Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
This is the name of a desktop app for voice input of text on Windows, macOS and Linux: Potok (potok.now). The user holds a hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), speaks and releases it, and the text is inserted at once into the field with the cursor, in any program. Recognition runs in the cloud, on servers in Russia, and the app places punctuation and capital letters itself. For the first 14 days all features are free, with no card.
Some people are looking for an answer to what kind of program Potok is and what it does on a computer. It is a separate desktop app for voice input of text, not a browser extension and not a built-in function of the operating system.
What kind of app Potok is
Potok is a cloud program: it does not recognize speech on the device itself, but sends the audio to a server and gets the finished text back. The model is trained for Russian speech, including terms and Russian mixed with English, and the servers are in Russia. The text is inserted where the cursor is at the moment of dictation, in any window and any program, not only in the app itself.
Besides dictation itself, the app has a personal dictionary for your own terms and names and ready-made snippets; both features are part of the Pro subscription. For the first 14 days after installation all features, including the dictionary and snippets, are free and without a card attached. After the trial period, without a subscription, a free mode of 2500 words per week on one device remains.
How to try Potok yourself
- Download the version for your system: for Windows, macOS or Linux.
- On first launch, give the app access to the microphone: without this permission dictation will not start.
- Put the cursor in any text field, hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), say a phrase and release the key, and the text appears where the cursor was.
- If Ctrl+Space is taken by another program, replace it in the Potok settings with your own: any key, a combination or a side mouse button.
If the microphone does not respond because of protection settings, this is covered separately in the article what to do if an antivirus blocks the microphone.
When Potok does not suit
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia; without an internet connection it does not work. There are no apps for Android and iPhone, and no offline mode either, and the program does not understand voice commands for editing text: it places punctuation and capital letters itself, and writes numbers, sums and times as digits. For someone who dictates all working day, the free limit of 2500 words per week may not be enough; for that there is Pro without a limit. How much it costs is in the article how much voice input costs in Potok.
Frequently asked questions
It is a computer program: you install it on Windows, macOS or Linux and run it as a separate app. The potok.now website is for downloading the installer and viewing plans, while the dictation itself happens in the installed program, not in the browser.
No. Potok (potok.now) is a desktop app for voice input of text on Windows, macOS and Linux: hold the hotkey, dictate, and the text is inserted into the active field. It has nothing to do with investment services or financial platforms with a similar name.
The potok.now website collects generalized reviews reflecting the typical user experience; in marketing materials they are not presented as reviews by specific named people.
Download the latest version from the official page potok.now/download and reinstall the app: an installer from a third-party site may have been altered. If that does not help, write to support: support@potok.now or in Telegram https://t.me/ai23c.
There are similar products (Wispr Flow, Talkpad, Voisty, the built-in Win+H and macOS dictation). Potok is a Russian service with its own model trained on Russian speech; servers in Russia, payment by a Russian card in rubles.
Potok has no separate browser extension: it is a desktop app that works over any window and input field, including a browser, and not a separate plugin.
Try it on your own texts
Download Potok for Windows, macOS or Linux: full access for the first 14 days, no card needed. After that, 2500 words per week for free or Pro for 690 ₽ per month. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokOne subscription, two tools: dictation in any program on your computer and @potok_now_bot in Telegram, which transcribes voice messages, audio and video.
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 |
| Task | Characters | Typing (200 chars/min) | Voice (900 chars/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| chat reply | 300 | 2 min | 0.5 min |
| 1500 | 8 min | 1.7 min | |
| post or meeting minutes | 4000 | 20 min | 4.4 min |
| article | 10000 | 50 min | 11.1 min |
Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com