Charlie Mike
Your voice. Your machine.
Local-first voice-to-text for Windows. GPU for speed, CPU for everyone.
Charlie Mike is a desktop dictation app that processes speech entirely on your machine — GPU-accelerated or CPU, no cloud, no subscription, no data leaving your computer. Press a hotkey, speak, release. Text appears at your cursor in under 2 seconds.
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
Three steps. That's it.
Install
Download. Run installer. Done. No accounts, no API keys, no configuration.
Press Backtick
Hold the ` key anywhere on your computer. Start speaking naturally.
Text Appears
Release the key. Transcribed text is pasted at your cursor. Sub-2 seconds.
3x
faster than typing
<2s
transcription latency
0
cloud dependencies
See what your typing habit actually costs.
Voice is 3× faster than typing — that's peer-reviewed research. Pick your role and see the math.
That’s 467 hours you could spend building instead of typing.
Worth $39,667 at your rate
266x return on a $149 purchase
Voice: 150 WPM (clinical dictation research). Typing: Dhakal et al. (2018). Rates: U.S. BLS. 250 work days/year. View the research →
Built different.
Everything you need. Nothing you don't.
100% Local
Runs on your machine — GPU for speed, CPU for compatibility. No internet. No cloud. No data collection. Ever.
Sub-2 Second
Local transcription faster than any cloud service. GPU-accelerated with large-v3-turbo model, INT8 optimized.
One Hotkey
Hold backtick, speak, release. Text appears at your cursor. Works in any application.
Works Everywhere
Email, Slack, Word, browser, terminal. Anywhere you can type, Charlie Mike can transcribe.
Pay Once
One purchase. Yours forever. No subscriptions. No per-minute charges. No surprise invoices.
Privacy First
No account required. No internet needed. Airplane mode? Still works. Your words never leave your machine.
Windows voice-to-text is broken.
Every option asks you to compromise on privacy, price, or performance. Usually all three.
Windows Built-in (Win+H)
Cloud-dependent
Every word sent to Microsoft servers. Mediocre accuracy. Requires internet. No offline mode.
Annual cost: $0 (but your data is the price)
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
$699 price tag
Legacy software. Bloated install. Dated accuracy. Still processing in the cloud for some features.
Annual cost: $699
Cloud Subscriptions
Recurring costs
Wispr Flow, Otter.ai, and others charge monthly. Your voice data lives on their servers. Indefinitely.
Annual cost: $240-360/yr
Simple pricing. No surprises.
One payment. Yours forever. 79% less than Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
Team
For power users and small teams who want everything, forever.
- ✓ 5 PC licenses
- ✓ All current & future models
- ✓ Batch transcription (SRT/VTT/TXT)
- ✓ Priority support
- ✓ Lifetime updates
- ✓ 14-day free trial
Professional
The sweet spot. All models, priority support, and lifetime updates.
- ✓ 3 PC licenses
- ✓ All Whisper models
- ✓ Batch transcription (SRT/VTT/TXT)
- ✓ Priority email support
- ✓ Lifetime updates
- ✓ 14-day free trial
Starter
Everything you need to get started with local voice-to-text.
- ✓ 1 PC license
- ✓ Large-v3-turbo model
- ✓ Community support
- ✓ 1 year of updates
- ✓ 14-day free trial
Dragon NaturallySpeaking: $699. Charlie Mike Professional: $149. Same job. 79% less.
New AI models release regularly. Optional $29/year gets you access to them. Skip it — your app keeps working perfectly with the model you have.
Questions.
What GPU do I need to run Charlie Mike?
Charlie Mike works on any Windows PC. For the fastest experience, an NVIDIA GPU with 4GB+ VRAM (GTX 1060 and above) delivers sub-2-second transcription using CUDA acceleration. No GPU? CPU mode uses NVIDIA's Parakeet model and transcribes in 4-6 seconds. Charlie Mike auto-detects your hardware and selects the optimal configuration automatically.
Does Charlie Mike require an internet connection?
No. Charlie Mike processes all audio locally on your Windows machine — using your NVIDIA GPU for speed or CPU on any PC. Zero audio data is transmitted over the network — ever. The application is fully functional in airplane mode with no internet connection. After initial installation and model download, no network access is needed.
Is Charlie Mike a subscription?
No. Charlie Mike is a one-time purchase starting at $79 with no recurring fees. Three tiers are available — Starter ($79), Professional ($149), and Team ($249) — each with different PC license counts and support levels. The software works indefinitely. An optional $29/year renewal is available for new AI model updates, but the core application functions without it.
How fast is the transcription?
Charlie Mike transcribes 10 seconds of speech in under 2 seconds on NVIDIA GPUs with 4GB+ VRAM. This is faster than cloud-based services because there is zero network latency — all processing happens on your local GPU using the faster-whisper engine.
How accurate is Charlie Mike?
Over 90% accuracy for clear English speech using the Whisper large-v3-turbo model. This is comparable to cloud services like OpenAI Whisper API and Deepgram, but running entirely on your local machine. Accuracy depends on microphone quality, background noise, and GPU capability.
Does Charlie Mike work without an NVIDIA GPU?
Yes. Charlie Mike works on any Windows PC. If no NVIDIA GPU is detected, it automatically uses CPU mode with NVIDIA's Parakeet model. CPU transcription is fully functional — typically 4-6 seconds for a 10-second recording instead of under 2 seconds on GPU. Accuracy remains high in both modes.
Does Charlie Mike send my voice data to the cloud?
No. All audio is processed locally on your GPU and immediately discarded after transcription. No recordings are stored. No data is transmitted to any server. No analytics on your speech. Charlie Mike literally cannot access your transcriptions — they never leave your machine.
How is Charlie Mike different from Dragon NaturallySpeaking?
Charlie Mike uses the modern Whisper large-v3-turbo model (released 2024) running on your local GPU, while Dragon uses a legacy speech engine. Charlie Mike starts at $79 one-time versus Dragon's $699. Charlie Mike is 100% offline with zero cloud dependency, while Dragon still requires cloud processing for some features.
Is there a Mac version?
Not yet. Charlie Mike is Windows-only at launch, supporting Windows 10 and Windows 11. Mac support depends on demand — join the waitlist and let us know if you need it.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Charlie Mike offers a 14-day free trial with full features using a smaller transcription model. No credit card required. The trial lets you verify compatibility with your hardware before purchasing.
What languages does Charlie Mike support?
Charlie Mike supports 20+ languages through the Whisper model. English is the primary supported language with the highest accuracy. Other supported languages include Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and more. Accuracy varies by language and audio clarity.
Why is it called "Charlie Mike"?
Charlie Mike is NATO phonetic alphabet for the letters CM — which stands for Continue Mission. It's a military radio term meaning "keep going, maintain momentum." The founder is a Marine Corps veteran (9 years). The name reflects the product's philosophy: reliable, private, no-nonsense voice-to-text that keeps your words flowing without interruption.
What features would you like to see?
We're building Charlie Mike based on what our users need. Tell us what would make it better for you.
Built by a real person.
I built Charlie Mike because I needed it.
Every voice-to-text tool I tried sent my audio to someone else's server. I wanted transcription that stayed on my machine, ran on my GPU, and didn't need an internet connection or a monthly subscription. Nothing like that existed. So I built it.
By day, I'm a Principal Product Manager at Amazon, where I've spent 8.5 years and became an advocate for non-technical builders — people proving that domain expertise and AI tools can build and validate real products — proving the concept works before bringing in traditional engineers to scale. No CS degree required. Before that, I served 9 years as a U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Officer, including a deployment to Afghanistan.
"Charlie Mike" is NATO phonetic for CM — Continue Mission. It's what Marines say when the plan falls apart: adapt and keep moving.
David Marshall
Phoenix, AZ