Charlie Mike
Your voice. Your machine.
Local-first voice-to-text for Windows. Powered by your GPU.
Pay once. No cloud. No compromises.
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
The real cost of cloud transcription
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.
See Charlie Mike in action
Demo video coming soon
3x
faster than typing
<2s
transcription latency
0
cloud dependencies
Built different.
Everything you need. Nothing you don't.
100% Local
Runs on your NVIDIA GPU. No internet required. No cloud. No servers. No data collection. Ever.
Sub-2 Second
GPU-powered transcription faster than any cloud service. 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.
Voice is 3x faster than typing.
That's not marketing — it's peer-reviewed research. Stanford and the University of Washington measured it.
$99
One payment. Dragon NaturallySpeaking charges $699 for the same job.
1-2 days
Time to ROI. At $50/hr, the productivity gains pay for Charlie Mike in your first week.
$0/mo
No subscription. Wispr Flow, Otter.ai, and others charge $10-20/month forever. Charlie Mike is yours.
Simple pricing. No surprises.
One payment. Yours forever. 86% less than Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
Professional
For power users who demand the best accuracy.
- ✓ 2 PC licenses
- ✓ All Whisper models
- ✓ Priority email support
- ✓ All future patches
- ✓ 14-day free trial
Lifetime
Every update, every model, for life — including the $29/yr model updates at no extra charge.
- ✓ 5 PC licenses
- ✓ All current & future models
- ✓ Priority support
- ✓ All future versions
- ✓ 14-day free trial
Dragon NaturallySpeaking: $699. Charlie Mike Professional: $99. Same job. 86% less.
Optional $29/year renewal for new AI model updates. Core app works forever without it.
Questions.
What GPU do I need to run Charlie Mike?
Charlie Mike works best with NVIDIA GPUs with 4GB or more VRAM (GTX 1060 and above). It uses CUDA acceleration with the faster-whisper engine and the Whisper large-v3-turbo model (INT8 quantization). For the best experience, 6GB+ VRAM is recommended. Charlie Mike auto-detects your GPU and selects the optimal model size automatically.
Does Charlie Mike require an internet connection?
No. Charlie Mike processes all audio locally on your Windows machine using your NVIDIA GPU. 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 of $99 with no recurring fees. 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. If no NVIDIA GPU is detected, Charlie Mike automatically falls back to CPU mode using a smaller, optimized model. CPU transcription is functional but slower than GPU — typically 4-6 seconds for a 10-second recording instead of under 2 seconds.
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 costs $99 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 90+ languages through the Whisper model. English is the primary supported language with the highest accuracy. Other languages work but accuracy may vary depending on the model size 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.
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 replace a traditional engineering team. 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