Hex
Local voice dictation for Mac, Windows and Linux; hold a key, speak, and it pastes. MIT, with Windows and Linux in beta.
Hex (v3.3.0, Nov 2026, ~4k stars) is a dictation app. Hold a shortcut, speak, and it pastes the text into the app you are in. The first run downloads a speech model and transcription then stays on your device; update checks still use the network. Optional Modes can rewrite text through OpenCode. MIT and free. Macs need Apple silicon and macOS 15; Windows and Linux are betas that need a 2013 or newer AVX2 processor on x86_64. The project does not take pull requests, only issues. Whether it collects usage data was not established.
The facts
| Question | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Yes. Yes; transcribes on your device after the first model download | github.com | Checked yesterday |
| Code licence | Open source. MIT | github.com | Checked yesterday |
| Model weights licence | With conditions. Depends on the model you pick from its catalogue of about 15 (Parakeet, Whisper, Qwen3-ASR, SenseVoice and others); Hex lists only Parakeet Ultra, under CC-BY-4.0, in its notices. The other models' licences are not listed by Hex | github.com | Checked today |
| Commercial use | With conditions. The app is MIT, which allows commercial use; the speech model's terms were not checked | github.com | Checked yesterday |
| Paid services needed? | None required; dictation works without OpenCode, which is only used for optional rewriting | github.com | Checked yesterday |
| Hardware | x86_64 needs a 2013 or newer AVX2 processor; Windows x64 needs a current graphics driver for Vulkan; Macs need Apple silicon; no RAM figures | github.com | Checked yesterday |
| Operating systems | macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon; Windows 10/11 and Linux (x64 and ARM64) are betas | github.com | Checked yesterday |
| Setup effort | Easy; download an installer or use Homebrew, AUR or Nix | github.com | Checked yesterday |
Each fact has its own date. Unknown means nobody has published it. We read their documentation; we didn’t install it. Running it yourself costs your hardware, electricity and setup time. Report a correction.
No licence changes since we started watching. Licence changes: follow Hex and we email you if its terms change.