Dictanote vs Serenade

Dictanote is a notes app with speech-to-text for voice-typing notes, supporting recognition in more than 50 languages and 80-plus dialects. Notes can be arranged in notebooks and include checklists, tables, links, search, favorites, and pinned items. AudioScribe transcribes voice notes and rewrites them into clear text, with custom styles, translation, and connections to other apps through Zapier or a webhook. Notes can be accessed and edited offline, but dictation requires an internet connection. Dictanote says browser speech recognition processes dictation without the service receiving or storing audio; notes are stored on its servers for syncing. The free plan costs nothing and allows up to 50 notes in one notebook and 60 minutes of dictation per day. Dictation works in specified versions of Chrome, Edge, and Safari, but not Firefox or Brave. Pro costs $8 a month billed monthly or $60 a year billed yearly.

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.