Kara Download
Kara logo

Speak.
It types.

Hold a key, say it out loud, let go. Your words land in whatever app you are using. No internet, no account, no subscription.

The Kara window, listing sentences that have been dictated The Kara window, listing sentences that have been dictated
Download for Windows 77 MB · works on any PC Got an NVIDIA card? 576 MB · uses it, and is much faster

Windows 10 and 11 · nothing else to install
Step by step install guide · All files and release notes

0bytes leave your PC
0accounts to make
6languages
$0forever, MIT

How it works

Three things, and none of them is learning commands

  1. HOLDPress the keyHold Insert. The microphone opens only now, and closes the moment you let go.
  2. SPEAKSay it out loudTalk normally. Nothing to memorise, no wake word.
  3. RELEASELet goA second later the text is typed where your cursor was.

The speech recognition runs on your own computer using Whisper. Your voice is never uploaded. You can pull out the network cable and it still works.

What it looks like

A small window that stays out of the way

The Kara window in its light theme, showing text that was just dictated The Kara window in its dark theme, showing text that was just dictated
What you said — shown in the other theme
The settings panel in its dark theme, with appearance, hotkey and microphone options The settings panel in its light theme, with appearance, hotkey and microphone options
Settings, matching this page

How it compares

Where it wins, and where it does not

KaraWindows Voice TypingDragonOtter.ai
PriceFreeFreePaidFree tier, then paid
Works offlineYesNoYesNo
Needs an accountNoNoYesYes
Types into any appYesYesYesNo
Voice commandsNoSomeYesNo
Open sourceYesNoNoNo

Dragon is bought mostly for controlling a computer by voice, and this does not do that. It dictates text, and it does that part for free and without a connection.

Questions

The ones people actually ask

Does it work offline?

Yes. The first run downloads the speech model, about 460 MB. After that it never needs the internet again, and your voice is processed entirely on your own machine.

Is it free?

Yes, and it is open source under the MIT license. No account, no subscription, no paid tier, no trial that runs out.

Is this a free alternative to Dragon NaturallySpeaking?

For dictation, yes. You hold a key, speak, and the text is typed for you. It does not replace Dragon's voice commands for driving Windows by voice.

How is it different from Windows Voice Typing (Win+H)?

Windows Voice Typing sends your audio to Microsoft and needs a connection. This runs the model locally, works with no connection at all, and lets you pick a larger and more accurate model than the built-in one.

Which languages does it support?

Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, German and Italian. You choose one rather than letting it guess, which makes it faster and stops it from getting the language wrong on short recordings.

Do I need a graphics card?

No. The download runs on your processor. If you have an NVIDIA card and install from the source code, it can use it and get much faster.

Is my voice sent anywhere?

No. Nothing leaves your computer. The microphone is only open while you hold the key, so nothing is listening the rest of the time.

Which key does it use?

Insert by default, and you can change it to any key or an extra mouse button. Avoid normal letters: the key is not blocked, so choosing q would start a recording every time you typed one.