Does Dragon NaturallySpeaking work with Windows 11?

Yes, with one version. Dragon Professional 16 is the release that Nuance lists for Windows 11, and it supports Windows 11 only in its 64-bit form ¹. Older versions are a different story. We could not find a Nuance page that lists Windows 11 for Dragon 15, 14 or 13, so do not assume they work on a Windows 11 PC. If you already own an older version, check with Nuance before you upgrade or rely on it.

For the wider picture, see our guide to the best dictation software for Windows. For the full list of requirements, see the Dragon system requirements question. For the whole subject, see dictation on Windows.

Dragon Professional 16 supports Windows 11 in 64-bit form

Nuance lists Windows 11 (64-bit) as a supported operating system for Dragon Professional 16, alongside Windows 10 in 32-bit and 64-bit forms ¹. Nuance's product page says the same product is optimized for Windows 11 and backwards-compatible to Windows 10 ². Windows 11 support is listed among the new features of version 16, along with Office 2021 support ³.

Check your PC's bit version before you buy, because a license does not help on a system the software does not support.

The same version also runs on Windows 10 ¹, so if you are not ready to move to Windows 11, Dragon Professional 16 still gives you a supported option on that system. Nuance's release notes list Windows 11 support as new in this version ³, so it is the release that matters if you plan to stay on Windows 11.

Older versions are not listed for Windows 11 in the sources we checked

Dragon 15 is Dragon Professional Individual version 15. The version table on Wikipedia's Dragon NaturallySpeaking article gives August 16, 2016 as its release date ⁴. We could not open Nuance's own version 15 requirements page, so this is not a definitive answer. The honest reading is that Nuance has not published Windows 11 support for version 15 in the sources we could reach.

Nuance's release notes for version 16 say that Dragon upgrades versions 13, 14 and 15 to version 16 automatically ⁵. That is the route to a version that Nuance lists for Windows 11 ¹, so an upgrade is a sensible first step if you own one of those versions.

Versions 13 and 14 are older still. The same version table gives August 2014 for version 13 ⁶ and September 2015 for version 14 ⁷. We found no Nuance statement that either one supports Windows 11.

What to do before you buy or upgrade

1. Check whether your PC is 32-bit or 64-bit. Windows 11 must be 64-bit for Dragon Professional 16 ¹.
2. If you own version 13, 14 or 15, contact Nuance support and ask directly whether your version runs on Windows 11 on your PC. Get the answer in writing.
3. If you are buying new, compare the price before you commit. A one-user Dragon Professional v16 license is listed at $685.99 by one US reseller ⁸, and prices vary by reseller and date.
4. If you cannot upgrade, an alternative may cover your needs. Our free dictation options for Windows include Windows' own Voice Access, which needs Windows 11 version 22H2 or later ⁹.

Our guide to Windows on Arm dictation covers a separate question: whether the apps you want run on a Windows on Arm PC.