We are thrilled to announce that Minerva, our native desktop dictation app, now officially supports local speech-to-text (STT) models. This major update gives you the power of highly accurate, AI-driven dictation entirely offline.
For professionals handling sensitive data, developers, and power users, the ability to run world-class voice recognition models directly on your own hardware without an internet connection is a game-changer. This guarantees complete privacy, zero data retention in the cloud, and ultra-fast transcription speeds.
Best Local AI Models for Offline Speech-to-Text
Our initial release brings full compatibility with some of the most efficient and robust open-weights AI transcription models available today. Whether you need multilingual support or raw speed, Minerva has a local model for your workflow:
Whisper Models (Multilingual - 100+ languages)
OpenAI’s robust Whisper architecture offers the gold standard in speech recognition.
| Model | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Whisper Small | 487 MB | Fast and fairly accurate for everyday dictation |
| Whisper Medium | 492 MB | Good accuracy and medium speed |
| Whisper Turbo | 1.6 GB | The sweet spot: Balanced accuracy and optimized speed |
| Whisper Large | 1.1 GB | Maximum accuracy for complex vocabulary, but slower |
Specialized STT Models
For users who need specialized language support or blazing-fast performance:
| Model | Size | Languages | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parakeet V3 | 478 MB | 25 European languages (bg, hr, cs, da, nl, en, et, fi, fr, de, el, hu, it, lv, lt, mt, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, es, sv, ru, uk) | Fast and highly accurate |
| Moonshine Base | 58 MB | English only | Very fast lightweight model, handles heavy accents well |
| SenseVoice | 160 MB | Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Cantonese | Optimized for ultra-fast Asian language transcription |
Why Choose Local Offline Dictation?
With these integrated local models, your audio recordings never leave your computer. You avoid API costs, bypass cloud latency, and eliminate privacy concerns. Whether you are working on an airplane, in a secure remote location, or dealing with highly confidential client data, Minerva ensures that your dictation is safely processed directly on your machine.
Upgrading Your Speech-to-Text Workflow
Ready to upgrade your typing speed with private, offline speech-to-text? If you are already on the Minerva waitlist, keep an eye out for our upcoming early access emails.
Head over to the Minerva product page to explore the full feature set (including intelligent AI text transformation modes) and secure your spot on the waitlist today!