Wispr raised $2B... for a wrapper around open-source Whisper. Here are 3 free alternatives.

Wispr Flow just raised $280M Series B at a $2 billion valuation for... a cloud speech-to-text wrapper. The engine powering it is OpenAI Whisper, which is MIT-licensed and free.

I am not inherently against paid software. But when the entire product is a cloud STT layer on top of an open model, the $15/month pill is hard to defend.

The same picture, in the same picture

The cards say it best: openai/whisper repo on one side, wisprflow on the other. The engine is the product.

Anyone can run it on their laptop. The marketing layer around it is worth two billion? I'm angry about it in the reel, and I stand by it.

3 free alternatives

1. OpenWhispr - openwhispr.com. Works on Mac, Windows, Linux.
2. Whisperio - github.com/draenger/whisperio. Mac, Windows, Linux.
3. Hex - github.com/kitlangton/Hex. Mac only - but my favorite.

Bottom line

If you are paying $15/mo for dictation, the alternatives are free, cross-platform, and built on the exact same engine. So just... stop Wispr Flow.

Send this to a friend still paying.