L'Alfred
Just dictation. Nothing else.
L'Alfred is a Mac dictation app. You press a key, you speak, and your words land in any app — accurate enough that you can dictate in your second language. No modes, no config, no €20/month subscription.
macOS 26.0+ · Apple Silicon · 5 MB · 500 free credits on sign-up (~11 min of dictation).
What it does
- Dictation in any app. Docs, emails, chat, CRMs, terminals — anywhere you can type.
- Powered by ElevenLabs Scribe v2. 99 languages, fluent code-switching, punctuation that makes sense, speaker pace (not robot pace).
- Personal dictionary. Teach it names, product terms, multilingual phrases once — it spells them right forever.
- Voice snippets. Say "personal email", get
marie@lalfred.app. Say "signature", get your full sign-off. Etc. - Three shortcuts, total. Toggle dictation (Option+Space), cancel (Esc), hold-to-talk (Hold Fn). That's the whole interface.
Pricing
No monthly subscription. Start free with 500 credits. Then either buy more credits as you go, or bring your own API keys for €1/mo.
Free — €0
- 500 credits included (~11 min of dictation)
- No credit card required
- Full app, no restrictions
- Works in any app from day one
Credits — From €4
- Any amount starting at €4
- Recommended: €10 (54,000 credits)
- Credits never expire
- No subscription needed
- Top up anytime
Annual — €1/mo
- Bring your own API keys
- Pay providers directly, no markup
- Can still buy credits if you prefer
- Cancel anytime
- Uses your key if present, credits otherwise
Credit estimator
What credits get you, at current API pricing:
| Spend | Credits | Dictation |
|---|---|---|
| €4 | 21,600 | ~8.0h |
| €10 | 54,000 | ~20.0h |
| €20 | 108,000 | ~40.0h |
| €50 | 270,000 | ~100.0h |
FAQ
Does L'Alfred store my recordings?
No. We do not store recordings. Audio is held only in RAM while it is sent to our STT provider, then discarded. Transcription results are never stored either; text stays in RAM only long enough to return it to you, then it is discarded.
Then what does L'Alfred actually store?
Only what's needed to compute your credit charge and show you usage stats. For each transcription we log the model name (e.g. scribe_v2), the audio length in seconds, the number of words in the transcript (just the count — never the words themselves, used to show stats like your words-per-minute), and the credits deducted. For each AI formatting request we log the model, the input/output token counts, and the credits deducted. That's it — the audio itself, the transcript, and the LLM prompt and response are never written to disk.
How does pay-as-you-speak billing work?
There is no monthly subscription. Each transcription deducts the exact provider cost from your credit balance — no per-request markup. The margin is built into the credit purchase itself (see below), not into each call. This keeps incentives aligned: we don't gain by lowering model quality, and you benefit automatically as provider prices drop.
Where does my money go when I buy credits?
When you top up €10, you get €5 of usable balance to spend on transcription and AI. The other €5 covers everything that keeps the app running: payment processing fees (~10%), servers, Apple's developer fee, the domain, ongoing development, and a buffer for EUR/USD exchange rate swings since I pay providers in dollars. Even so, ~€15 of credits typically lasts a year.
Do credits expire?
No. Credits never expire, so you can top up and use them at your own pace.
What does the €12/year plan include?
You bring your own API keys. Requests go directly from your Mac to each provider — your audio and text never pass through L'Alfred servers in this mode — and you pay providers at their list price with no markup from us.
What if I have both credits and an API key?
Each request checks first: if you have an active subscription AND a saved API key for that provider, it goes through your key and no credits are deducted. Otherwise it falls back to your credit balance. Both conditions matter — an API key without an active subscription still uses credits. So credits act as a safety net for the moments the BYOK path isn't available.
Which apps does it work with?
Anywhere you can type: docs, emails, chat tools, CRMs, and most desktop input fields.
Is it a native app? How much RAM does it use?
Yes, L'Alfred is a fully native macOS app built in Swift. It uses around 50 MB of RAM — staying light in the background so it never gets in your way.
Links
- Download for Mac
- Buy credits
- Annual BYOK plan
- Privacy policy
- cyprien.ricque@lalfred.ai
- Full landing page (the pretty one)