MurmelaMurmela or Apple Dictation?
Apple Dictation is built into every Mac, and on Apple silicon it runs on the device. Apple's Translate turns selected text into another language in place, offline once a language is downloaded and On-Device Mode is on. Murmela is a separate app that does both offline, with vocabulary, file transcription and document translation. Start with what is already on your Mac.
Stay with Apple Dictation if…
What you dictate is short and the words are ordinary. It costs nothing and is already installed. Apple's guide says general dictation is processed on the device on an Apple-silicon Mac; the Dictation settings pane shows whether that applies, and search boxes are excluded. It punctuates for you and stops after 30 seconds of silence. Sharing your recordings with Apple is an opt-in. For a sentence in a message, selecting the text and Control-clicking to translate is the simplest route there is, and Apple's Translate works offline once you download a language and switch on On-Device Mode. Apple notes that offline results may be less accurate, and that Siri and Safari always translate online.
If that covers your day, you do not need Murmela, and there is nothing to download.
Choose Murmela if…
Your notes are full of names, drug names, case names or terms of art, you transcribe recordings, or you translate more than a sentence at a time. Murmela has a vocabulary that fixes the spelling of the words you add, transcribes audio and video files up to six hours with speaker labels, and translates whole documents in nine languages and both directions, with alternatives for any word. All of it runs offline, with no mode to switch on and no server to fall back to. The free version has every speech model; Pro is $19 once with a year of updates, Lifetime $49 for the first 500 founders and $99 after that.
The honest trade: it is a separate app with model downloads of half a gigabyte to ten gigabytes, your text arrives a second or two after you let go, and it runs on Apple-silicon Macs only.
Where the two differ.
What Apple's Mac User Guide and Murmela's own pages say, in October 2026. No row is a score; the first one is a reason to stay with Apple.
| Murmela | Apple Dictation and Translate | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, with every speech model. Pro $19 once with a year of updates; Lifetime $49 for the first 500 founders, then $99; three Macs. | Included with macOS. |
| Where your speech is processed | On your Mac, always. The app works with Wi‑Fi off. | On the device on Apple silicon. The Dictation settings pane says whether general dictation stays on the device; search boxes are excluded. |
| Sharing your recordings | Nothing is collected. There is no account. | An opt-in, “Improve Siri & Dictation”, shares recordings with Apple. |
| Punctuation and rewriting | Punctuation is handled; nothing else is changed. | Automatic punctuation. |
| Custom vocabulary | Yes. Names, terms and jargon come out as you spelled them, in dictation and in transcripts. | None. |
| Recordings | Audio and video files up to six hours, free. Speaker labels with Pro. | No file transcription. |
| Where translation runs | On your Mac, always. | Offline after downloading each language and switching on On-Device Mode. Apple says offline results may be less accurate; Siri and Safari always translate online. |
| What translation covers | Dictation as you speak, pasted text, whole documents with Pro, alternatives for any word with Pro, a formal or informal register. Nine languages, both directions. | Selected text, translated or replaced in place. No document translation, no glossary, no alternatives, no formality control. |
| Platforms | Mac with Apple silicon, macOS 11 or later. | Mac, iPhone and iPad. |
Checked on October 14, 2026 against Apple's Mac User Guide pages for Dictation and Translate (macOS 27). Plans and features change. If something here is wrong or out of date, write to hello@murmela.com and it will be corrected.
Try Murmela. It's free.
Apple silicon · macOS 11 or later · about 230 MB
Signed and notarized by Apple. Automatic updates, which you can switch off.
Memory: 8 GB runs dictation and the compact translation model. 16 GB runs the best translation model. 18 GB or more runs VibeVoice, the most accurate engine for files.
Pro $19 once · Lifetime $49 $99 for the first 500 · 30-day refund