Wren
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Wren vs Willow Voice

A cloud-based AI dictation app for Mac, Windows, and iOS that positions itself on privacy, with a default Private Mode and SOC 2 Type II / HIPAA compliance for regulated teams.

At a glance

Platforms
macOS, Windows, iOS
Open source
No
Free tier
2,000 words per week, no credit card required.
Paid plans
Individual: $15/month, or $12/month ($144/year) billed annually. Team: $10/user/month annually, 3-seat minimum. Enterprise: custom pricing.

What Willow Voice is good at

Willow Voice targets professionals and teams who need dictation with real compliance backing. It holds SOC 2 Type II certification and HIPAA compliance with a signed BAA for clinical use, and its Private Mode says it doesn't collect dictated content or store audio on its servers. The free plan is more usable than a trial: 2,000 words a week with no credit card required, though unlimited dictation and features like style memory are gated behind the $15/month Individual plan. It also runs an Offline Mode with a local model on Mac and iOS, unusual for a cloud-first dictation app, but that mode doesn't extend to its Windows client or to Linux, which it doesn't support at all.

How Wren is different

  • Wren runs offline by default on every platform it ships, Linux included. Willow Voice's offline mode only covers Mac and iOS, and its Windows app still depends on the cloud.
  • Wren is MIT licensed, client and inference engine both. Willow Voice's app and backend are closed source.
  • Wren's offline path has no subscription, no account, and no word cap. Willow Voice's free plan caps out at 2,000 words a week, and unlimited dictation needs a paid plan.
  • Wren ships a real localized UI in English and Portuguese through proper i18n. Willow Voice, as far as its own site documents, is English only.
  • Wren runs on Linux. Willow Voice doesn't support Linux at all, only Mac, Windows, and iOS.
  • Wren's diagnostics stay on the device; nothing phones home. Willow Voice's zero-retention promise in Private Mode is real but still asks you to trust a vendor's cloud backend for the parts that aren't running locally.

Questions, answered

Is Willow Voice free?

There's a free plan: 2,000 words a week, no credit card required. Unlimited dictation and extras like style memory or longer recording windows need the Individual plan, $15/month or $144/year billed annually.

Does Willow Voice work offline?

Partly. It added an Offline Mode that runs a local model on Mac and iOS. The Windows client still depends on Willow's cloud API, and there's no Linux build.

Is Willow Voice open source?

No. It's closed source and cloud based, with an optional local model on Mac and iOS only.

Is Willow Voice HIPAA compliant?

Willow Voice states it holds SOC 2 Type II certification and HIPAA compliance, with a signed BAA available for clinical workflows, and describes a zero data retention policy under its Private Mode.

Why does Windows flag Wren as an unrecognized app?

Wren isn't code signed yet, no Authenticode certificate, so Windows SmartScreen warns that it's from an unrecognized publisher. Wren's own release notes disclose this; it's a known gap, not a hidden one.

Sources

Pricing and features last checked 2026-09-09. Details change — verify against the source before relying on them.

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