Comparison
Handy is a likeable project with a clear line on its page: accessibility tooling does not belong behind a paywall. We are not going to argue with that.
As of 19.09.2026
Handy is a free, open source dictation application under the MIT licence that works completely offline, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and lets you pick between Whisper in several sizes and Parakeet V3. The voice stays on the computer. MediSync Dictate makes the same gesture and puts on top what a practice needs: German medical formatting, a guard against invented words, foot pedal and dictation microphone, vocabulary import, a processor agreement under Art. 28 GDPR, and somebody you can call.
Price is not an argument here and we will not pretend it is. Handy costs nothing, and Dictate Free costs nothing either, with unlimited local dictation. Deciding this on price means not deciding it at all.
The difference is what happens after the transcript. A speech model writes what it hears: a hundred and forty over ninety. A clinical letter needs 140/90, one nought nought as 1-0-0, correct units and paragraphs in the right places. That is Smart Dictation, and it is trained on German.
And then there is the guard. A model that adds a word or loses a number is not inconvenient in documentation, it is dangerous. Dictate throws those results away and writes the raw text instead. On top of that come the papers a practice is asked for: a processor agreement, security measures, an operating concept, licence keys for closed networks.
Blood pressure, dosing schedules, units, abbreviations and paragraphs. Exactly the places where a general model writes plausibly and wrongly.
No added word, no lost number. Otherwise the raw text stands, and you see what you said.
Hold, speak, release, or tap once for hands-free, with the hardware already in the practice.
Import from Dragon word lists and MyCommands, from Wispr Flow dictionaries and snippets, and from Office CUSTOM.DIC.
Processor agreement under Art. 28 GDPR, security measures and an operating concept, plus licence keys for machines with no internet.
Support rather than an issue tracker, with on-site introduction and training on Enterprise.
| Feature | MediSync | Handy |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | €0 on the free plan, €10 net a month for ProPrice is not the difference here. Dictate Free costs nothing either and dictates locally without limit. | Free |
| On the device | MediSync Local, no network and no account | Yes, completely offline, Whisper and Parakeet V3 |
| Operating system | Windows 10 (1809) and newer, macOS 14 on Apple Silicon | Windows, macOS and Linux |
| Medical formatting | Smart Dictation: blood pressure, doses, units, paragraphs | Not published |
| Guard against invented words | Yes; otherwise the raw text stands | Not published |
| Foot pedal and dictation microphone | Supported | Not published |
| Bringing a vocabulary across | From Dragon, Wispr Flow and Office | Not published |
| A contract for a practice | Processor agreement under Art. 28 GDPR, security measures and an operating concept | Not published |
| Closed networks | Licence keys for machines with no internet | Not published |
| Who helps when something breaks | Support, with on-site introduction on Enterprise | The community around the project |
| Open source | No | Yes, MIT licence |
Every price is in the currency the vendor publishes it in. We do not convert dollars into euro: the rate moves, the table does not.
The text has to format German clinical writing correctly; nothing may be invented; you use a foot pedal or dictation microphone; your practice needs a processor agreement and an operating concept; or somebody has to be reachable when something stops working.
Yes. Dictate Free costs nothing, dictates without limit on the machine through MediSync Local, and includes 100 cloud minutes a month. Pro is €10 net a month.
Yes. MediSync Local recognises and formats on the machine, with no network and no account, after the model package is downloaded once.
Because a general model writes wrongly the very words the documentation exists for: doses, lab values, units. And the guard, the vocabulary import and the papers for the data-protection review are missing.
No. Handy is, under the MIT licence, and if you want to read the code yourself that is a good reason. What we bring instead is a processor agreement, security measures and an operating concept.
Every figure about the other vendor comes from their own page or from a reseller's. Next to each one is the date we read it.