Learn · Fig. 1
Most people type around 40 words a minute. Most people talk at 120 to 150. That gap is the entire sales pitch for dictation software, so here are the numbers, where they come from, and the part the pitch usually skips: editing takes some of it back.
Typed
40
words per minute, the commonly cited average
Spoken
150
words per minute at the top of conversational pace (120 to 150)
Composition figure: Karat et al., CHI 1999, which clocked average users near 19 wpm when writing rather than copying. The 40 wpm average and the 120 to 150 conversational range are the commonly cited figures. A 2016 Stanford study (Ruan et al.) measured speech input at 3x keyboard speed, on phone keyboards.
Raw entry is roughly three times faster spoken than typed.
The gap is widest when you compose. Typing drops to 19 wpm when you also have to think of the words.
Fig 1.B · What the chart hides
Those bars measure entry, not finished text. Speak for a minute and you get 140 words, a few of which you will delete. The engine guesses a name wrong. You trim an "um, actually" you never noticed saying. Spoken drafts also run wordier than typed ones, because talking is cheap and typing makes you ration.
So no honest page promises 3x on finished prose. The Stanford study still had speech ahead after corrections. Participants corrected fewer errors during speech entry, although the final uncorrected speech error rate was slightly higher. The margin on polished text is smaller than the margin on raw words. The pattern that holds up: dictation is much faster for getting a draft out of your head, and the keyboard stays better at precision surgery. Moving one word two lines up is not a job for your voice.
Speak it
Type it
Run the experiment
You do not have to take a chart's word for it. macOS ships free dictation; here is how to dictate on a Mac with the built-in tools. Dictate the same email you would normally type and compare the clock. For the full menu of options, from built-in to third-party, see every way to do voice to text on a Mac.
Dictate is our app. It is built for the winning column above: hold a key, talk, and the text lands where your cursor was, punctuation included, with a polish step that trims the rambling before it hits the page. One plan, $8 a month flat.
Fig. Q · Questions
For raw entry, roughly three times. Conversational speech runs 120 to 150 words a minute versus a commonly cited typing average of about 40. Editing narrows the gap, but spoken drafts are still faster.
Some, but not all. You still need to fix misheard words and remove filler. Dictation is best for drafts; heavy rewriting reduces the advantage.
Yes. The gap narrows, but 80 words a minute typed is still below 120 to 150 spoken. Dictation remains useful for long emails, prompts, and first drafts.
Yes. Modern transcription keeps up with conversational speech. Background noise, unusual names, and later cleanup matter more than pace.
$8/month flat. Cancel any time; unused subscriptions refunded in full.
