What is Handy used for?

Handy is a free, open-source desktop app that transcribes your speech offline and pastes the text into whichever app you are using. It is a good fit for dictating text without sending audio to the cloud and voice input for accessibility needs.

Is Handy open source?

Yes. Handy is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at cjpais/Handy and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. Handy is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Handy?

Yes. Handy can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Handy an alternative to?

Handy is an open-source alternative to Wispr Flow. Other open-source alternatives to Wispr Flow include Tambourine Voice.

Is Handy actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Handy was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.9.7, published on 18 September 2026. The project has 33k stars on GitHub.

Handy: open-source alternative to Wispr Flow

About Handy

Handy is a cross-platform desktop application for speech-to-text. You press a configurable keyboard shortcut, speak, and the transcribed words appear in the text field you are working in. Everything happens on your own computer, so audio is never sent to a cloud service. It is written in Rust with Tauri, released under the MIT license, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Recording can be set to hold-to-talk, toggle, or both. Silence is filtered with Silero voice activity detection, and transcription uses a model of your choice: Whisper models in several sizes with GPU acceleration when available, or the CPU-optimized Parakeet V3 with automatic language detection. The project states its aims as free, open source, private and simple, treating accessibility tooling as something that should not sit behind a paywall. Installers are on the releases page and website, with Homebrew available on macOS.

Key features

Offline speech-to-text transcription
Configurable hold or toggle keyboard shortcut
Whisper models with GPU acceleration
Parakeet V3 model with language detection
Silero voice activity detection filters silence
Pastes text into any app you use

Good fit for

→Dictating text without sending audio to the cloud
→Voice input for accessibility needs

Built with: Rust
Tags: speech-to-text; dictation; offline; whisper; privacy; tauri; accessibility; rust

Handy: questions and answers

What is Handy used for?: Handy is a free, open-source desktop app that transcribes your speech offline and pastes the text into whichever app you are using. It is a good fit for dictating text without sending audio to the cloud and voice input for accessibility needs.
Is Handy open source?: Yes. Handy is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at cjpais/Handy and is written mainly in Rust.
Is Handy free?: Yes. Handy is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Handy?: Yes. Handy can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Handy an alternative to?: Handy is an open-source alternative to Wispr Flow. Other open-source alternatives to Wispr Flow include Tambourine Voice.
Is Handy actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Handy was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.9.7, published on 18 September 2026. The project has 33k stars on GitHub.