Dictation software for Windows that never sends your voice anywhere.

Koegaki sits in the system tray. Wherever the cursor is, in Outlook, Word, Teams, a browser, a terminal, hold the shortcut and speak. When you release the key the text is inserted where you were typing. Nothing to open, nothing to paste. The one exception is a program running as administrator: Windows does not let an ordinary app type into it, so Koegaki copies the text for you to paste instead, and tells you if even that fails.

The default shortcut is Ctrl+Alt+D and you can change it. Hold it to talk, or use toggle mode and press once to start and once to stop.

Koegaki transcribes with Parakeet Ultra · on-device (CPU). The model downloads once on first launch, and from then on dictation works with no internet connection at all. When an app update brings a new speech model, that model downloads once, in the background, while the current one keeps working. That background download waits while your PC is on a connection Windows treats as metered, such as a cellular link or a network you have set as metered, which you can do for a phone hotspot. Your audio and your text stay on your machine. Nothing is uploaded and there is no server on our side to upload to.

The voice typing built into Windows sends your speech to Microsoft's servers to be recognised. Koegaki does the recognition locally, which is why it can be used on documents you would never paste into a website. A multilingual speech model and an optional cleanup model are separate downloads, and they run on your PC too.

The Vocabulary page holds two lists. Custom words are the names, products and jargon you use, one per row, spelled exactly as you want them. When Koegaki hears one split into separate words, hyphenated, or with an apostrophe left out or changed, it writes your spelling, so “post hog” becomes PostHog.

A lone lowercase letter stays a word of its own unless your spelling keeps it apart or every word is a single letter, so “x code” stays as it is, while “X code” becomes Xcode and “a w s” becomes AWS. Koegaki also fixes the capitals of a name like GitHub or Freedom Terminal, so “github” becomes GitHub. A single word that is all capitals or capitalised only at its start, such as US or Swift, is never rewritten for case alone, so “tell us now” stays as it is. Custom words apply to terms written in Latin, Greek or Cyrillic letters.

Replacements turn a phrase you say into the text you choose, such as a short word for your email address. They run last, so where both lists match the same words, the replacement wins. Your spellings and your replacements are rules applied on your PC, the same way every time. With the English speech model, the default, custom words also help Koegaki hear your names and terms, not just spell them: words on your list are recognised more often, and they still never leave your PC. That help makes a word more likely to be heard, not certain, so for a word Koegaki still hears as something else, add a replacement.

Windows 10 & 11 · 64-bit. The model runs on the CPU, so no particular graphics card is needed; a laptop from the last few years is plenty.

The installer is not yet signed with a certificate, so Windows shows its SmartScreen warning the first time you run it. Usually you choose More info, then Run anyway. On a PC with Smart App Control switched on there is no Run anyway and the installer is refused; that setting can only be turned off in Windows Security, so if you would rather not, write to us and wait for the signed build. The warning is about the missing certificate, not about anything found in the app.

Koegaki costs $30 once. Every feature is included, updates are free for life, and one licence covers the Windows, Mac and Linux versions on up to 10 of your own computers. Try everything free for 30 days first.