Alto

Alto is a voice dictation tool designed specifically for Linux users, enabling speech-to-text input across a wide range of applications. By holding a designated push-to-talk key, users can speak and have their words transcribed instantly at the cursor in browsers, IDEs, terminals, messaging apps, and other programs. The tool aims to provide system-wide voice dictation functionality without complex setup, addressing the need for native dictation solutions on Linux platforms.

The installation process for Alto is streamlined, requiring a single command to set up the tool and its system dependencies, as well as a systemd service. It supports major Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, and their derivatives, and operates on both X11 and Wayland display servers. Alto has been tested on desktop environments such as GNOME, Hyprland, Sway, and KDE. The transcription is handled in the cloud using the Mistral Voxtral model, which supports English, French, Spanish, German, and various other languages through its multilingual capabilities.

Alto offers a tiered pricing model. The free plan provides 15 minutes of dictation and 50 requests per month, with cloud transcription and compatibility with both X11 and Wayland. Paid plans include the Pro tier at 5 euros per month, which allows 180 minutes of dictation and unlimited requests, and the Max tier at 9 euros per month, offering 600 minutes and unlimited requests. Payments are processed by Creem, an EU-based Merchant of Record, with VAT, invoices, and refunds managed automatically. Users can subscribe, manage, or cancel their plans directly from the application and retain access until the end of their billing period after cancellation. An account is required to use Alto, with account creation taking only a few seconds.

As a native Linux application, Alto provides a solution for users seeking reliable and accessible voice dictation across diverse software environments on their systems.