The 6 best Cluely alternatives
for your Mac in 2026.
Cluely positions itself as an "invisible AI" that whispers answers in your ear during interviews, sales calls, and exams. The pitch is sharp; the architecture is everything-in-the-cloud. If you want the same overlay-AI experience but with the model running on your Mac and your voice and screen never leaving it, these are the alternatives worth looking at. Dollop sits on top — voice-driven AI Mode and a chat overlay, both on Apple Foundation Models, for free.
Cluely is a real product with a real audience — the "have an AI tell me what to say in real time" use case is genuine. The reasons people look for alternatives are mostly about trust and price.
Cluely's architecture sends both your microphone audio and the screen contents to remote servers for processing. For interviews, sales calls, or anything covered by an NDA, that's the wrong direction. The on-device versions of this category exist now.
Cluely's plans start around $20/month and scale up. For a tool you might trigger five times during a call, the math gets uncomfortable when free on-device alternatives now cover most of the same workflow.
Cluely's marketing leans on "they won't know it's there" — in practice, screen sharing software, screen recordings, and proctoring tools detect overlay windows. Dollop's chat overlay is a regular SwiftUI panel; it doesn't pretend to be invisible, which means the user actually understands what's on screen.
Cluely is a one-trick tool — it's the AI overlay. It doesn't dictate and it doesn't paste at cursor. Dollop covers both, plus the overlay, on the same on-device foundation, so you don't end up running two subscriptions to do voice + AI on your Mac.
Most comparison pages list ten features. Three of them matter when you're actually switching.
- Where does the audio go?
- On-device means your voice and the transcript stay on the Mac you're typing on. Cloud means audio is uploaded, transcribed remotely, and the text is downloaded back — usually with no way to know which providers see it on the way through. This is load-bearing for anyone touching client work, regulated content, or proprietary information.
- How much RAM does it actually take?
- The forgotten metric. "On-device" doesn't mean "free" — Whisper-based tools load 700 MB to 3 GB into memory while running. If you already have Cursor, Chrome, Slack, and a Docker container open, that matters. Apple Foundation Models is the only path right now to real on-device dictation at 0 GB.
- How clean is the cleaned text?
- Raw transcription is a solved problem — Whisper, Parakeet, and Apple's models are all excellent. The differentiator is what happens after: filler removal, punctuation, formatting commands, tone-matching to the active app. A tuned dictation model beats a generic LLM polish step every time.
| Tool | RAM | Audio leaves Mac? | Pricing | Cleanup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollop | 0 GB | Never | Free | Tuned LoRA |
| Cluely | ~0 GB local | Yes (cloud) | $20/mo+ | Cloud LLM |
| Superwhisper | ~1.5 GB | Optional | $249 once | Generic LLM |
| Voibe | ~700 MB | Never | $9.90/mo | Whisper + rules |
| VoiceInk | ~2 GB | Never | Free / open-source | Optional |
| MacWhisper | ~1–3 GB | Never | €64 once | File-based |
| LumeVoice | ~700 MB | Never | Subscription | Whisper |
| Apple Dictation | ~0 GB | Never (Ventura+) | Free (built-in) | None |
RAM figures are approximate, measured at idle with the smallest model loaded. Dollop uses Apple Foundation Models — the OS keeps the model warm independently of the app, so the app itself contributes 0 GB beyond the OS baseline.
| Feature | Dollop | Cluely | Superwhisper | wisprflow | apple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen-aware AI overlay | ● | ● | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| On-device (no upload) | ● | ○ | ◐ | ○ | ◐ |
| Voice dictation included | ● | ○ | ● | ● | ● |
| Meeting Notes | ● | ○ | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| Price | Free | $20/mo | $249 | $15/mo | Free |
| Resident RAM | 0 GB | cloud | ~1.5 GB | ~700 MB | 0 GB |
● Yes · ◐ Partial · ○ No. Verified May 2026.
Dollop
Dollop is the voice OS I built for the Mac. It does four things, all on-device, all free: dictation (clean text pasted at your cursor in any app), an AI chat overlay (multi-turn, optionally screen-aware) for asking questions or rewriting, Little Overlay (⌃ A — a tiny floating glass pill that hears your selection, sees your screen, and answers in place for the one-shot question that doesn’t need a chat thread), and Meeting Notes (record and transcribe lectures, calls, and meetings with summaries and action items, fully on-device). It runs on Apple Foundation Models, the on-device LLM Apple ships with macOS 26, and ships with a tuned cleanup adapter trained specifically for the way people actually speak. Because Apple already keeps the foundation model warm in the OS, Dollop contributes 0 GB to your RAM footprint. Your audio never leaves the Mac. Completely free.
- Four pillars in one app: dictation, AI chat, Little Overlay, Meeting Notes
- Only Mac dictation app on Apple Foundation Models
- 0 GB RAM cost, the OS hosts the model
- Tuned cleanup adapter, not a generic polish step
- Meeting Notes: record + transcribe + summarize on-device
- Per-app tone (Casual / Formal / Excited)
- Completely free, no subscription, no premium tier
- Apple Silicon + macOS 26 only, no Intel, no Windows
- Apple Intelligence must be enabled
- New product, smaller community than Wispr or Superwhisper
Superwhisper
On-device dictation app with optional AI command mode — you can rewrite or summarize selected text via local LLM. Different angle than Cluely (dictation-first rather than overlay-first), but Mac-native and one-time purchase.
- Mature, well-supported
- Local Whisper option
- One-time purchase
- $249 up front
- 1–3 GB RAM resident
- Not designed as a Cluely-style overlay
Apple Dictation
Apple Dictation is free, on-device, and built into macOS Ventura+. It's transcription only — no AI overlay, no answers, no summarization. If your only Cluely use case is "voice typing into a chat," Apple Dictation does that for free. Dollop adds the AI layer on top.
VoiceInk
Free, open-source dictation for Mac, 100+ languages, runs Whisper locally. Doesn't have an AI overlay either, but the dictation foundation is solid and you can audit the source.
Wispr Flow
Cloud dictation, $15/month. Different category from Cluely but it shares the cloud-routing concern. Wispr Flow doesn't do overlay AI; it's strictly dictation.
- Audio leaves your Mac
- $15/mo subscription
- 2.7 Trustpilot rating
Voibe
Mac-native dictation app with subscription pricing and strong privacy positioning. Like Wispr Flow but on-device. No AI overlay yet.
Hard requirement: Dollop runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 26 or later. Most Macs sold since 2021 qualify. If you're on Intel, that's the constraint to plan around.
- 01
Cancel Cluely
One-time-purchase tools and free apps don't punish you for sticking around, so the only thing to actively cancel is the Cluely subscription. Settings → Account → Cancel.
- 02
Install Dollop and enable Apple Intelligence
Microphone, Accessibility, and Screen Recording (only if you turn on Screen Context). If Apple Intelligence isn't on yet, Dollop's onboarding will walk you through enabling it in System Settings.
- 03
Bind your AI hotkey
By default, ⌃ A triggers AI Mode (voice command → paste at cursor) and ⌃ S opens the chat overlay (multi-turn conversation, optionally with screen context). Both work in any app. Now your "ask the AI mid-call" workflow runs locally instead of in the cloud.
Does Dollop work the same way Cluely does?
Will Dollop work during a Zoom call or interview?
Can Dollop listen to a live conversation and feed me answers?
What does Dollop actually do?
How much does Dollop cost?
Does Dollop work without an internet connection?
Can Dollop record and transcribe meetings or lectures?
Will Dollop work on Intel Macs?
Can I dictate into Cursor, VS Code, Slack, and other apps?
Is it ethical to use AI overlays during interviews?
Cluely is a clever product but it's structurally cloud-dependent and structurally subscription-priced. Dollop covers the same overlay-AI use case — voice-driven, screen-aware — without sending anything off your Mac, and without a subscription.
If you've been using Cluely for legitimate research and quick-AI moments rather than interviews, the Dollop chat overlay is the same workflow, on Apple Foundation Models, for free.