Which small local LLM cleans up dictation best on Apple Silicon?
We benchmarked four Gemma 4 checkpoints on an M4 Max for dictation cleanup: real latency, memory, and the prompt bug hiding underneath.
Saydrop
Engineering Blog
Notes on running local AI models on Apple Silicon, native macOS development, and building privacy-first dictation.
Subscribe via RSSWe benchmarked 18 local AI models for Mac dictation — here's what won
Benchmarks of 18 local cleanup LLMs and five Whisper models on Apple Silicon, comparing latency, accuracy, failures, and the models that won.
Apple Dictation vs dictation apps
Apple Dictation (macOS 26) is now fast, accurate, and free. The real gaps: no AI text cleanup and less convenient hotkey UX.
How to run MLX Whisper locally on macOS without killing your battery
A deep dive into why we chose Apple's MLX framework for Saydrop, and how we keep Whisper resident in unified memory for sub-second push-to-talk dictation.
Saydrop vs Superwhisper
Compare local Gemma cleanup, push-to-talk UX, and pricing. Saydrop CHF 39 one-time vs Superwhisper Pro $8.49/mo.
Local vs cloud dictation on your Mac
Local speech-to-text on Mac keeps audio private. Compare accuracy, cost, latency, and privacy tradeoffs between on-device and cloud dictation.
Saydrop vs Wispr Flow
Compare local Gemma cleanup vs cloud editing. Saydrop CHF 39 one-time, one-tap workflow. Wispr Flow Pro $144/yr, cross-platform.
Best dictation apps for Mac in 2026
Compare 8 macOS dictation apps by cleanup quality, UX, and price. From free Apple Dictation to Saydrop's local Gemma cleanup—find the best fit.