Dictate into any app
Email, Slack, Docs, your code editor, a terminal. If it has a text cursor, Abe can write there. No plugins, no copy and paste.
- Chat
- Docs
- Browser
- IDE
- Terminal
- Notes
- CRM
Free forever Open source No account
Talk anywhere.Free, open source, private.
Hold a hotkey, say what you mean, and Abe types it into any app on your desktop. Run Whisper offline on your own machine, or bring your own API key. No subscription, no servers in between.
Try it: holdCtrlAltSpaceand talk.
$0
Forever. No plans, no trials.
0
Accounts to create
0
Abe servers touching your audio
100%
Open source, AGPL-3.0
How it works
Three steps. About two minutes.
No sign-up, no email, no onboarding funnel.
Install
Download Abe for Windows or macOS (Linux is coming soon). It lives quietly in your tray or menu bar.
Choose your engine
Pick Local to run Whisper offline on your own machine, or paste an API key. We recommend Groq: free to start, and our guide takes five minutes.
Get a Groq keyHold the hotkey and talk
Put your cursor anywhere, hold the hotkey, speak, let go. Your words appear right where you were typing.
Features
Built for people who type all day.
Everything happens with a hotkey, wherever your cursor is.
Push-to-talk or toggle
Hold the hotkey while you speak, or tap once to start and again to stop. Your call.
CtrlAltSpace
Voice Transform
Select text, hold CtrlAltT and say what you want: "make it formal", "turn this into bullets", "translate to Spanish".
hey can u send me the report by friday thx
Hi, could you please send me the report by Friday? Thank you.
Word dictionary
Teach Abe the names, jargon and spellings it keeps getting wrong. It fixes them every time.
- cooper netties
- Kubernetes
- post gress
- PostgreSQL
- shivon
- Siobhan
Audio ducking
Music and videos get quieter while you talk, then come back.
History
Every transcription is kept on your computer, searchable, until you clear it.
Typewriter mode
For apps that block pasting, Abe types your words out key by key.
Privacy by architecture
There's no server to trust.
Abe isn't private because of a policy. It's private because there is nothing in the middle. Your audio goes from your mic to your computer, then to Whisper on that same computer or straight to the provider you picked.
Local mode is offline
Pick Local and transcription runs on your CPU or GPU. Unplug the network and it still works.
Keys in your keychain
Your API key is stored by the OS credential manager and only ever sent to its own provider.
No telemetry
No analytics, no crash reporting, no accounts. The only automatic request is the update check to GitHub.
What it costs
Local is free. Cloud is pocket change.
Abe never charges you. If you use a cloud provider, you pay them directly at their list price, usually a few cents per hour of talking.
On your computer
Local Whisper
$0/ hour
Offline, no key needed.
Groq
whisper-large-v3-turbo
$0.04/ hour
$0.00067 per minute of audio
Groq
whisper-large-v3
$0.111/ hour
$0.0019 per minute of audio
OpenAI
gpt-transcribe
$0.27/ hour
$0.0045 per minute of audio
Provider list prices as of October 22, 2026. Check each provider for current rates. See all models and the cost calculator
Open source
Read every line. Change any of them.
Abe is licensed under the AGPL-3.0-or-later. You can audit exactly where your audio goes, build it yourself, and fork it. Bugs, ideas and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.
$ git clone https://github.com/HardHeadHackerHead/honest-abe.git
$ cd honest-abe && npm install
$ npm run tauri devKeep Abe free
Abe is funded by people who find it useful. Donations pay for code-signing certificates, the Apple Developer fee, the domain and development time.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is Abe really free?
Yes. Abe is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0-or-later license. There is no paid tier, no trial and no account. If you use a cloud provider, you pay that provider directly for what you use; in local mode it costs nothing at all.
Do I need an API key?
No. Pick Local and Abe downloads a Whisper model once, then transcribes entirely on your computer, offline. If you want faster or more accurate results on modest hardware, paste an API key instead. We recommend Groq, which is free to start; OpenAI and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint work too. See Getting an API key.
Can you hear or store my audio?
No. There is no Abe server. In local mode audio never leaves your machine. In cloud mode it goes from your computer directly to the provider you chose, using your key, under that provider's data policy. The app has no telemetry.
How much does cloud transcription cost?
A few cents per hour of talking: roughly $0.04 an hour with Groq and $0.27 an hour with OpenAI at current list prices. See Costs for the table and a calculator.
Which apps does it work in?
Any app where you can type: email, chat, documents, browsers, code editors, terminals. Abe inserts text at your cursor by pasting it, or by typing it out key by key in typewriter mode for apps that block pasting.
Which platforms are supported?
Windows 10 and 11 (x64), and macOS 10.15 or later (Apple Silicon and Intel). Linux is coming soon.
Where is my API key stored?
In your operating system's secure credential store: Windows Credential Manager or the macOS Keychain. It is never written to a plain settings file and is never sent anywhere except to the provider it belongs to.
How is Abe funded?
By donations. They pay for code-signing certificates, the Apple Developer fee, the domain and development time. Support the project if Abe saves you time.
More in the docs FAQ.