Zumbo vs Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Mac.
One of these has not been sold for the Mac since 2018. This page is the honest accounting of what replaced it and what did not.
| Feature | Zumbo | Dragon for Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Still sold for Mac | Yes | No, discontinued in 2018 |
| Supported on current macOS | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon | No |
| Price | $15 once, $20 for three Macs, $79 for ten | - |
| Runs offline | Yes | - |
| Dictate into any app | Yes, wherever the cursor is | - |
| Custom vocabulary | 21 packs, plus your own words | - |
| Learns from corrections | Yes, Teach a word once | - |
| Import an old vocabulary | No | - |
| Voice commands and macros | No | - |
| Transcribe recorded files | No | - |
| Meeting mode | Yes, live, on the Mac | - |
| Account required | No, ever | - |
| Languages | 25 European languages, English first | - |
| Download size | About 570 MB | - |
Nuance's own support notice for Dragon for Mac, checked on 21 September 2026. Nuance no longer publishes a feature page for the Mac product, so most cells are a dash. A dash means the vendor does not state it on its own public pages, not that the answer is no.
Still sold for Mac
This is the row that decides the page. Nuance stopped selling Dragon Professional Individual for Mac in 2018 and support ended after that. The Windows line continued; the Mac one did not, and nothing from the same company replaced it.
Supported on current macOS
Eight years of macOS releases have changed the permissions model, the accessibility APIs and the processor architecture. An unsupported 2018 application is not a plan for 2026 even on the days it still launches.
Price
Dragon for Mac was an expensive one time purchase. There is no current price because there is no current product.
Runs offline
Zumbo's speech engine ships inside the download, so there is no upload and no server to reach. Unplug the router and nothing changes.
Dictate into any app
Zumbo types into the focused field, so Terminal, Mail, a browser form, an editor and a chat window are all the same to it.
Custom vocabulary
Dragon's strength was that it could be taught a profession over time. Zumbo arrives at the same place from the other end: packs for your field are on from the start, and your own words go on top.
Learns from corrections
Select the word that came out wrong, type what you meant, press Teach. It is heard your way from then on and the correction stays on your Mac. You never sit down to build a list; the list is a byproduct of working.
Import an old vocabulary
There is no path from a Dragon vocabulary file into Zumbo, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. What you get instead is a vocabulary that rebuilds itself out of a week of normal work.
Voice commands and macros
Dragon had a full command grammar and a macro language. Zumbo does not, and does not try to. macOS has Voice Control built in for controlling the interface by voice, and it is a better fit for that than any dictation app.
Transcribe recorded files
Zumbo dictates and transcribes meetings live. It does not take a file you already have. If that is what you need, MacWhisper is the honest recommendation and there is a comparison for it.
Meeting mode
Zumbo transcribes the room through the microphone while the meeting happens, with a timestamp for each paragraph and each speaker labelled, none of it leaving the machine.
Account required
A licence key activates the app and that is the end of the relationship. No account, no sign in, no sync.
Languages
You pick your main language during setup and Zumbo writes only in that alphabet from then on.
Download size
The size is the engine. It is why dictation works on a plane and why nothing is uploaded to be transcribed.
Who should pick which
There is no choice to make here, which is what makes the page useful. Dragon for Mac cannot be bought, cannot be supported and will not run well on a current machine. The real question is what you used it for.
If you used it to write, getting professional language into documents accurately, then a modern on device app does that job better than Dragon did. Zumbo is built for it, and the packs plus Teach replace the vocabulary you spent years building.
If you used it to control your Mac, with commands and macros, no dictation app replaces that. macOS Voice Control is built in and is the right tool.
If you used it on recorded files, look at MacWhisper instead. That is a different job and there is a comparison for it.
Related: what replaced Dragon on the Mac, Zumbo against MacWhisper, and the 21 vocabulary packs.
Is Dragon still available for Mac?
No. Nuance discontinued Dragon Professional Individual for Mac in 2018 and support ended afterwards. The Windows products continued.
Can I keep using my old copy?
Some people do, on an old machine they do not update. It is not a plan: the permissions model, the accessibility APIs and the processor architecture have all changed since 2018.
Is anything a full replacement?
Not for the command grammar and macros. For the part almost everyone used, which was getting professional language into an application accurately, the modern on device apps do it better than Dragon did, because the model runs fast enough to keep up with speech.
What about my Dragon vocabulary?
There is no import. Zumbo gets you to the same place differently: packs for your field from the start, then Teach turns each correction into a permanent one as you work.
I used Dragon to control my Mac, not to write
Then this is the wrong product and macOS Voice Control is the right one. It is built in, it is free, and it is designed for commands rather than composition.
Free for 3 days, everything unlocked. Then $15 once. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon.