Which dictation apps are rated highest on the App Store?

The highest averages belong to small apps with very few ratings, and the highest averages among apps with a large rating base sit just under a perfect score. In the United States, the meeting notes app Granola averages 4.96 stars out of 5 ¹. Among dictation apps, Wispr Flow averages 4.84 stars out of 5 ², on a rating base that is far larger than most of its rivals.

The data behind this page holds 326 data points, each one an app's average in one storefront on the day it was read. Read the stars together with the rating count, or the ranking will mislead you.

A perfect score usually means a handful of ratings

Several apps show a flat 5.00 stars out of 5. Utter, a dictation app, has that average in the United States ³, yet it stands on only a few ratings. Monologue shows the same pattern in Brazil with 5.00 stars out of 5 ⁴, again from a tiny base. A few friendly reviewers are enough to produce a perfect average, and one unhappy reviewer would pull it down at once.

Compare Monologue in the United States, where it averages 4.82 stars out of 5 ⁵ from a base of hundreds of ratings. That figure is lower, and it is the one you can trust more.

Dictation apps with real volume cluster just under a perfect score

The table lists dictation apps in the United States store with the rating count beside each average. The order follows the average, so read the Ratings column before you read the stars.

Showing 8 of 12 rows. See every row in the dataset.

Wispr Flow is the clearest example of a high average held over a large base. Its United States score is 4.84 stars out of 5 ². In Brazil it reads 4.91 stars out of 5 ¹¹, and in France 4.84 stars out of 5 ¹². The spread across storefronts is small, which is itself a sign of a stable score.

Willow Voice reaches 4.97 stars out of 5 in France ¹³, from a modest base. It is a strong reading, but a much smaller sample than the leaders in the United States.

Meeting notes and voice assistant apps often rate higher than dictation apps

If you widen the view beyond dictation, the top of the list changes. Granola leads the meeting notes group in several countries, with 4.94 stars out of 5 in the United Kingdom ¹⁴ and 4.96 stars out of 5 in Brazil ¹⁵.

Showing 8 of 12 rows. See every row in the dataset.

Voice assistants collect the largest rating bases of all. ChatGPT voice mode averages 4.83 stars out of 5 in the United States ²³, and its base runs into millions. A score that high on a base that large is hard to move, but it describes a general chat app with a voice mode, not a tool built to write your documents.

The chart shows the apps in the United States store that have a solid number of ratings.

What these averages do and do not measure

An App Store average is a simple measure with real limits.

• It reflects who chooses to rate. Ratings are a fraction of downloads and depend on how often an app asks for one. An app that prompts after a good moment will score higher than one that never asks.
• It can reset. Apple can reset an app's ratings when a new version ships, so a young-looking count may hide a long history.
• It can lag. The figures come from Apple's lookup interface and can trail the store page by a day.
• It is not a test of accuracy. Stars mix speech recognition quality with price, design, login problems and support. A low score may come from a billing complaint, and a high score may come from a pleasant interface.
• It covers only some storefronts. The data tracks six countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan and Brazil. A storefront with only a handful of ratings is left out, because that average says too little.
• It mostly shows the iPhone and iPad store. The rows above come from that store, so a score here says little about how an app behaves on a Mac or in a browser.

Averages from different segments are also not like for like. A meeting notes app, a voice assistant and a dictation app are used for different jobs, so a higher score in one group does not mean better dictation.

How to use the ratings when you choose how to dictate

Use the star average only to rule things out, then test the app yourself. A few steps help:

1. Look at the rating count first. Trust averages that rest on hundreds or thousands of ratings, and treat a perfect score on a few as a coin toss.
2. Compare storefronts. An app that scores close to the same in several countries is steadier than one that spikes in one.
3. Match the segment to your job. If you write long text, compare dictation apps with each other. If you capture meetings, compare meeting notes apps.
4. Read the recent written reviews. They tell you why people gave the score, which the number cannot.
5. Try the built-in option first. Your phone and computer already include dictation at no cost, and it may be enough before you pay for anything.

For a wider comparison of products on features and price, see the market overview. For the basics, start with our overview of dictation software, and for a head-to-head look at what to pick, read the guide to the best dictation software. You can sort and filter every row in the full dataset.