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Yes, and it stays free — the Free plan isn’t a trial and it doesn’t expire. No card is needed to start. What’s worth understanding is that OpenWhispr has two ways of turning speech into text, and only one of them has a limit on the free plan.

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Free, with no limit at all

Dictation using a local model runs entirely on your own machine. It doesn’t touch our servers, so there’s nothing for us to meter. It’s unlimited on the Free plan — unlimited words, no file size cap, and it works offline. It’s also the most private option, because your audio never leaves your computer. The same goes for using your own API key (BYOK) with a provider like OpenAI: you’re paying them directly, so we don’t limit it on any plan.

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Free, with a weekly allowance

OpenWhispr Cloud is our hosted transcription, which we pay for. On the Free plan you get 2,000 words per rolling 7 days. Rolling means there’s no Monday reset — each transcription simply stops counting once it’s more than seven days old. If you used your allowance last Tuesday, it frees up again this Tuesday. There’s also a 25 MB limit on files you upload to OpenWhispr Cloud on the Free plan. A 45-minute recording is usually 40–65 MB, so long files need either a paid plan or a local model — which has no size limit at all. This one catches people out, so it’s worth knowing before you record something long.

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So do you need to pay?

Honestly: a lot of people don’t.
  • If you dictate with a local model, the Free plan is the whole product, and paying gets you very little you’d notice.
  • If you want cloud transcription regularly, 2,000 words a week is roughly 15 minutes of speech, and Pro at $8/month removes the limit.
  • If you upload long recordings, the 25 MB cap is the thing that will push you to either a paid plan or a local model.
The full breakdown is in Plans and limits.

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FAQ

Only through a referral — if you sign up via someone’s invite link, your first 30 days of Pro are free. See Referrals. Everyone else starts on the Free plan, which doesn’t run out.
No. You only enter payment details if you choose to upgrade.
Cloud transcription pauses until some of your usage ages past seven days. Local dictation carries on working the whole time — it isn’t affected.
No. Transcription quality depends on the model you choose, not on your plan.