Serenade vs Superwhisper

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.

Superwhisper turns speech into formatted text for use across applications. Its Super Mode reads the screen and adjusts dictated text to the current app, for example treating email as a message or coding prompts technically. It supports more than 100 languages, automatic language detection, and translation between languages. On-device speech models process audio locally, work without internet, and keep audio off the device's outbound path. With cloud models, audio and text pass through the Superwhisper proxy to the provider; the product says they are not retained for training. It works wherever text can be entered and names Slack, Cursor, and Notion, with coding plugins for Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex, and Pi. A CLI can search and export transcripts, report recording statistics, and start a local MCP server. Free includes voice-to-text, meeting recording and transcription, and email support. Pro costs $8.49 per month or $84.99 per year and adds audio and video transcription, cloud and local models, custom API keys, and priority support. Pro features can be tried for 3,000 words before free-tier features remain available.