OpenVerba quietly checks for a newer version and notifies you when one is ready. Choose 'Check for updates' and it downloads the new version, verifies it with SHA-256, and installs it — no admin rights needed, and your settings and downloaded model are kept. The automatic check can be turned off in Settings.

Free · 100% local · open source

Voice typing that never
leaves your computer.

Press a key and speak — OpenVerba types your words into whatever app you're using, live as you talk. Hold the key instead and it edits your text by voice. Every word is transcribed locally on your own PC — no cloud, no account, no subscription.

Download for Windows See how it works

Windows · macOS & Linux (beta) · Free forever · No sign-up · MIT licensed

0words sent to the cloud

$0free forever

Anyapp you can paste into

100%runs on your machine

How it works

Three steps. No setup after install.

OpenVerba sits quietly in your system tray and waits for your trigger. From press to typed text, everything happens on your own machine.

1
Tap to talk, hold to edit

Pick a key combo (like Ctrl+Shift+Space) or a mouse button. Tap it to start dictating; hold it for a second to give a command or edit text with your voice.
2
Speak naturally

Your microphone audio is transcribed on your own CPU or GPU. The audio is processed and then discarded — never saved, never uploaded.
3
It types anywhere

The text drops into whatever window is focused — your editor, browser, chat box or terminal — then your clipboard is restored exactly as it was.

Features

Everything you need. Nothing you don't.

A focused dictation tool that respects your privacy, your hardware and your wallet.

100% local & offline

Audio is transcribed on your PC and discarded. Nothing is sent to any server. After the model downloads once, OpenVerba works fully offline.

Works in any app

OpenVerba types into the focused window by pasting, so it works everywhere a normal paste works — editors, browsers, chat, even the terminal.

GPU-accelerated

Uses your NVIDIA GPU for near-instant transcription when one is present, and falls back to the CPU automatically when it isn't.

Preserves your clipboard

Your previous clipboard — text, images, files, even HTML — is saved before OpenVerba pastes and restored right after. Dictation never clobbers your copy.

Smart model picker

On first run it scans your GPU, VRAM, CPU and RAM, then recommends the best speech model for your machine — with a clear comparison of size, speed and accuracy.

Live as you speak

Turn on real-time mode and watch your words appear the moment you say them — it only commits text it's sure of, so it never rewrites what's already on screen. Prefer to review first? Classic press-speak-paste still works.

Voice commands

Hold your trigger and just say what to do — "delete last word", "select all", "press enter", "undo" — and OpenVerba runs it instead of typing it out.

Edit with your voice

Select some text, hold your trigger, and say how to change it — "make this sound more natural", "fix the grammar", "delete the last sentence." A local AI model rewrites it in place. Optional and 100% on-device.

Flexible triggers

Use a keyboard combo, a mouse button, or a two-button chord. The live trigger picker shows what it detected and warns you if a choice is conflict-prone.

Stays up to date

OpenVerba checks for new versions and updates itself in a click — the download is verified before it installs, no admin rights needed, and your settings and model carry over.

Free & open source

No account, no trial, no subscription. OpenVerba is MIT licensed — read the code, build it yourself, or send a patch.

On-device AI

A speech model that runs on your computer.

OpenVerba uses faster-whisper, an optimized build of OpenAI's Whisper speech model — running entirely on your own hardware.

Downloaded once, then yours. The model downloads a single time on first run and is cached on your PC. After that, no internet is required.
Right-sized for your machine. OpenVerba detects your hardware and picks a model that fits — from a tiny CPU-friendly build to a high-accuracy GPU model.
GPU when you have one. With an NVIDIA GPU it uses CUDA for near-instant results; without one it runs on the CPU.
Truly offline. Flip on offline mode and OpenVerba never touches the network again — your voice and your text stay on the device.

Edit by voice

Don't just dictate — edit out loud.

Hold your trigger instead of tapping it and OpenVerba switches from typing to doing. Run quick commands, or have a local AI model rewrite whatever you've highlighted — without ever touching the keyboard.

Rewrite what you've selected. Highlight a sentence, hold, and say "make this clearer" or "sound more professional" — it's replaced in place.
Fix and reshape, in plain English. "Fix the grammar", "remove the word actually", "turn this into bullet points."
Hands-free commands. "Select all", "delete last word", "press enter", "undo" — the mechanical stuff, spoken.
Local, free, and optional. The AI runs on your own machine — no cloud, no API keys, no cost. Switch it on in one click; dictation works great without it.

Models

Pick your trade-off: speed vs. accuracy.

OpenVerba recommends a model automatically, but you can switch any time in the built-in model manager. Bigger models are more accurate; smaller models are faster and lighter on your hardware.

Model	Languages	Disk	Accuracy	Speed	Good for
`tiny.en`	English	~75 MB	Low	Fastest	Old / low-power CPUs
`base.en`	English	~145 MB	Good	Fast	CPU-only default
`small.en`	English	~480 MB	High	Fast	4 GB+ GPU default
`distil-small.en`	English	~340 MB	High	Fastest	Low-latency English
`medium.en`	English	~1.5 GB	Very high	Medium	6 GB+ GPU (fits ~4 GB tight)
`distil-large-v3`	English	~1.5 GB	Very high	Fast	Best high-end English
`large-v3`	Multilingual	~3.1 GB	Best	Slow	6–10 GB+ GPU, multilingual

No GPU? base.en is the sweet spot on CPU. A GPU makes the larger, more accurate models practical for real-time dictation.

Requirements

What you need to run it

Windows 10 or 11

Installs per-user — no administrator rights needed. macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux builds are available as beta.

A microphone

Any mic Windows recognizes works — built-in, USB, or headset.

Optional NVIDIA GPU

Speeds up transcription dramatically. Not required — OpenVerba runs on the CPU too.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Is it really free?

Yes — completely free, with no account, trial, or subscription. OpenVerba is open source under the MIT license.

Does my voice get sent anywhere?

No. Your microphone audio is transcribed locally on your CPU or GPU and then discarded. It is never written to disk or uploaded. The only time OpenVerba uses the network is to download the speech model once on first run — after that you can run it fully offline.

Do I need a powerful computer?

No. OpenVerba runs on the CPU with a lightweight model on ordinary machines. If you have an NVIDIA GPU it'll use it automatically for faster, larger, more accurate models — but a GPU is optional.

Which apps does it work in?

Any app you can paste into — documents, browsers, chat apps, IDEs, even the terminal. OpenVerba inserts text into whatever window is focused.

Will it overwrite what I copied?

No. OpenVerba saves your existing clipboard — including images, files and formatted content — pastes the transcript, then restores your clipboard exactly as it was.

Can I change the trigger?

Yes. Use a keyboard combo, a single mouse button, or a two-button chord. A live picker shows you exactly what it detected and warns you if a choice might conflict with normal clicking. Tap the trigger to dictate; hold it to switch into command and editing mode.

Can it edit text I've already written?

Yes. Select some text, hold your trigger, and say how to change it — like "make this sound more natural", "fix the grammar", or "delete the last sentence" — and a local AI model rewrites it in place. It's optional and runs entirely on your own machine, with no cloud, account, or cost.

How do updates work?

OpenVerba quietly checks for a newer version and lets you know when one's ready. Choose "Check for updates" and it downloads the new version, verifies it (SHA-256), and installs it for you — no admin rights needed, and your settings and downloaded model are kept. You can turn the automatic check off in Settings.

Windows says "Windows protected your PC" — is it safe?

Yes. That blue box is Windows SmartScreen being cautious about a new publisher, because the installer isn't signed with a paid certificate yet — it is not a virus warning. Click More info, then Run anyway. OpenVerba is open source, installs per-user without admin rights, and you can verify the download against the SHA-256 hash listed in the Installing safely section (or look it up on VirusTotal) before running it. A signed installer that removes the prompt is on the roadmap.

Does it need admin rights to install?

No. OpenVerba installs per-user to your local app data, so no administrator rights are required. It also won't run inside elevated windows unless you run OpenVerba as admin too.

Is there a Mac or Linux version?

Windows is available today. A cross-platform build for macOS and Linux is actively in progress.

Also from us

Meet OpenSOP — turn any task into a training guide.

Record yourself doing a computer task once, clicking and talking, and OpenSOP writes a clean, illustrated step-by-step PDF automatically. Same local-first, private, free ethos as OpenVerba.

Explore OpenSOP How it works

Installing safely

Is it safe? Here's the honest answer.

OpenVerba is a small, independent open-source project, so the installers aren't signed with an expensive certificate yet. Windows and macOS may warn you the first time you run it — that's the OS being cautious about a new publisher, not a virus warning. Here's exactly what to do on each, and how to verify the file yourself.

Windows — "Windows protected your PC"

Run OpenVerba-Setup-1.1.0.exe after it downloads.
If the blue SmartScreen box appears, click More info.
Click Run anyway. It installs per-user — no admin rights.

macOS — "Apple cannot check it"

Open OpenVerba-1.1.0-macOS.dmg and drag OpenVerba to Applications.
Right-click the app → Open → Open (or System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway).
Allow Microphone and Accessibility when prompted.

Still blocked? In Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/OpenVerba.app

Verify your download (SHA-256)

Windows: Get-FileHash <file> -Algorithm SHA256 · macOS/Linux: shasum -a 256 <file>

Windows .exe
9d868525ac60c34d28777f385bfa415c94bbade8536aa792394b9d71136f9650

macOS .dmg
43b9b909b5133a1e3e1eb50e0f04260b7e77ca1d686932b575370ed37128a5f8

Linux .AppImage
858e2340f188d2726acb4b4196ee38a5bfc5b189a9ac1d9268adf3c0f2fc6f99

Why you can trust it

Open source. Every line is public on GitHub — read it or build it yourself.
No telemetry, ever. No analytics, accounts, or phoning home beyond the one-time model download.
Signed builds are coming. Code signing removes these prompts entirely; it's on the roadmap.

Windows build on VirusTotal →

macOS & Linux are brand-new unsigned beta builds (macOS is Apple Silicon). They install and run, but haven't been battle-tested on every machine yet — if something misbehaves, please open an issue.

Start dictating in minutes.

Free forever, private, and entirely yours. Download OpenVerba for Windows and talk to any app.

Download for Windows macOS beta Linux beta

OpenVerba 1.1.0 · Windows 10/11 · macOS 11+ (Apple Silicon) · Linux x86_64 · MIT licensed · install notes