Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Aqua Voice reviews are positive on average: 4.4 out of 5 on the Mac App Store (91 ratings) and about 4.43 out of 5 on AlternativeTo. People praise dictation speed on the phone and complain about pricing in “tokens” and the storage of voice data. The sources have no reviews about Russian; for comparison, Potok (potok.now) has a separate model for Russian speech.
4.4 out of 5 is the average Aqua Voice rating on the Mac App Store from 91 ratings. The figure looks convincing, but behind it are specific and rather different impressions: from praise for recognition accuracy to dissatisfaction that token-based pricing does not let you understand in advance what an ordinary month will cost. We collected reviews from three sites in one place, split into what people praise and what they complain about.
Where we collected the ratings
Three sources with different formats. The Mac App Store gives a numeric rating, 4.4 out of 5 from 91 ratings at the time of data collection. This is Apple's open platform, where any user can leave a rating after installing the app, with no moderation of the content of the review.
Hacker News is not a review site in the usual sense but a discussion thread about the product by the technical community: it has no averaged rating, but it has extended comments about specific usage scenarios and complaints that rarely reach app stores.
AlternativeTo gives an aggregated rating of about 4.43 out of 5, but with no breakdown by number of votes and no text comments in the collected data, only the rating figure itself.
| Aqua Voice | Potok | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Aqua Voice: macOS, Windows, iOS | Potok: Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Free | Aqua Voice: Starter: 1000 free words (Avalon model), no card required | Potok: Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed |
| Price | Aqua Voice: $8/mo (Pro, billed yearly); $10/mo (Pro, monthly); $24/mo (Max, billed yearly) | Potok: Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly |
| Payment from Russia | Aqua Voice: unknown: the website shows payment in USD, and there is a separate purchase through the iOS App Store; acceptance of Russian cards is not confirmed (not confirmed) | Potok: Russian bank cards, rubles |
| Where speech is recognized | Aqua Voice: cloud (own Avalon model; the country of the data center is not publicly disclosed) (not confirmed) | Potok: cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| Russian language | Aqua Voice: support for 49 languages with automatic detection, including Russian, is stated; no data on Russian recognition quality was found | Potok: primary language |
| Company | Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice, Inc. (San Francisco, USA; Y Combinator W24 graduate) | Potok: Sole proprietor, Russia |
Sources: aquavoice.com · aquavoice.com · www.crunchbase.com
What people praise Aqua Voice for
- on the Mac App Store they note that dictating on the phone is convenient, and on this parameter the service beats some competitors; the reviewers compare specifically the mobile usage scenario, not the desktop version;
- there they also write that the accuracy is enough to stop typing by hand for everyday tasks: conversation, short notes, email drafts;
- Mac App Store users note the ability to fix the tone and grammar of the dictated text right away, without switching to another program; that is, editing is built into the same interface where the dictation itself happens;
- on Hacker News they praise that the service distinguishes well between voice editing commands and the text itself that needs to be inserted, which removes a common problem of other programs, where a command accidentally lands in the finished text;
- there they also note a noticeable productivity gain for people with dyslexia and RSI, the repetitive strain condition from long work at a keyboard, when typing by hand is physically painful or tiring;
- the demo version on Hacker News is called smooth and responsive already at the first acquaintance with the product, without long setup before you can start using it.
What people complain about
- on Hacker News the main complaint is pricing in “tokens”: it is hard for users to estimate in advance what an ordinary month of use will cost until they spend part of the limit on a trial, and it cannot be compared with a familiar monthly subscription by eye;
- there are also concerns about exactly how voice data is stored and whether it is used for further training of models; there is no direct answer to this question in the discussion itself, and this leaves the question open for those who care about privacy;
- some commenters on Hacker News would like Aqua Voice to be integrated directly into the apps they already use, not through a separate web editor to which you have to return each time, apart from the rest of the workflow;
- on the Mac App Store and AlternativeTo there are no text complaints in the collected data: only numeric ratings are available there, without a breakdown by specific complaints, and this in itself does not mean there are no dissatisfied users, only that detailed comments are left there less often.
| 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 |
| Aqua Voice | macOS, Windows, iOS | Starter: 1000 free words (Avalon model), no card required | $8/mo (Pro, billed yearly); $10/mo (Pro, monthly); $24/mo (Max, billed yearly) | unknown: the website shows payment in USD, and there is a separate purchase through the iOS App Store; acceptance of Russian cards is not confirmed (not confirmed) | cloud (own Avalon model; the country of the data center is not publicly disclosed) (not confirmed) |
Who Potok will not suit instead of Aqua Voice
For those who use Aqua Voice from a phone for mobile dictation, Potok will not do: it has no mobile apps, only clients for Windows and macOS.
The sources had no reviews about Aqua Voice's work with Russian, so the recognition quality in Russian cannot be compared from reviews.
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. Those who worry about the storage of voice data in the Aqua Voice reviews should check the Potok policy separately. A direct comparison by facts is in the article GigaType or Potok, and a look at one more foreign service is in Potok vs Wispr Flow.
Frequently asked questions
4.4 out of 5 from 91 ratings at the time of data collection. This is Apple's open platform, and any user can leave a rating after installing the app.
Yes. On Hacker News users wrote that pricing in “tokens” is confusing: it is hard to estimate in advance how much an ordinary month of use will cost without spending part of the limit on a trial.
Aqua Voice is available on: macOS, Windows, iOS.
On the Aqua Voice website the prices are in dollars, and there is a separate purchase through the iOS App Store; accepting Russian cards is not confirmed.
Paid Aqua Voice plans on the website: Pro is $10 per month or $8 per month with annual payment; Max is $30 per month or $24 with annual payment; Team is $15 per month per user or $12 with annual payment. Through the iOS App Store it is $12.99 per month or $119 per year.
The Aqua Voice free plan works like this: Starter gives 1000 free words (the Avalon model), and no card 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.
Primary sources: aquavoice.com · aquavoice.com · www.crunchbase.com