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The Bottom Line

Price
From $4/user/mo, billed monthly (free plan available). Compare plans

Key facts

  • Provides instant, privacy-first voice dictation for macOS.
  • Supports multiple transcription and AI formatting providers, including offline local processing.
  • Offers advanced features like per-app profiles, smart text cleanup, and custom snippets.

Pros

  • Strong emphasis on privacy with transient audio and local processing options.
  • Flexible choice of transcription and formatting providers, including free tiers and offline mode.
  • Enhances productivity with instant dictation and intelligent text cleanup.
  • Customizable hotkeys and per-app settings for tailored workflows.
  • No subscription required, making it a cost-effective solution for macOS dictation.

Cons

  • Requires API keys for cloud-based transcription and formatting, which may incur costs from third-party providers.
  • Initial setup involves granting Accessibility and Microphone permissions, which might be a concern for some users.
  • Only available for macOS.

What is Vaani?

Vaani is a macOS voice dictation application designed for speed and privacy. It allows users to dictate text into any application instantly using a customizable hotkey. The app supports multiple transcription providers, including cloud-based options like advanced models, as well as an entirely offline mode using local Whisper. Beyond transcription, Vaani offers multi-provider AI formatting to clean up text, remove filler words, fix punctuation, and apply intelligent formatting. It also features context-aware text injection, per-app profiles for customized settings, and a history of past dictations. Vaani is built with a strong emphasis on privacy, ensuring audio is transient and not stored on any server, with an option to keep all processing on-device.

Key Features

  • Global Hotkey for dictation
  • Multi-Provider Speech-to-Text (STT) (Groq Whisper, OpenAI Whisper, Deepgram Nova-2, local whisper.cpp)
  • Multi-Provider LLM Formatting (Groq Llama, OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, OpenRouter)
  • Offline Mode with local whisper.cpp
  • Smart Text Cleanup (removes filler words, fixes punctuation, AI formatting)
  • Context-Aware Text Injection (5 methods with per-app policies)
  • Per-App Profiles for settings customization
  • Snippets & Dictionary for custom commands and word replacements

Pricing Plans

Free Trial

Pricing checked Oct 19, 2026. Source: github.com/pricing, read Oct 19, 2026

Vaani plans and prices, checked October 2026
Plan Price Details
Free

$0 USD per month

  • Unlimited public/private repositories
  • Dependabot security and version updates
  • 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month (Free for public repositories)
+3 more
  • 500MB of Packages storage (Free for public repositories)
  • Issues & Projects
  • Community support
Team

$4 USD per user/month

  • Everything included in Free
  • Access to GitHub Codespaces
  • Repository rules
+9 more
  • Multiple reviewers in pull requests
  • Draft pull requests
  • Code owners
  • Required reviewers
  • Pages and Wikis
  • Environment deployment branches and secrets
  • 3,000 CI/CD minutes/month (Free for public repositories)
  • 2GB of Packages storage (Free for public repositories)
  • Web-based support
Enterprise

Starting at $21 USD per user/month

  • Everything included in Team
  • Data residency
  • Enterprise Managed Users
+7 more
  • User provisioning through SCIM
  • Enterprise Account to centrally manage multiple organizations
  • Environment protection rules
  • Repository rules
  • Audit Log API
  • SOC1, SOC2, type 2 reports annually
  • FedRAMP Tailored Authority to Operate (ATO)

Is Vaani worth the price?

Great value

The pricing for Vaani, as represented by the provided GitHub pricing data, appears to be very generous, especially with a robust Free tier and a competitive Team tier at $4 per user/month.

The Enterprise tier starting at $21 per user/month offers significant value for larger organizations needing advanced security and compliance. This structure is best for developers and teams of all sizes, from individual contributors to large enterprises.

Hidden Costs & Gotchas

Packages storage over free limits

Full Vaani pricing: every plan, hidden costs and alternatives

How Vaani's pricing compares

At $4/user/mo, billed monthly, Vaani is the most affordable of its 2 comparable direct competitors.

Not ranked, different unit or currency: Fathom $15/user/mo, billed yearly; Fireflies.ai $10/seat/mo, billed yearly; Otter.ai $8.33/user/mo, billed yearly; Notta $8.17/seat/mo, billed yearly.

Entry paid plan, monthly price, per user, billed monthly. Pricing checked Oct 19, 2026.

Email me when Vaani changes its price

One email per change, found on the vendor's own pricing page. Unsubscribe any time.

Vaani by the numbers

Toolradar data: Vaani's entry paid plan ($4/user/mo, billed monthly) ranks #3 of 28 (joint) for price among the Transcription tools with a verified entry price per user, where the median is $15/user/mo. As of Nov 2026.

Vaani compared with 192 Transcription tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
Metric Vaani Peer median Position (1 is best)
Entry paid plan $4/user/mo, billed monthly $15/user/mo #3 of 28 (joint) tools priced per user, verified price
Free plan Yes 63% have one n/a
Listed as an alternative to 3 tools 1 #56 of 192 (joint)
Compare-page visits, last 30 days 22 visits 33 #45 of 58 (joint) tools with 20+ compare-page visits

Listed as an alternative to: #60 on 2026-10-16 to #56 on 2026-11-11 (rank among 192 tools, 1 is best).

Each position is counted among the tools that have data for that row, as noted under it. A lower entry price ranks higher; prices are read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis. All Transcription data · How we compute this. Advertising and placement fees are not inputs to any position. Visit counts include visits from every source.

Cite this: Toolradar, “Vaani by the numbers”, Nov 2026.

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Vaani FAQ

What macOS versions are supported by Vaani?

Vaani requires macOS 12.0 (Monterey) or later to function, and it supports both Apple Silicon and Intel architectures.

How does Vaani ensure user privacy?

Vaani is designed with privacy in mind; audio is transient and nothing is stored on any server. For maximum privacy, users can select the local (whisper.cpp) mode, which keeps all transcription and processing entirely on-device without requiring internet access or API keys.

Can I use Vaani without an internet connection?

Yes, Vaani can be used entirely offline by selecting 'Local (whisper.cpp)' as the transcription provider. This mode runs on-device and does not require internet access or API keys.

What kind of AI formatting capabilities does Vaani offer?

Vaani's AI formatting can clean up dictated text by removing filler words like 'um' and 'uh', fixing punctuation, and applying general AI-driven text formatting. Users can choose from various LLM providers for this feature.

How does Vaani handle text injection into different applications?

Vaani uses context-aware injection, detecting the active application and choosing the most suitable of five insertion methods. It also allows for per-app policies, enabling users to customize injection behavior for specific applications.

Is it possible to customize dictation settings for individual applications?

Yes, Vaani supports 'Per-App Profiles,' allowing users to configure different transcription providers, languages, and formatting settings that activate automatically when a specific application is in focus.

What are 'snippets' in Vaani and how do I use them?

Snippets in Vaani are custom slash-command shortcuts that expand into predefined text or phrases. You can use them by typing '/' followed by the snippet name while dictating, and Vaani will replace it with the full text.

What should I do if Vaani shows a 'damaged and can't be opened' error after installation?

This error typically occurs because macOS blocks unsigned applications. A one-time workaround is to open your terminal and run xattr -cr /Applications/Vaani.app after dragging the app to your Applications folder. This removes the quarantine attribute, allowing the app to open.

How does Vaani pricing compare with other Transcription tools?

Vaani's entry paid plan ($4/user/mo, billed monthly) ranks #3 of 28 (joint) for price among the Transcription tools with a verified entry price per user, where the median is $15/user/mo. Prices are read on each vendor's own pricing page and compared only with tools priced on the same basis. Source: Toolradar, Nov 2026.

Does Vaani have a promo code or discount code?

As of October 19, 2026, Toolradar has no Vaani promo code, coupon or discount code on file. Vaani's own pricing page (https://github.com/pricing, read October 19, 2026) does list a 30-day free trial and a free plan, so you can start without a code. Offers change, so confirm the terms at checkout.

Source: github.com

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