvi for free without an account, WhispeRu for Windows only. They do not send audio to a server, so they work without a network.
Voice input turns speech into text on the fly: the user speaks, the program transcribes the sound with speech recognition technology (ASR) and inserts the resulting text into the active field, such as email, a messenger or a document. In Potok this works through a hotkey: hold it, speak, release, and the text is inserted.
By a model estimate, the average dictation speed with Potok is about 900 characters per minute versus about 200 characters per minute with ordinary typing, so speech is noticeably faster than the keyboard.
Yes: Windows has built-in voice typing via Win+H (Russian only in Windows 11, Windows 10 has no Russian; it does not work without the internet), and the Mac has system dictation in the keyboard settings. Both are free.
Any microphone the system sees as a recording device will do. In Potok you choose it in the app settings or in the tray icon menu; system access to the microphone is required.
How to start
Potok is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. For two weeks everything is open for free, after that 2500 words per week without paying. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokA voice message from a messenger or a call recording can be forwarded to the bot @potok_now_bot, and it sends back the text. The bot is part of the same subscription as the Potok app.
Related software: terms compared
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| SpeakFlow | Windows, Web | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 690 ₽/mo (Personal (unlimited)) | rubles directly | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| Diktuy | Windows, macOS | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 239 ₽/mo (Profi (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)); 2870 ₽/yr (Profi (year, billed in full)); 479 ₽/mo (Max (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)) | rubles directly (not confirmed) | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| Talkpad | macOS, Windows, Android | 2500 words/week on desktop, 1500 words/week on mobile, free forever; plus a 14-day Pro trial | $6/mo (Pro (billed yearly, $72/yr)); $8/mo (Pro (monthly billing)) | unknown (not confirmed) | cloud (the legal entity is registered in Australia; the website is hosted on Cloudflare; the exact location of the ASR servers is not disclosed in the privacy policy) (not confirmed) |
| Voisty | Windows, macOS | 5 minutes of transcription (to judge the quality) | $6.7/mo (Pro); $67/yr (Pro (year)); $99/one-time (Lifetime) | Visa/Mastercard/Amex cards, PayPal; whether Russian cards are accepted is not stated (not confirmed) | device (offline, local models such as Whisper Large V3 Turbo / NVIDIA Parakeet) |
| WhispeRu | Windows | 7-day free trial (no card) | 290 ₽/mo (monthly license); 1990 ₽/yr (yearly license); 4990 ₽/one-time (lifetime license) | rubles directly (payment via YooKassa) | device (offline) |
| GigaType | Windows, macOS | free with no limits: open source under the MIT license (Copyright (c) 2026 Disrupt Builders), all features are available without payment | — | not needed: there are no paid plans | device (offline, Sber's GigaAM neural network) |
| Molvi | Windows, macOS | free forever, no accounts and no payment | — | not needed: the product is free; voluntary donations are accepted via Telegram Tribute or by card on the website, amounts are not fixed | device (offline; best quality on an NVIDIA GPU, otherwise a fast model on the CPU) |
Built-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | Windows 10 and 11 | Windows 11 only | Microsoft cloud, does not work offline |
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
Primary sources: speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · blog.speakflow.ru