Comparison
SpeechLive sits in many German practices, and for good reasons. Speech recognition there is an add-on, though, and it costs more than our whole subscription.
As of 19.09.2026
SpeechLive is a dictation workflow: you dictate on a device or in the app, the dictation goes to the cloud, and there it becomes text through either speech recognition or a typist. The packages are €10.90, €13.50 and €17.90 net per user a month, and speech recognition costs €24.90 net on top. MediSync Dictate takes the shorter route: hold a key, speak, and the finished text appears at the caret, in the PVS, the KIS, Outlook or Word. Recognition is in the price, even on the free plan, and it runs with no internet at all if you want.
Start with what SpeechLive does well. If you dictate with a SpeechMike, send the dictation to a typist and expect the finished text next morning, that is a mature workflow which has worked for decades. If your practice works that way and wants to keep working that way, this is not a bad system.
The sum looks different once recognition is in it. The package is €10.90 to €17.90 net per user a month, and recognition adds €24.90 net. Together that is roughly €36 to €43 per user a month. Dictate Pro is €10, and Dictate Free is nothing.
The second difference is the route. In a dictation workflow the text is made somewhere else and then has to get into the application. With Dictate it is already where your caret is. And because MediSync Local runs on the machine, there is neither a fair-use line at 500 minutes nor a dependency on the network.
€24.90 net a month for speech recognition alone is more than twice Dictate Pro. With us you already dictate locally without limit on the free plan.
In the PVS, the KIS, Outlook, Word, the browser. No upload, no retrieval, no pasting. No caret? Then it waits in the clipboard.
Dictate works with dictation microphones and foot pedals. The hardware already on the desk can stay there.
MediSync Local runs without limit on the machine. At SpeechLive, Philips gets in touch if you regularly pass 500 minutes a month.
Recognition and formatting run on the machine, with no network and no account. For closed networks there are licence keys.
Smart Dictation sets numbers, units, doses and paragraphs. A guard throws away any result that invents a word or loses a number.
| Feature | MediSync | Philips SpeechLive |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | €0 on the free plan, €10 net a month for ProThe line below it matters more. | €10.90 Basic, €13.50 Pro, €17.90 Enterprise, all net |
| Speech recognition | Included, even on the free plan | €24.90 net per user a month as an add-on |
| Where the text lands | At the caret, in the PVS, KIS, Outlook or Word | In the dictation workflow, then moved into the application |
| Without internet | MediSync Local, no network and no account | A cloud service |
| Fair-use limit | None; MediSync Local is unlimited | Above 500 minutes a month on a regular basis, Philips gets in touch |
| Foot pedal and dictation microphone | Supported, including the one you own | The heart of the system |
| Typing pool | Not part of the offer | Manual transcription by a typist is available |
| Medical formatting | Smart Dictation, trained on German | Not published |
| Guard against invented words | Yes; otherwise the raw text stands | Not published |
| Billing | Monthly or yearly, cancel any time | Quarterly in Germany and Austria, terms of 3, 12 or 24 months |
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 should appear in your application straight away rather than after a round trip; recognition should be in the price rather than an add-on; you have to work without internet; a fair-use line is in your way; or you want to keep the dictation microphone you already own.
On a German specialist dealer's price list the package is €10.90 (Basic), €13.50 (Pro) or €17.90 (Enterprise) net per user a month, and speech recognition is €24.90 net on top. In Germany and Austria it is billed quarterly.
Dictate is built for dictation microphones and foot pedals. A key holds the dictation, a tap makes it hands-free. If you are unsure which keys your device reports, we check that with you.
No. Dictate writes the text itself, straight away. If your organisation needs a typing service, that is a reason to look at SpeechLive more closely.
Not with MediSync Local. After the model package is downloaded once, everything runs on the machine. For machines with no internet at all there are licence keys.
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.