Windows Speech Recognition

Name: Windows Speech Recognition
Author: Microsoft

by Microsoft

Built-in Windows dictation and OS voice control.

TL;DR

Built-in Windows dictation and OS voice control.

Best for windows users wanting free OS-level dictation. Pricing: free · built into Windows.

What it is

Windows Speech Recognition is the long-standing built-in dictation and command-and-control feature on Windows. Voice Access in Windows 11 adds AI-driven dictation on top.

Best for: Windows users wanting free OS-level dictation.
Watch out for: Lower accuracy than Dragon; classic feature, with Voice Access replacing some functionality on Windows 11.

Install / use

support.microsoft.com — built in

Features

Speaker diarization	No
Word-level timestamps	No
Streaming / real-time	No
Languages supported	12
HIPAA eligible	No

Windows Speech Recognition vs Whipscribe

Feature	Windows Speech Recognition	Whipscribe
Category	Products	Transcription APIs
Pricing	free · built into Windows	free beta
Speaker diarization	—	Yes
Word timestamps	—	Yes
Streaming	—	No
Languages	12	99
Platforms	Windows	Web, API, MCP

Alternatives to Windows Speech Recognition

Otter.ai

Meeting-bot transcription product for Zoom/Meet/Teams.

free / from $10/mo

Rev

Human + AI transcription, highest accuracy tier on the market.

AI from $0.25/min · human from $1.50/min

Descript

Audio/video editor that treats the transcript as the timeline — different product category.

free / from $12/mo

Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.