Updated September 12, 2026 · By Sumbat.T
Is Superwhisper Safe? What Its Own Docs Say
The short answer
- Yes in local mode, where the guarantee is structural. The real question is which models you have selected. Superwhisper own documentation says that with a local voice model, "no audio or text ever leaves your machine". There is no upload step in that code path.
- In cloud mode, four named companies are in the path. The security documentation names Anthropic, OpenAI, Deepgram and Groq. No other page answering this question lists them. Superwhisper says data is covered by zero-data-retention terms and is never used for training.
- The fully private setup is not fully available on Windows. The maximum-privacy configuration needs a local voice model and a local language model, and the docs mark the second one "macOS only". This is the detail Windows readers most need and the one nobody writes about.
- The privacy policy is over two years stale. It is dated 19 June 2024 and still says "all data is only stored locally on your machine", which no longer describes a product with cloud models, Windows and iOS apps and an Enterprise tier. Read the security docs instead.
- If you would rather not depend on a settings menu for this, that is a product choice rather than a configuration choice. BlabbyAI keeps History audio on your own disk on Windows with nothing to configure, at $8.49/month, the same monthly price as Superwhisper Pro.
Dictation with nothing to configure
No models to choose, no engine settings to get wrong
BlabbyAI types into any text field on Windows or in Chrome. On Windows, History saves every recording to your own disk. 60 credits a week free, no card.
The short version, by what you actually need
Safety is not one property, and the right tool changes depending on which part of it you care about. These four lines are the whole argument of this page compressed:
Best for fully offline dictation on a Mac: Superwhisper
Superwhisper is the best choice for fully offline dictation on an Apple Silicon Mac, because a local voice model plus a local language model means no audio or text ever leaves the machine.
Best for privacy on Windows without configuration: BlabbyAI
BlabbyAI is the best choice for a Windows user who wants recordings kept on their own disk without selecting models, because History writes audio locally by default and there is nothing to configure.
Best for an auditable code path: OpenWhispr
OpenWhispr is the best choice for someone who wants to read the code rather than trust a policy page, because the desktop app is MIT-licensed and public on GitHub.
Watch out for: Wispr Flow
Wispr Flow is the one to watch out for on this question, because it has no local processing mode at all, so every recording is a cloud call by design rather than by setting.
Superwhisper is two different products wearing one name
Almost every confident answer to this question is wrong in the same way: it picks one of the two modes and describes it as though it were the app. Read four articles and you will find that Superwhisper processes everything on device, and also that it sends your audio to OpenAI. Both statements are accurate. They are describing different settings.
The app lets you pick a voice model, which turns speech into raw text, and optionally a language model, which cleans that text up. Each of those two choices can be local or cloud, independently. So there are not two privacy states, there are four, and the one you are in depends on two dropdowns most people never open.
| What you selected | Where the data goes | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Local voice model | Never leaves your machine | Nobody |
| Cloud voice model | Sent to a provider API | Deepgram or Groq, behind Superwhisper |
| Cloud language model | Transcript sent for cleanup | Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI (GPT) |
| Local language model | Stays on device | Nobody, but macOS only |
Source: Superwhisper product documentation, "Sensitive Data Best Practices", read 12 September 2026.
"Your recorded audio is transcribed into raw text. This can happen entirely on your device using a local voice model" and "no audio or text ever leaves your machine."
Superwhisper documentation, Sensitive Data Best Practices
That is a strong sentence and it deserves credit. It is the kind of claim that is either true or falsifiable, unlike the softer wording most vendors use. If you have selected a local voice model, the question of who else has your audio has a clean answer: nobody, because the network call does not exist.
The four companies in the cloud path, named
Here is the part that is genuinely hard to find elsewhere. Every other page ranking for this question says some version of "cloud mode sends data to third parties" and stops there. Superwhisper own documentation is more specific than its commentators, and it names them: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), Deepgram and Groq.
That split is worth understanding rather than just noting. Deepgram and Groq are speech companies, so they are on the transcription half: your actual audio. Anthropic and OpenAI are on the language-model half, so they receive the transcript for cleanup rather than the recording. If you dictate something sensitive and use a cloud language model, the text of it reaches a large American AI company even if the audio did not.
"Your audio and transcribed text are not used to train any AI models" and "Data is processed to return your result and is not retained by providers under these agreements. This applies to all models available through your Superwhisper license, including S1-Voice, S1-Language, Claude, GPT, Groq, and Deepgram."
Superwhisper documentation, Sensitive Data Best Practices
Those are zero-data-retention API terms, and they are the correct thing to have. It is a meaningfully better position than a vendor that simply says it respects your privacy without naming who it hands data to. On the training question specifically, Superwhisper gives a clear no, and it gives it in two separate documents.
A detail worth stealing
Superwhisper makes a distinction most privacy pages skip, and it is practically useful: zero data retention applies to API usage only. If you take the same sensitive text and paste it into a consumer chatbot website yourself, that content is governed by that provider consumer terms, not the API data policy. The protection travels with the route, not with the words.
The Windows asymmetry nobody writes about
Superwhisper markets itself as available on Mac, Windows and iOS, and it is. But the privacy story is not portable between them, and this is the most consequential thing on this page if you are reading it from a PC.
The documentation describes the maximum-privacy setup as two choices made together: a local voice model, and then either a local language model or Voice Mode with no language model at all. The local language model option carries a parenthesis that changes what the product is on half its platforms.
"Local language models are currently supported on macOS only. Windows users can use cloud language models or configure a mode without AI post-processing to keep data local at the voice model stage."
Superwhisper documentation, Local Language Models
Credit where it is due: Superwhisper states the consequence itself, plainly, in its own documentation. It is not hidden. It is simply that nobody writing about the app for a Windows audience has passed it on.
So a Windows user can transcribe locally, which is real and worth having. What they cannot do is assemble the same complete local stack a Mac user can. Their two options are exactly the ones the vendor lists: run a mode with no AI post-processing, which means living with raw unformatted transcription, or use a cloud language model and accept that the transcript leaves the machine. The polished output that makes the app appealing is, on Windows, a cloud call.
And an Intel Mac footnote
Superwhisper own FAQ says "Intel Macs work best with Cloud models" and that "Offline models only run really well on Apple Silicon macs." So the private configuration is not just macOS-flavoured, it is effectively Apple Silicon-flavoured. An Intel Mac user is pushed toward the cloud path by performance, which is a privacy consequence arriving through a hardware door.
This is the honest shape of the trade, and it is why a Windows reader asking this question is in a different position from the Mac reader the rest of the internet is answering. BlabbyAI is built for Windows first rather than ported to it, and it takes a different route to the same concern: it does not ask you to pick an engine at all, and on Windows the History feature writes each recording to your own disk instead of a server.
The privacy policy describes a product that no longer exists
If you go looking for Superwhisper privacy position, Google will send you to the privacy policy, which currently ranks above every third-party article on this question. It is dated 19 June 2024. That is more than two years old, and the product has changed underneath it.
"Superwhisper is designed to process audio data locally on your device" and "all data is only stored locally on your machine."
Superwhisper privacy policy, last updated 19 June 2024, read 12 September 2026
Read that against the security documentation quoted earlier in this page and the tension is obvious. "All data is only stored locally on your machine" is a fair description of an offline Mac utility. It is not a complete description of software that now routes audio through Deepgram and Groq, sends transcripts to Anthropic and OpenAI, ships a Windows app and an iOS app, and sells an Enterprise tier with SOC 2 Type II.
The fair reading is a stale legal page rather than an attempt to mislead, since the company documents the cloud path clearly elsewhere and had no reason to hide what it published itself. But it has a real consequence for you: the most authoritative-looking document, the one on the vendor own domain with the word "privacy" in the URL, is the least accurate one. If you are evaluating this product on its privacy policy, you are reading about the 2024 version.
What to read instead
The product documentation at superwhisper.com/docs/security/sensitive-data describes both paths properly, names the subprocessors and explains the fully local configuration. It is the document the privacy policy should point to and does not.
"Is it safe" is four questions in a coat
Part of why the answers online conflict is that the word covers four separate concerns, and Superwhisper scores differently on each. Separating them makes the decision much faster.
1. Where does my audio go?
Entirely your choice, which is unusual and good. Four states depending on two dropdowns. This is the section that matters most and the one this page spends its length on.
2. Will it be used to train a model?
No, stated in two documents, and backed by zero-data-retention API terms in cloud mode. This is the strongest part of the Superwhisper answer.
3. Is the software itself trustworthy?
It is a closed-source paid app with an Enterprise tier carrying SOC 2 Type II. You cannot read the code, so this rests on the documents and the company track record.
4. Will the company treat me fairly?
A different question from data handling, and the one with the loudest public complaints. Covered below, because every other page on this query ignores it.
The complaint that is not about privacy at all
Search this exact question and the top organic result is not an article. It is a Reddit thread in Superwhisper own community, and it is not about data.
"I actually highly recommend not using superwhisper due to poor customer service, and honestly a bit scammy renewals with no warning."
Reddit, r/superwhisper, thread titled "Good bye Whisper", ranking first on this query as of 12 September 2026
One user account is not a verdict on a company, and it should be weighted as exactly what it is: a single loud data point that Google has chosen to rank first. It is included here because a reader who types "is this safe" usually means two things at once, and every other page on this SERP answers only the data half.
The counterweight, from the company own site, is a stated 30 day refund available for all plans, described in their FAQ as a "no questions asked refund within 30 days of purchase" that "will always be honored". If you buy and the renewal behaviour bothers you, that window is the documented remedy. Worth knowing before you need it.
What it costs, and why the free tier is the private one
Prices read from superwhisper.com on 12 September 2026. The free tier gives you 3,000 words of Pro features, after which, in their words, "the free tier features are available to you forever".
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Voice to text in any app, 100+ languages, and unlimited use of Whisper models |
| Pro monthly | $8.49/mo | Cloud and local AI models, your own API keys, file transcription, translation |
| Pro yearly | 2 months free | Same as Pro, billed annually |
| Lifetime | One-time, marked "Top choice" | Same as Pro, no renewal |
| Enterprise | Custom | SOC 2 Type II, centralized billing, model access control |
Source: superwhisper.com pricing section, read 12 September 2026.
The counterintuitive bit
The free tier includes unlimited use of Whisper models, and Whisper models are the local ones. Pro is what unlocks the cloud models. So paying does not buy you more privacy here, it buys you speed and features that travel in the opposite direction. Structurally, the free tier is the more private of the two, which is a fair thing to say about a paid product and is not how most software works.
How the four tools compare on this question
Four dictation tools, judged only on where your voice goes. Prices and behaviour read from each vendor own pages in September 2026.
| Tool | Processing | Audio recording | Training | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Superwhisper | Local or cloud, your choice | Device only with local models | No, in both modes | $8.49/mo |
 BlabbyAI | Cloud transcription | Local disk on Windows, never uploaded | Not used for training | $8.49/mo |
 Wispr Flow | Cloud only, no local option | Vendor servers, if cloud storage on | Opt-in, off by default | $15/mo |
 OpenWhispr | Local, your own key, or their cloud | Device only in local mode | No, contractually | Free, Pro paid |
The row that changes the decision is the third column rather than the first. Superwhisper can beat everything here on processing if you configure it correctly on the right hardware. What it does not do is make that the default, and defaults are what most people actually run.
Where BlabbyAI fits
It is worth being precise rather than triumphant, because the tools solve the concern differently. BlabbyAI transcribes in the cloud. It is not an offline tool, and against a fully local Whisper model on an Apple Silicon Mac, Superwhisper wins the narrow question of whether audio leaves the device during transcription. That is a real answer and this page is not going to pretend otherwise.
What BlabbyAI does differently is remove the configuration from the equation and keep the artifact. There is no engine to select and no model to download, so there is no wrong setting to be in. On Windows, History writes each recording to your own disk rather than a server, so the file itself stays with you. And it is a Windows app and a Chrome extension as first-class products rather than ports, which matters given the macOS-only limitation above. At $8.49/month it is the same monthly price as Superwhisper Pro.
How to check which mode you are actually in
If you already use Superwhisper and want the private configuration rather than assuming you have it, the documentation gives the recipe. Three steps:
- Select a local voice model. The docs name Parakeet Multilanguage, Whisper Large V3 Turbo and Ultra as the local options. This is the step that decides where your audio goes, and it is the one that matters most.
- Handle the language model. On macOS, select a local one. On Windows, your only fully local route is Voice Mode with no language model involved, which the docs call part of "the simplest fully-local configuration". Accepting a cloud language model here means your transcript reaches Anthropic or OpenAI.
- Know what still syncs. Transcription history is stored locally on your device. FileSync syncs configuration only, and the documentation is explicit that this "does not include any transcription content or audio". So settings travel between your machines and content does not.
The one-line test
If you have never opened the model settings and deliberately chosen a local voice model, assume some of your dictation has been processed in the cloud. The capable defaults are the connected ones. That is not a criticism of Superwhisper so much as a description of how the app is shaped, and it is the practical reason a private-by-default product is a different kind of answer.
The verdict
Superwhisper is a legitimate, well-documented app, and on the question this page asks it does better than most of its competitors. The local-mode guarantee is real and structural. The training answer is a clean no in two documents. The subprocessor list is named openly, which is more than the pages writing about it manage. If you run an Apple Silicon Mac and you configure it deliberately, it is one of the most private ways to dictate that exists.
The three things to walk away knowing are that the privacy depends on settings rather than defaults, that the complete local configuration is macOS only so Windows readers cannot reach it, and that the privacy policy on the vendor site is two years stale and describes an older, simpler product.
If what you wanted was dictation that keeps the recording on your own machine without you having to get a settings menu right, BlabbyAI exists for that: press a key, talk, and clean text lands in whatever you are typing into, with History keeping your audio on your own disk on Windows and nothing to configure. It is free to start and $8.49/month if you keep it, and it works in Chrome too, which is where a lot of this work actually happens.
Private by default, not by settings
No models to choose, no engines to compare. Press a key, talk, and clean text lands wherever you are typing. On Windows your recordings stay on your own disk. 60 credits a week free, no card.
Frequently asked questions
Is Superwhisper safe to use?
For ordinary work, yes, and in one specific configuration it is about as private as dictation gets. Superwhisper can run a voice model entirely on your own machine, and its own documentation says that when you do, no audio or text ever leaves your machine. That is a structural guarantee rather than a promise, because there is no upload step in that code path. But "is Superwhisper safe" has no single answer, because the app has local models and cloud models and they behave completely differently. In cloud mode your audio is processed via API calls through third-party providers, and the documentation names them: Anthropic, OpenAI, Deepgram and Groq. The honest answer is not yes or no, it is: which models have you selected? If you want a tool where the recording is written to your own disk by default with nothing to configure, BlabbyAI does that on Windows for $8.49 a month.
Does Superwhisper send my audio to the cloud?
Only if you have selected a cloud model, but the distinction is a settings choice rather than a product guarantee, so it is worth checking rather than assuming. Superwhisper documentation describes local transcription as happening entirely on your device using a local voice model, with no audio or text ever leaving the machine. When you use cloud models, your data is processed via API calls to third-party providers. The practical problem is that the fastest and most capable models in the app are the cloud ones, so the default path many users take is the one that transmits. If you have never opened the model settings and deliberately chosen a local voice model such as Parakeet Multilanguage or Whisper Large V3 Turbo, you should assume some of your dictation has been processed in the cloud.
Which companies can see my Superwhisper dictation?
In local mode, nobody. In cloud mode, the Superwhisper security documentation names four providers: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), Deepgram and Groq. This is more specific than almost anything else written about the app, and it is worth knowing because it means your dictated text may pass through a large American AI company depending on which model you picked. Superwhisper states that your audio and transcribed text are not used to train any AI models, and that data is processed to return your result and is not retained by providers under these agreements, which it describes as zero-data-retention terms. The company also makes a point that is easy to miss and genuinely useful: zero data retention applies to API usage only, so pasting the same text into a consumer chatbot website is governed by that provider consumer terms instead.
Does Superwhisper train AI on my voice?
No. The security documentation states that your audio and transcribed text are not used to train any AI models, and the privacy policy says that your data is not being used for training AI models or any other machine learning purposes. This holds in both directions: in local mode the question does not arise because nothing is transmitted, and in cloud mode Superwhisper says it holds zero-data-retention terms with the API providers it uses. This is a genuinely strong position and one of the better answers in this category. It is the part of the Superwhisper privacy story that holds up best under reading.
Is Superwhisper safe on Windows?
It runs on Windows, but the strongest privacy configuration is not fully available there, and this is the single most useful thing on this page for a Windows reader. Superwhisper maximum privacy setup requires both a local voice model and a local language model, and the documentation states that the local language model option is macOS only. A Windows user can therefore run local transcription, but cannot assemble the same fully local configuration a Mac user can, and must either use Voice Mode with no language model involved or accept that the cleanup step is a cloud call. None of the Windows-facing articles about Superwhisper mention this. If you are on Windows and privacy is the reason you are reading this page, that asymmetry is worth knowing before you buy.
Is the Superwhisper privacy policy up to date?
The published privacy policy is dated 19 June 2024, which is more than two years old at the time of writing, and it has not kept pace with the product. It states that Superwhisper is designed to process audio data locally on your device and that all data is only stored locally on your machine. That was a fair description of an offline Mac app. It is not a complete description of software that now ships cloud models routed through Anthropic, OpenAI, Deepgram and Groq, has a Windows and an iOS app, and sells an Enterprise tier. The more accurate document is the security guide in the product documentation, which describes both paths properly. This is not evidence of bad faith, it is a stale legal page, but if you are evaluating the product on its privacy policy specifically, you are reading a description of an older product.
Is Superwhisper free, and does the free tier change the privacy picture?
There is a free tier and it does not weaken privacy, which is a fair thing to say for the product. Superwhisper offers 3,000 words of Pro features free, after which the free tier features remain available permanently, and the free tier explicitly includes unlimited use of Whisper models. Whisper models are the local ones, so the free tier is capable of the private configuration rather than gating it behind payment. Pro is $8.49 a month with cheaper yearly and lifetime options, and it adds cloud and local AI models, your own API keys, file transcription and translation. Paying more does not buy you more privacy here, and in the sense that Pro unlocks the cloud models, it is the free tier that is structurally the more private of the two.
What do actual users complain about?
The privacy answers are reasonable, and the loudest complaint on the public record is about billing rather than data. The top organic result on Google for this question is a Reddit thread in the Superwhisper community titled "Good bye Whisper", in which a user writes that they highly recommend not using superwhisper due to poor customer service, and honestly a bit scammy renewals with no warning. That is one user account and should be weighed as such, not treated as a verdict on the company. It is included here because every other page answering this question addresses only the privacy half, and a reader asking whether software is safe usually also means whether the company will treat them fairly. Superwhisper does publish a 30 day refund available for all plans, and a no questions asked refund within 30 days of purchase that it says will always be honored.
What is the safest way to run Superwhisper?
Choose a local voice model, and on a Mac pair it with a local language model. The documentation names Parakeet Multilanguage, Whisper Large V3 Turbo and Ultra as the local voice models, and describes the simplest fully-local configuration as a local voice model plus either a local language model or Voice Mode with no language model involved. In that setup the documentation says no audio or text ever leaves your machine. Two practical notes. Offline models only run really well on Apple Silicon Macs, per the company own FAQ, so Intel Mac users are pushed toward cloud models and therefore away from the private configuration. And the local language model half is macOS only, so Windows users cannot complete the same setup.
What is a good alternative if I want privacy without configuring anything?
The gap Superwhisper leaves is that its privacy depends on you making the right choices in a settings menu, and the more capable path is the one that transmits. If you would rather not manage models at all, BlabbyAI is a Windows app and a Chrome extension where History writes every recording to your own disk rather than a server, with nothing to select and no models to download. It is $8.49 a month, the same monthly price as Superwhisper Pro, with a free tier of 60 credits a week that needs no card. It is worth being precise about the trade: BlabbyAI transcribes in the cloud, so it is not an offline tool and does not compete with a fully local Whisper model on that specific axis. What it does is remove the configuration step, work on Windows and in the browser as a first-class target rather than a port, and keep the audio recording itself on your machine.
Sources
- Superwhisper, Sensitive Data Best Practices. The local and cloud paths, the named subprocessors, the fully local configuration and the FileSync scope. Read 12 September 2026.
- Superwhisper, Privacy Policy, last updated 19 June 2024. Local storage and no-training statements. Read 12 September 2026.
- Superwhisper, pricing and FAQ. Plan prices, the 3,000-word free trial, the refund policy and the Intel Mac note. Read 12 September 2026.
- Reddit, r/superwhisper, "Good bye Whisper". The billing complaint, ranking first organically on this query.