Which LymeScribe do I need?
There's one app, and three ways to use it: a free client that connects to somebody else's server, a paid unlock that turns your own computer into the server, and a dedicated LymeScribe Server for a whole office. Here's how to tell which one fits.
Last updated 2026-08-31| Tier | Who it's for | How it works | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client | Anyone connecting to a server someone else already hosts — a colleague's computer, or an office LymeScribe Server. | Full dictation experience: hotkeys, history, corrections. No hosting of your own. | Free forever, no account |
| Host (Pro unlock) | You and a handful of people on your own network. | A paid unlock in the same app turns your Mac or PC into the server — embedded transcription on your CPU (GPU-accelerated when available), serving about 3 connected peers. Jobs queue and run one at a time, not in parallel. | One-time see current pricing |
| LymeScribe Server | A whole office or practice. | A dedicated, always-on machine (Windows/NVIDIA or Apple Silicon) built to scale past a handful of people, with a real job queue and no peer cap. | Technology Preview see current pricing |
Start with the Client — it's free
Everyone starts here. The client is the full dictation app — hotkeys, history, corrections — and it's free forever with no account and no trial clock, as long as it's connecting to a server someone else is running. If your office already has a LymeScribe Server, or a colleague hosts from their own computer, this is all you need.
Host: your own computer as the server
If you don't have anyone else's server to connect to — or you just want to keep everything on hardware you personally control — the Host unlock turns the computer you already own into the server. It's the same app, a one-time purchase, and it runs entirely on-device: no subscription, no cloud. It's sized for you plus a few people on your LAN (roughly 3 connected peers), and since jobs run one at a time rather than in parallel, it's built for a person or a small team, not a whole floor.
LymeScribe Server: built for the office
Once you're past a handful of people, or you want an always-on box that isn't someone's daily-driver laptop, LymeScribe Server is the answer: a dedicated machine — Windows with an NVIDIA GPU, or Apple Silicon — that serves the whole office with a real job queue and no peer cap. It's currently a Technology Preview; see buy/server or pricing for where that stands today.
The short version
Ask two questions. First: is anyone else already hosting a server you can connect to? If yes, just install the free Client. If no, how many people need to use it — a few, on one person's machine (Host), or a whole office on a dedicated box (Server)?