Aqua Voice vs Serenade

Aqua Voice is cloud-based dictation software that turns speech into text in everyday apps. It processes speech in real time, refining phrasing, grammar, and formatting, and supports 49 languages, custom vocabulary, and voice commands. Aqua claims 97.3% accuracy for its Avalon model on AISpeak. Starter is free, requires no credit card, and includes 1,000 words. Pro costs $8.00 per month billed annually and adds unlimited words, Custom Instructions, and an Expanded Custom Dictionary. Max costs $24.00 per month billed annually and adds Realtime Mode, the “Send it” voice command, and early feature access. Team costs $12.00 per month billed annually for 2–9 users; Business is for teams of 10 or more, with no price listed. Monthly and annual billing are available, and plans can be canceled anytime. Aqua lists Mac, Windows, and iOS availability; Android access is waitlist-only. Privacy Mode prevents transcripts being stored on Aqua’s servers. Business includes Zero Data Retention, while Team can enforce Privacy Mode.

Serenade is an open-source voice assistant for developers who want to write and edit code using natural speech. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and supports Chrome. Commands can add, insert, change, and delete code, as well as navigate, copy, and paste. Developers can set custom vocabulary and create voice commands or plugins through Serenade’s open protocol, which uses JSON over WebSockets to connect plugins with the desktop app. Listed integrations and supported tools include VS Code, Chrome, Hyper, Slack, IntelliJ, Jupyter, and GitHub. Speech recognition can use a cloud service or run locally. In cloud mode, audio and the file being edited are sent to Serenade servers; the maker says they are not stored unless the user opts in to sharing. With local processing, audio and code stay on the device unless sharing is enabled. Users can change data-sharing settings in the app. Windows local processing requires WSL with Ubuntu. Serenade is free and licensed under Apache 2.0.