Comparing macOS Dictation With Google Voice Typing

You have two main options for speaking to your Mac and having it take dictation. There is the built-in macOS Dictation function which works almost everywhere on your Mac. If you use Google Docs and Chrome, you can also dictate using Google's Voice Typing feature. Google's option seems to work better for typing, but macOS allows you to dictate in other apps and is highly customizable.

Comments: 6 Responses to “Comparing macOS Dictation With Google Voice Typing”

    Doug
    5 years ago

    Why didn’t you use the same text with each? A better test would be a recording. You might even speed up and slow down to test. Finally, why would you not point out that they are not both free? Google requires you to allow it to use everything you give it to profile you. Not great reporting.

    5 years ago

    Doug: This is a simply comparison, not a detailed diagnostic test. To do that I would probably need to do different speeds, texts, people, etc. This is just to make people aware of these options. They are both free (as in not costing any additional money). Everything has secondary costs -- you need to buy a Mac, or you need to be a part of Google's ecosystem.

    John Joyce
    5 years ago

    Thanks, Gary: You are one of the few commenters who takes Mac Dictation seriously. It has improved significantly over the years, in my opinion. I have a suspicion that its reliability is enhanced by speaking in phrases.

    Of course, if your income depends on voice recognition, then Nuance's Dragon still is king — but you need a fast Windows machine.

    Bruce
    5 years ago

    Gary, thanks for the comparison. I'm still able to use Dragon Dictate with Mojave but that is hit or miss for some people. Dictate seems to be the next-best thing. I use dictation mainly to transcribe audio interviews. You can do that by going into the accessibility preferences>dictation and disabling "mute audio output while dictating." When you do that you can listen to a file and parrot what you hear through headphones.

    Dan
    5 years ago

    Thank you, now all I have to do is get a mic. I have headphones with a built in mic but the mac mic doesn't provide audio. I do have an adapter and last headphones had two 3.5 jacks to plug into it mic and audio. But the current headphones have only 1 jack.

    John Carter
    5 years ago

    Keep in mind that both Apple and Google capture every word you use with voice dictation. This is so they can analyze what you are saying and use AI to improve on converting voice to text. Apple presumably will never release any of what you say. Not so sure that Google won't be sharing what you say. For privacy reasons, I prefer Apple dictation and learn to enunciate and speak slowly. That said, someone I know with a British accent has better luck with Siri than I do with my southwest drawl.

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