What Windows already has
Voice typing (Win+H) works in Windows 10 and 11 in any text box. It puts in punctuation by itself if you turn that on, understands commands like "new line", and in Windows 11 supports 46 languages and variants, including Hindi, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. It comes with Windows at no extra cost, and Microsoft's page mentions no word limit.
Its one big condition is in Microsoft's own help: voice typing "uses online speech recognition, which is powered by Azure Speech services". You need the internet, and what you say goes to Microsoft to be recognised.
Voice access in Windows 11 (version 22H2 and later) is a different tool: it controls the whole PC by voice and can dictate, and it works without the internet once its language is downloaded. It is available in English, Spanish, French and German.
Word in Microsoft 365 adds Dictate (for subscribers, online) and Transcribe, which turns uploaded recordings into text with speakers separated, up to 300 minutes a month on a Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft notes that the audio files are sent to Microsoft and that the desktop version is available only in business (commercial) accounts. (All checked on support.microsoft.com on 23 October 2026.)
What VoiceKeyboard adds
- Dictation without the internet in many languages. Whisper, Parakeet v3, Vosk, GigaAM v3 and T-one run on your PC. Together they cover English, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Hindi and dozens more, not just the four of voice access.
- A choice of engines. Google (free) or Soniox (Pro) when you are online. Soniox detects the language as you speak and switches mid-sentence, which helps if you mix languages.
- Recordings and videos to text, on Windows itself. FILES turns audio, video and YouTube links into a .txt with Whisper on the PC, with no Microsoft 365 account. Free gives one file and one link a day; Pro has no limit and adds timestamps.
- One hotkey, any app. Ctrl+1 starts and stops; you can change it. The words of the day and the time you saved are on the counters.
- Voice commands in five languages (Pro): punctuation, new line, Enter, Tab and your own phrases, in English, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Hindi.
Side by side
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | VoiceKeyboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | free, part of Windows | Free plan; Pro $14.99 a month or $9.99 a month billed yearly |
| Daily limit | not stated | 2,000 words a day on Free; none on Pro |
| Works without the internet | no (voice access: in 4 languages) | yes, with five offline models |
| Languages | 46 in Windows 11 | 58 to choose; about 99 with Whisper AUTO |
| Detects the language by itself | not stated | Soniox, Whisper, Parakeet v3 |
| Choice of engine | Azure only | 2 online, 5 offline |
| Recordings and video links to text | not in Windows; Word Transcribe with Microsoft 365 | FILES, on the PC |
| Controls the PC by voice | voice access | no |
When Windows' own tools are enough
- You dictate now and then, always online, in one of the supported languages.
- You want to control the whole computer by voice: voice access does that, and VoiceKeyboard does not.
- Your company already pays for Microsoft 365 and is fine with recordings going to Microsoft for Transcribe.
When VoiceKeyboard is worth installing
- Win+H stops working when the connection drops, or your work forbids sending audio to a cloud.
- You dictate in Hindi, Japanese, Russian or another language offline, or switch languages often.
- You want lectures, interviews and YouTube videos as text files without a subscription to an office suite.
Try both
They do not get in each other's way: Win+H stays where it is, and VoiceKeyboard listens on its own hotkey. Install VoiceKeyboard, press Ctrl+1 in any window, then download an offline model and try it with Wi-Fi off. The background is in offline speech recognition on Windows, and the first steps in getting started.
