Do Beam and Superwhisper both work offline?

Both transcribe on your own Mac. The difference is the cleanup step: Superwhisper offers GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and local models as the language model that polishes your text, and its Pro plan is sold on using your own AI API keys. Beam's cleanup is a local model with no picker and no key.

Which is cheaper, Beam or Superwhisper?

Beam is $5.99 a month against Superwhisper's $8.49, and one Beam licence covers two Macs. Superwhisper also offers a lifetime tier. Prices checked September 2026.

When is Superwhisper the better choice?

If you want modes, custom prompts, per app rules and a model picker, if you need Windows or iOS, or if you work across many languages.

Beam

Beam vs Superwhisper

Compared September 7, 2026. Figures read from Superwhisper's own site, linked at the bottom.

Superwhisper transcribes on your Mac, then hands the transcript to whichever language model you configured: GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or a local one. Beam has one cleanup engine, it runs on your Mac, and there is nothing to configure before the first sentence.

Superwhisper can hand your transcript to GPT-5, Claude, Gemini or Grok to clean it up. Beam cleans it up on your Mac, every time.

The polish step in Superwhisper is a choice you make, and one you can get wrong. Their own interface lists GPT-5, Claude, Gemini and Grok among the language models, and the Pro plan is sold on "use your own AI API keys" and "unlimited use of Cloud and Local AI models." Local models are in the list. The names you recognise are cloud services, and a cloud service receives the transcript.

Beam has one cleanup engine and it runs on your Mac. There is no model picker, no API key to paste, no bill from a third party, and no chance of accidentally sending a client's words to a language model because a mode was configured that way six months ago.

Beam is free for fourteen days, no card, no account. Download it now and run the test at the foot of this page while you read.

The comparison, line by line

	Beam	Superwhisper
Transcription	On your Mac	On your Mac, or cloud models by choice
Cleanup and formatting	A language model on your Mac, always	Your pick of cloud or local models
Needs your own API key	Never	For the cloud models on Pro
Price	$5.99 a month, $59.99 a year	$8.49 a month, yearly sold as two months free, one time tier offered
Setup before first use	Hold a key and speak	Choose a mode and a model before the first sentence
Platforms	macOS	macOS, Windows, iOS
Custom vocabulary	Yes, learned and editable	Yes
Macs per license	Two	Per their terms

Beam runs on Apple silicon Macs, leads with English with Whisper engines for other languages, and has no model picker or mode builder by design. Superwhisper runs on Windows and iPhone as well, and is built around those controls.

Reasons to choose Beam

The cleanup never leaves either

Transcribing locally and then posting the transcript to GPT-5 sends the same words to the same places, one step later. Beam's grammar and formatting pass is a local model. There is no configuration in which your text goes somewhere else.

Nothing to configure

No modes to build, no prompts to write, no model to choose, no API key to obtain and pay for separately. Hold a key, speak, and finished text lands where the cursor is.

Thirty dollars a year less

$5.99 against $8.49 a month, which is $2.50 a month and $30 a year. $59.99 a year against their yearly plan, sold as two months free. One license covers two Macs.

One less bill

Their cloud models run on your own API keys, so the subscription is not the whole cost. Beam's cleanup has no metered usage behind it.

Do not take our word for it

Install Beam and disprove us. Open Little Snitch or run tcpdump, dictate for several minutes with cleanup on, and watch nothing carrying your words leave the machine. Then switch the network off and dictate again. Run the same test on any dictation tool you are considering, including this one.

codesign -dv --verbose=4 /Applications/Beam.app
spctl -a -vvv /Applications/Beam.app

The Team Identifier must read 6P8A7DR398 and Gatekeeper must report the app as notarized by Apple.

That is the whole case. The cleanup never leaves your Mac, there is nothing to configure, and it costs less every month.

Fourteen days of everything, free. Every engine, Meetings and Notes, no ceiling, no card, no account.

Download Beam

Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later. One click downloads the disk image; nothing to fill in. After the trial: 2,000 words a week free for good, or $5.99 a month. 30 day refund, renewals included.

All Mac dictation apps compared · Also compared: Beam vs Wispr Flow · Beam vs Apple Dictation

Superwhisper prices, tiers, platforms and model list read from superwhisper.com on 2026-09-07, including their stated Pro features "use your own AI API keys" and "unlimited use of Cloud and Local AI models," and the language model families named in their own interface. Prices change; check theirs before deciding. If anything here becomes inaccurate, write to [email protected] and we will correct it.