Talk DAT! (often written TalkDAT) is AI dictation for Windows and Mac by Knight AI+AV, in public beta. Install Windows from the Microsoft Store.
Windows first, runs on the PC. Talk DAT! is free to download and use. Speech is recognised on this PC with a downloaded local model, and no account is needed to dictate.
See your words while you are still holding the key. On a local model, with the switch on, the Talk DAT! bar shows the text so far about 1.2 s behind your voice, measured on a GPU and on six CPU cores alike. Nothing leaves the machine, and the text you get when you let go is the same either way.
Superwhisper is a good product with a Windows app. The differences are price and three features: two writing styles you can switch between, a backup recording made before the microphone opens, and triggers beyond the keyboard. Free, with on-device speech.
It has a Windows app, it is actively sold, and like Talk DAT! it can run speech models on your computer.
It also has certifications Talk DAT! does not have. As of September 2026, per their site, Superwhisper claims SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA. If your company requires them, that is a good reason to choose it.
Superwhisper sells paid plans; check their site for current pricing. Talk DAT! is free.
Two writing styles, switched per dictation. Chill tidies your words and keeps your tone. Executive rewrites them to be more formal and structured, and removes profanity. You switch between them with one click in the Talk DAT! menu or on the Home screen.
A backup recording made before the microphone opens. A local safety recording and metadata record are prepared before capture starts, and if that cannot be armed the microphone does not open. At least the latest five sessions are kept, so a crash, a rejected paste, or a closed window does not lose what you said. From History you can play the recovered audio, re-transcribe it, copy the existing text, or clear the recordings outright.
Mouse, controller and MIDI triggers. Hold Ctrl+Win, tap Ctrl+Win+Space for hands-free, Ctrl+Win+Esc stops everything. Beyond that, middle mouse, Mouse 4 and Mouse 5, Xbox controller buttons, and MIDI notes can all take part in a configured chord. Controller polling only runs when a controller button is bound.
Talk DAT! entries describe the shipping public beta. Superwhisper entries state only what that vendor publishes about itself, read on 2 September 2026.
| Capability | Talk DAT! | Superwhisper |
|---|---|---|
| Windows app | Yes, Windows 10 and 11, installed from the Microsoft Store. | Yes, a Windows app exists, per their site as of September 2026. |
| Price | Free. | Paid plans; check their site for current pricing. |
| Writing styles | Two, switched per dictation: Chill keeps your tone, Executive rewrites. | Not confirmed |
| Recovery buffer | Saved before the microphone opens. At least the latest five sessions kept on this PC. | Not confirmed |
| Non-keyboard triggers | Middle mouse, Mouse 4 and 5, Xbox controller buttons, and MIDI notes. | Not confirmed |
| Custom vocabulary | Sounds-like aliases, plus Military, Medical, Legal and Aviation packs totaling nearly 1,400 terms. | Not confirmed |
| Compliance claims | None. No SOC 2 audit, no ISO 27001, no BAA, stated on the security page. | Claims SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA, per their site as of September 2026. |
"Not confirmed" means we could not verify the capability from public information and would rather say so than guess. Competitor names belong to their respective owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Superwhisper or Microsoft. Their claims were read from their own public pages on 2 September 2026 and can change without notice.
The default local family choice is Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3, and the catalog also covers Parakeet, Canary, GigaAM, Whisper, Distil-Whisper, and related faster-whisper variants. Small through larger models trade download size, memory requirements, speed, language coverage, and accuracy, so the model manager lets you compare, download, prepare, select, and delete them rather than deciding for you.
Downloads are verified and resumable, preparation records readiness instead of treating a partial folder as complete, and a hardware scan can recommend a tier rather than handing an old laptop something too heavy. A compatible Hugging Face repository or local folder can be configured directly. Local inference can cap CPU use at half the machine's cores, and no more than four, at below-normal priority.
One catch. On the Local route, speech recognition stays on this PC after a compatible model is downloaded, and no provider is involved at all. That does not make the whole application offline: an optional bring-your-own-key route sends to the provider you chose, and updates need a connection. The offline dictation page maps which is which.
Talk DAT! is free to download and use. No account is needed to dictate. Signing in with an emailed six-digit code or Sign in with Apple is optional.
The one cost you might ever see is your own provider's. If you add your own key for a supported provider, the request goes from your machine straight to that provider under your account and is billed by them at their rates. Knight is not in the path and adds nothing.
Phone dictation. Talk DAT! runs on Windows and Mac only, and there is no phone version. If dictating on a phone matters to you, Superwhisper covers it and Talk DAT! does not.
The compliance claims. Superwhisper's site claims SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA. Talk DAT! claims neither and offers no Business Associate Agreement. Talk DAT! also writes transcripts, history, and short recovery recordings to your user profile unencrypted, relying on your operating system account for protection.
Straight answers.
Yes, and both run on Windows. The difference is the price: Talk DAT! is free to download and use, and no account is needed to dictate. Superwhisper has paid plans; check their site for current pricing.
A backup recording is set up on your computer before the microphone opens, and if it cannot be set up the microphone does not open. There is no permanent audio archive; a limited recovery buffer is kept on this PC, retaining at least the latest five sessions.
The default local family choice is Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3, and Parakeet, Canary, GigaAM, Whisper, Distil-Whisper, and related faster-whisper variants are supported. A compatible Hugging Face repository can also be configured.
No, and this is where Superwhisper claims more. Knight has not completed a SOC 2 audit, holds no ISO 27001 certification, and offers no Business Associate Agreement. Superwhisper's site claims SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA.
Hold Ctrl+Win to talk, Ctrl+Win+Space toggles hands-free, and Ctrl+Win+Esc is the panic stop. Supported actions can be rebound, and middle mouse, Mouse 4, Mouse 5, Xbox buttons, and MIDI notes can take part in a chord.
Nothing. Talk DAT! is free to download and use, and no account is needed to dictate. Signing in with an emailed six-digit code or Sign in with Apple is optional.
Install, download a model, and try Chill against Executive on the same paragraph. It is free.
