Nuance's Dragon offers custom voice commands and word lists, and its vendor pages say “Contact us” and mention volume licensing instead of listing a price. Hovor takes a different route: prices printed on the page, one-time unlocks, and apps for Windows (beta), Mac and iPhone.
Dragon's locally installed Dragon Professional v16 targets Windows 10 and 11, and its vendor pages show no price. Hovor runs on Windows (beta), Mac and iPhone and lists every price. The table below covers what is confirmed on each side.
| Feature | Dragon | Hovor |
|---|---|---|
| Products | Locally installed: Dragon Professional v16, Dragon Legal v16, Dragon Law Enforcement v16. Cloud-hosted: Dragon Professional Anywhere, Dragon Legal Anywhere, Dragon Anywhere Mobile (dragon.nuance.com/en-us/dragon.html, checked 5 October 2026) | One app: Hovor |
| Platforms | Dragon Professional v16: Windows 10 or 11 (vendor data sheet, dated 2 December 2022); no Mac version listed on the product page. Dragon Anywhere Mobile: mobile, US & Canada | Windows (beta), Mac (Apple Silicon, macOS 15 or later), iPhone |
| Pricing | “Contact us” and volume licensing; no price on the vendor pages | Free plan, Pro $7.00/mo or $65.00/yr, one-time unlocks |
| Offline use | Dragon Professional v16 data sheet: internet needed for download and activation, no explicit offline statement. Dragon Anywhere Mobile: needs Wi-Fi or cellular | On-device dictation on supported devices (model download); on Windows it is optional and needs a CPU with AVX2 |
| Custom commands and word lists | Custom voice commands and macros; custom word lists (data sheet) | Custom dictionary and snippets, plus workflows |
| Accuracy | Vendor claim: “up to 99% recognition accuracy” | No accuracy figure published |
Dragon's data sheet for Dragon Professional v16 (dragon.nuance.com/shared/data-sheets/ds-dragon-professional-v16-en-us.pdf, checked 5 October 2026) lists custom voice commands and macros, custom word lists for industry-specific terms (“Add custom words to meet your unique needs”) and an Auto Transcribe Folder Agent for batch transcription of audio files. The vendor also offers Dragon Legal v16 and Dragon Law Enforcement v16 for locally installed use, and Dragon Professional Anywhere, Dragon Legal Anywhere and Dragon Anywhere Mobile as cloud-hosted options.
The vendor claims “up to 99% recognition accuracy” on its product page (dragon.nuance.com/en-us/dragon-professional, checked 5 October 2026). That is the vendor's own claim; this page has not verified it and prints no accuracy figure for Hovor. The data sheet is dated 2 December 2022, so its system requirements may have changed.
Hovor differs from Dragon in five concrete ways: where it runs, how it is priced, what you can buy once, whether recognition can stay on the device, and whether you can bring your own API key.
Hovor for Windows is a beta installer distributed from hovor.app/downloads. The Mac app is a signed, notarized download for Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 15 or later. The iPhone app requires iOS 18 or later, and its keyboard types dictated text into any app (it requires Full Access). Your dictionary and snippets sync with your account.
Hovor's free plan is 2,000 words per week, shared between cloud and on-device dictation; past the limit, dictation pauses until the weekly reset or until you upgrade. Pro has no weekly word limit on cloud dictation, translation and sync, and includes Local and BYOK access. Dragon's vendor pages show no price at all, so there is nothing to compare line by line, only the fact that one side publishes numbers.
Local Unlock ($20.00) gives unlimited on-device dictation, unlimited replacements, snippets and workflows, and Meetings on iPhone and Mac. It does not include cloud dictation or BYOK. BYOK Unlock ($15.00) lets you use your own provider keys. The Bundle ($30.00) includes both. Family Sharing works for these App Store purchases.
On supported Macs and iPhones you can dictate with on-device Parakeet or Whisper models that you download in the app. On the Windows beta, on-device Parakeet is optional: download the model in Settings; it needs a CPU with AVX2. Until you do, Windows dictation uses the cloud.
With Pro or the one-time $15.00 BYOK Unlock you can use your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Deepgram, ElevenLabs or custom-endpoint keys. The keys stay on your device and are never sent to Hovor. With Pro, Hovor can fall back to Hovor Cloud automatically if your provider fails; that fallback is not part of BYOK Unlock alone.
Dragon is the better pick if you rely on its custom voice commands and macros, need its Auto Transcribe Folder Agent for batch transcription of audio files, or want Dragon Legal v16 or Dragon Law Enforcement v16.
For everyone who wants self-serve prices, one-time unlocks, a Mac or iPhone app, or on-device dictation on supported devices, Hovor is worth a look.
Dragon's vendor pages direct you to “Contact us” and mention volume licensing; no figure appears, so the table has none for Dragon. Hovor's prices are below.
| Dragon | Hovor | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | “Contact us”; no price on the vendor pages (dragon.nuance.com, checked 5 October 2026); volume licensing mentioned | Pro $7.00/mo or $65.00/yr; one-time unlocks: Local Unlock $20.00 · BYOK Unlock $15.00 · Bundle $30.00 |
You can run both side by side while you decide, so nothing has to come off your computer first.
Dragon's own Dragon Professional v16 page and data sheet (dragon.nuance.com, checked 5 October 2026) describe speech recognition for Windows 11 and 10 and list no Mac version. Dragon Anywhere Mobile is a cloud-hosted mobile option for the US and Canada. Hovor has a Mac app for Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 15 or later, plus a Windows beta and an iPhone app.
Dragon's vendor pages (dragon.nuance.com/en-us/dragon-professional, checked 5 October 2026) say “Contact us” and mention volume licensing; they show no price, so this page prints none. The Dragon Anywhere Mobile page links to the app stores to purchase its subscription. Hovor prints its prices: Pro is $7.00/month or $65.00/year, and the one-time unlocks are Local Unlock $20.00, BYOK Unlock $15.00 and the Bundle at $30.00. A free plan covers 2,000 words per week.
On supported devices, yes: you can dictate with on-device models that you download in the app. On iPhone, Parakeet needs 4 GB of RAM or more and Whisper needs 6 GB or more; Macs and iPhones must be supported devices. On Windows (beta), on-device Parakeet is optional: you download the model in Settings, it needs a CPU with AVX2, and until then Windows dictation uses the cloud. You also have to sign in to Hovor. For Dragon, the Dragon Professional v16 data sheet (checked 5 October 2026) says only that an internet connection is needed for product download and automatic activation and says nothing explicit about offline dictation; Dragon Anywhere Mobile requires an active Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
Yes, with Pro or the one-time $15.00 BYOK Unlock (also included in the $30.00 Bundle). You can use your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Deepgram, ElevenLabs or custom-endpoint keys. Keys stay on your device and are never sent to Hovor. Automatic fallback to Hovor Cloud if your provider fails is a Pro feature.
Yes, as a beta. Hovor for Windows is an installer from hovor.app/downloads with a global hotkey you can rebind in Settings, and it pastes dictated text into the app you are using. Dragon Professional v16 lists Windows 10 or 11 as its system requirement in the vendor's data sheet (dated 2 December 2022, so requirements may have changed). Meetings are not available on Windows; they need Local Unlock or Pro on iPhone or Mac.
Windows (beta), Mac and iPhone. Free plan available. On-device dictation on supported devices.
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