Dragon in brief
Dragon Professional v16 is a Windows program from Nuance, now part of Microsoft. Its product page says it is "optimized for Windows 11 and backwards-compatible to Windows 10". It is installed on the computer from a downloaded installer and asks for at least 4 GB of memory and 12 GB of disk.
Dragon does more than type. Its help pages show how to run programs by voice ("Open Microsoft Word") and pick menus with "Click"; the product page adds custom commands that insert boilerplate text or signatures, and shared words and commands for organisations. It can also transcribe recordings of "another single speaker", including whole folders of them. There is a separate Dragon Legal edition.
The product page shows no price: buying goes through a Contact us form or a reseller. (Checked on dragon.nuance.com and nuance.com on 23 October 2026.)
Where VoiceKeyboard is different
- A free plan. 2,000 words a day with any engine, plus one recording and one video link a day. Pro is $14.99 a month or $9.99 a month billed yearly, published on the site, with a 14-day refund.
- A choice of engines. Google (free) and Soniox (Pro) online; Whisper, Parakeet v3, Vosk, GigaAM v3 and T-one on the PC, without the internet.
- Languages. 58 to choose in the app, from English and Spanish to Hindi and Japanese. Soniox and Whisper recognise the language by themselves; Soniox switches even mid-sentence.
- Recordings and video links. The FILES screen turns audio, video and YouTube links into text with Whisper on your PC, with any number of speakers in the recording (it does not label who is speaking).
- Small and quick to start. An offline model takes from about 40 MB to 1 GB, and if Chrome is on the PC, the Google engine works right after installing.
- Typing, not control. VoiceKeyboard puts text where the cursor is. With Pro, voice commands add punctuation, a new line, Enter or Tab and your own phrases, but it does not open programs or click menus by voice.
Side by side
| Dragon Professional v16 | VoiceKeyboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 and 11 | yes | yes |
| Free plan | none listed | 2,000 words a day |
| Price | on request (Contact us) | $14.99 a month, or $9.99 a month billed yearly |
| Dictation into any program | yes | yes |
| Controlling Windows and programs by voice | yes | no |
| Custom commands and boilerplate text | yes | own phrases and keys (Pro) |
| Speech recognised on the PC | installed on the PC | five offline models; two online engines as an option |
| Languages | not stated on the product page | 58 in the app; about 99 with Whisper AUTO |
| Recordings to text | one speaker, folders in batch | any speakers, folders and video links (Pro: no limit) |
| Video links (YouTube and others) | not stated | yes |
When Dragon is the better choice
- You need to run the computer by voice: open programs, pick menu items, edit by commands. That is Dragon's ground, and VoiceKeyboard does not try to cover it.
- Your organisation deploys and manages dictation centrally, with shared vocabularies and licences.
- You work in a field that Dragon's editions are built for, such as law, and your workflow already runs on it.
When VoiceKeyboard fits
- You want to dictate text, every day, and would rather not pay before you know it suits you.
- You write in more than one language, or in a language other than English.
- You also need lectures, meetings or YouTube videos turned into text on the same PC.
- You want the audio to stay on the computer and a price you can see before you buy.
Try it next to Dragon
Both can live on one PC. Install VoiceKeyboard, put the cursor where you write and press Ctrl+1; if that key is taken, change it. For dictation without the internet, read offline speech recognition on Windows. Other comparisons: Windows voice typing, Wispr Flow.
