What Spokenly is and how it works

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

Spokenly is voice input for macOS, Windows, Linux and iOS with an unusual model: local recognition models are free forever with no word limit, while cloud engines such as GPT-4o Transcribe need your own API key or a Pro subscription. Potok (potok.now) is simpler: ready-made cloud recognition with no keys or setup and a free limit of 2500 words per week.

Spokenly is voice input that gives you a choice rather than a ready solution: you can recognize speech for free right on the device, or you can connect a cloud engine such as Deepgram or GPT-4o Transcribe through your own API key. Such flexibility is unusual for voice input and requires a bit more figuring out than “install it and talk”. Here is how it works, who it suits and what to check before installing.

How Spokenly works

Spokenly has two fundamentally different ways of recognizing speech, and the choice between them is not a detail but the program's central feature. The first is the local Whisper and Parakeet models: they are installed on the device and recognize speech without an internet connection, for free and with no limit on the amount of dictation.

The second way is cloud engines: GPT-4o Transcribe, Deepgram Nova 3, Soniox and others. To use them, you need either your own API key from the chosen cloud service (BYOK, bring your own key) or a Spokenly Pro subscription, which gives access without setting up keys separately.

The own-key approach is unusual for an ordinary user: you need to create an account with a third-party recognition provider, get a key and paste it into Spokenly's settings. In return, you pay the provider directly for actual use, with no markup from Spokenly itself and no limits from the program's developer.

The program works on four platforms, macOS, Windows, Linux and iOS, which is rare among voice input tools: Linux support is found almost nowhere else. An overview of similar programs is in the section voice input software.

Sources: spokenly.app · spokenly.app

Who Spokenly suits

• those who understand technical details and are ready to connect a cloud service's API key themselves;
• Linux users, for whom voice input is a rarity in general;
• those who need free recognition with no word limit and without the internet: the local models cover this task completely;
• users who already use a specific cloud API for other tasks and want to use the same account for dictation;
• those who are ready to pay for a Pro subscription for convenience, without dealing with keys and setup;
• those who need to work on several systems at once: macOS, Windows, Linux and iOS in one tool.

What switching to dictation instead of typing looks like in general is in the article six months of voice input instead of the keyboard: an honest account.

Limitations for a user in Russia

The legal entity that developed Spokenly is not stated on the website, and neither is whether the Pro subscription accepts Russian bank cards directly. Clarify this question separately before subscribing rather than take it for granted.

If you choose the own-API-key path, payment works in two layers: the Spokenly program itself may be free, but the recognition provider, OpenAI, Deepgram or another, bills separately under its own rules. Check the availability of payment for Russian users with each provider separately rather than assume that since the program itself charges nothing, there will be no payment issues at all.

There is no data on the quality of Russian speech recognition for either the local models or the cloud options: Spokenly's website does not publish a list of languages with details for each. Before relying on the program for Russian dictation, check the result on your own phrases; fortunately, the free local models let you do this at no cost.

When Potok does not replace Spokenly

If fully local recognition without the internet and with no limit on volume matters to you, Potok does not offer it: Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.

Potok also lacks the flexibility of choosing a recognition engine: there is one model, its own, with no way to connect a third-party API key.

Frequently asked questions

Primary sources: spokenly.app · spokenly.app