No competitor is named here, because the comparison that matters is between approaches — and because we are not going to describe someone else's product from memory and get it wrong.
| NovaHUD | Typing at the terminal | Built-in / cloud dictation | A cloud voice assistant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hands free | Yes | No | Input only — you still read and click | Yes |
| Speaks replies back | Yes, a distinct voice per session | No | No | Usually, one voice |
| Several sessions at once | One bound card per session; address by name, nickname, title or orb colour | Yes, but you do the window-switching | Whatever window has focus | Typically one conversation |
| Audio leaves your machine | Never | Nothing to send | Depends on the engine — cloud dictation uploads audio | Yes, by definition |
| API keys to configure | None | None | None, or a provider account | Usually yes |
| Cost of using it more | Nothing — the models run on your Mac | Nothing | Free, or metered per minute | Metered per token, minute or character |
| Rate limits | None | None | Sometimes | Usually |
| Works with no internet | The voice pipeline does; licence checks need a connection | Yes | Only if the engine is on-device | No |
| Runs on | macOS 14+, Apple silicon only | Anything | Most platforms | Most platforms |
The table scrolls sideways on a narrow screen.
Everything else in that table follows from these.
Speech recognition is whisper.cpp. The voices are Kokoro-82M on the Apple Neural Engine. Summarising and working out which session you addressed is a local Llama 3.2 3B under Ollama.
That is why there is no key to supply, no per-token bill, no rate limit and nothing to leak: there is no server in the loop for anything you say. The app reaches api.novahud.app for licensing, the trial clock and sign-in, and for nothing else.
A general voice assistant has one conversation with you. NovaHUD has one per Claude Code session, each with its own card, its own orb colour and its own human voice, each at whatever verbosity you set for it.
That is the difference between dictating into a window and running a room. You address a session however you happen to think of it — name, nickname, session title, orb colour, or "everyone".
A comparison page that only lists wins is an advertisement. These are the cases where you should not buy it:
Three days free is there so you can find this out without paying to.
NovaHUD is an independent third-party app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic.
Three days, every feature, no credit card, nothing to cancel.