# Sotto

Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/sotto/ · added 2026-11-06 · updated 2026-11-06

**In short.** Sotto (One-time-purchase dictation app and voice assistant for macOS, North Macedonia): Paid Mac app live with 18 logged releases, November 2026. Evidence grade E: no revenue figure was checked. Team: 1 maker, George Kitanov (Kitze), a sole proprietor; headcount not published. Launched November 2025; still running.

One-time-purchase dictation app and voice assistant for macOS · North Macedonia · AI-native · solo founder · still running · group: Voice and audio

- Outcome: Paid Mac app live with 18 logged releases, November 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: E; no revenue figure)
- Launch: November 2025; months from launch to the outcome: 12
- Team: 1 maker, George Kitanov (Kitze), a sole proprietor; headcount not published
- Outside funding: None published
- Main factor: One-time price against subscription rivals
- Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 2, capital needed 1
- Tags: AI-native, Solo founder, Bootstrapped, Running, B2C, Productivity

Links:

- Visit sotto.to: https://sotto.to/

**The product.** A native Swift app for macOS 15 or later: hold a key, speak, and the text is typed into whatever app has the cursor. It transcribes on the Mac with Whisper or NVIDIA Parakeet models, or with a cloud provider on the user's own API key, and it adds a voice assistant with 77 Mac tools, a local REST API, meeting recording and text-to-speech.

**Why it worked.** The home page and pricing page sell it against subscription dictation apps such as Wispr Flow and Superwhisper: one payment, three Macs, lifetime updates, "no upsell to a 'pro' tier". Local models are the default, by the home page, so the maker pays nothing per minute of speech, and the site's comparison pages and free transcript tools aim at people who search for those rivals.

Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; E = no revenue figure found, so the headline is a non-money fact and the other facts carry their own grades; calc = computed on this page from graded facts.

## Summary

Sotto is a push-to-talk dictation app for the Mac: the user holds a hotkey, speaks, and the app pastes the text where the cursor is. The speech is turned into text by on-device models, AI models that run on the Mac's own chip (here OpenAI's Whisper and NVIDIA's Parakeet on Apple's Neural Engine), so audio does not leave the machine unless the user connects a cloud provider with a BYO key, the user's own API key and account.

The terms of service say that Sotto is made by George Kitanov ("Kitze"), a sole proprietor in Skopje, North Macedonia, who also makes Sizzy, Benji and Tinkerer Club. Its changelog project on Glink was created on 11 November 2025 and lists 18 releases by November 2026; the pricing page lists one license at US$49, paid once, for three Macs.

No Sotto revenue figure, sales count or user count was found, so this is a grade E story: the headline is only that the paid app is live and updated. The verified revenue on the maker's TrustMRR profile comes from his Polar account and is credited to Tinkerer Club, not to Sotto.

## Pricing

Sotto price on 6 November 2026, from the product's pricing page (grade C)

| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sotto for macOS | 49 one-time |  | 3 Macs, lifetime updates |

The pricing page reads: "Sotto is $49, paid once. There is no subscription and no annual renewal." One license covers up to 3 Macs and includes all future updates and every feature. Cloud transcription and AI providers are optional and are billed by the provider to the user's own account, by the terms of service.

## How much revenue does Sotto make? The numbers, graded

A one-person macOS dictation app sold for a one-time fee, live and updated in November 2026; no revenue figure

| Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status, November 2026 | paid app on sale, with 18 releases logged | C | Home and pricing pages read 6 November 2026: "Get Sotto — $49", "License key by email right after checkout." The Glink changelog page shows "18 Changelogs". | [1, 2, 4] |
| Price | US$49 one-time, up to 3 Macs, lifetime updates | C | Pricing page, read 6 November 2026. | [2] |
| Maker | George Kitanov ("Kitze"), sole proprietor, Skopje, North Macedonia | C | Terms of service: "Sotto is made by George Kitanov (“Kitze”), a sole proprietor based in Skopje, North Macedonia." The home page FAQ says: "Ask @thekitze — the person who actually builds Sotto." | [3, 1] |
| Team | 1 person; headcount not published | C | IndieMakerList tags the maker "solo" and "bootstrapped". No source read names anyone else working on Sotto. | [5, 3] |
| Earliest date found | 11 November 2025 | C | The Glink changelog project for Sotto, "A dictation app for macOS with one time payment and support for multiple providers", has the creation time 2025-11-11 in the page data. The product's own pages give no launch date. | [4] |
| Models | on-device Whisper and Parakeet; 7 cloud transcription and 15 AI providers on the user's key | C | Home page: "7 + 15 cloud transcription and AI providers, plus on-device", and coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex as AI backends with no API key. | [1] |
| Voice assistant | 77 built-in Mac tools, plus the user's own MCP servers | C | Home page. Tools cover Calendar, Mail, Messages, Finder, the browser, screenshots and "Bash (policy-gated)". | [1] |
| Local API | 37 endpoints, per-device tokens, a sotto CLI | C | Home page. Version 1.4.17 (2 September 2026) made the API require a token and listen only on the Mac unless the user allows other devices. | [1, 4] |
| Funding | none published | C | IndieMakerList tags the maker "bootstrapped"; no source read mentions an investor. | [5] |
| Maker's verified revenue on TrustMRR | not a Sotto figure | C | TrustMRR's profile "Kitze" shows Polar payments of US$223,300 in the last 30 days before a sync on 9 February 2026; IndieMakerList credits that amount to the Tinkerer Club launch and lists no revenue for Sotto. | [6, 5] |
| Time from the earliest date to the headline | 12 months | calc | Calculated: November 2025 to November 2026. | [4] |

How to read this table: a grade C value comes from the product's own pages or a maker directory. A "calc" value was computed on this page. No value about Sotto is grade A or B, and no Sotto revenue figure exists.

## When did Sotto launch, and how did it grow? Timeline

From a changelog project in November 2025 to version 1.4.18 in September 2026. Each entry carries its grade.

- **11 November 2025** (grade C [4]): A changelog project for Sotto is created on Glink, the maker's own feedback and changelog product, described as a dictation app with a one-time payment and several providers.
- **18 June 2026** (grade C [8]): The Sotto blog publishes a guide to Mac dictation that ends with Sotto as the alternative, one of several search-aimed articles.
- **16 to 20 July 2026** (grade C [4]): Versions 1.4.6 to 1.4.13 ship in five days: separate listening and speaking feedback, Parakeet v3 fixes, better Apple voices.
- **2 September 2026** (grade C [4]): Version 1.4.17 locks down the local API with tokens and makes screen capture for the assistant opt-in, skipping password fields.
- **5 September 2026** (grade C [4]): Version 1.4.18 alpha 1, the latest entry on the changelog page.
- **November 2026** (grade C [1, 2]): The site sells one license for US$49 with dictation, a 77-tool voice assistant, a 37-endpoint local API and meeting recording.

## Why did Sotto work?

### One price, no model bill

Local Whisper and Parakeet models do the transcription, and cloud providers use the customer's own key, so each sale carries no running model cost for the maker. That is what makes a one-time price of US$49, as the pricing page lists it, possible against subscription rivals.

### Many features in one license

The pricing page stresses that one license has "Everything": dictation, the assistant, the API server and every model option, with no higher tier. The comparison pages for Wispr Flow, Superwhisper and MacWhisper make the same point.

### Search pages and free tools

The sitemap lists comparison pages, pricing guides for rival apps, alternatives pages and free tools such as an SRT converter and a filler-word remover. No source says how many buyers came through them.

## How it was built

These details come from the product's own pages and its changelog. They are grade C.

- A native Swift app for macOS 15 Sequoia or later; Apple Silicon Macs run the local models on the Neural Engine.
- Transcription with WhisperKit (Whisper Tiny to Large V3 Turbo, Distil) and NVIDIA Parakeet v2 and v3 on the device; cloud options are OpenAI, Groq, xAI, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, Cartesia and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
- AI text functions and the assistant use Ollama, LM Studio or Apple Intelligence locally, 15 cloud AI providers, or command-line coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor Agent.
- The assistant is an MCP client, so it can call tools from the user's own MCP servers next to its 77 built-in Mac tools.
- A local REST API with an OpenAPI spec and Swagger docs, reachable over Wi-Fi or Tailscale, and shortcuts shipped as App Intents.
- Checkout through releaseflow.net; the terms say refunds are issued through Polar. The changelog runs on the maker's own Glink.

Sources: [1, 3, 4]

## Who tried this before Sotto, and why did they fail?

Three companies in our database of failed startups promised a better voice interface to computers. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.

The failed startups come from our database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade.

### Petalite (2014 to 2025; funding US$12M; cause: Competition)

- Promise: A privacy-first voice assistant that runs locally on the device instead of in the cloud.
- Why it died: It could not compete with the hardware, training data and ecosystems of Amazon and Google.
- Record: 

### VocalIQ (2011 to 2017; funding US$2M; cause: Competition)

- Promise: A voice interface that understands context and learns from each conversation.
- Why it died: Larger companies advanced their own voice technology; Apple bought it in 2015 and it ended as a standalone product.
- Record: 

### Humane (2018 to 2025; funding US$230M; cause: Product/Tech Failure)

- Promise: A wearable AI pin, used mainly by voice, to replace the smartphone.
- Why it died: Slow answers, short battery life and no use case that a phone did not cover better.
- Record: 

## What changed

Petalite and VocalIQ had to build their own speech and language models, and Humane built its own hardware, so each needed millions of dollars before it could sell anything. All three competed head-on with Apple, Amazon or Google.

Sotto uses open models such as Whisper and Parakeet that run on the Mac the customer already owns, and it does not try to replace Siri or the operating system: it adds a typing layer and tools on top. That kept the cost low enough for one person. Apple's own Mac dictation is free, so the open question is how many people pay for more.

## Can one person copy Sotto now?

**Verdict: Yes, the product can be built by one person; the sales are the unknown.**

Open speech models, a native app and a license key are within reach of one developer. The maker also had his own large audience and other products to cross-sell, and no source shows how many copies Sotto sells.

1. Pick a category where the leaders charge a subscription for work that local models can do on the user's machine.
2. Sell one license with every feature, and let users bring their own cloud keys.
3. Publish comparison pages and small free tools for the searches that people make about the rivals.
4. Ship and log updates often, so buyers see the product is maintained.

**What is still open.** The same local-model, one-price approach could fit Windows dictation, meeting transcription for one industry, or a dictation layer for one professional field with its own vocabulary.

## What could go wrong for Sotto?

- **What is not verified.** No revenue figure, sales count or user count for Sotto was found. TrustMRR has no Sotto profile; the TrustMRR profile "Kitze" shows Polar payments that IndieMakerList credits to Tinkerer Club, and Sotto's checkout runs through releaseflow.net. The launch date is not on the product's own pages; the earliest date found is the Glink project creation on 11 November 2025, and the Internet Archive could not be read (it answered "429 Too Many Requests"). A reader could look for a Sotto profile on a payment-verified revenue site, a launch post or a sales figure from the maker.
- **Age of the maker's business.** Sotto dates from 2025 at the earliest date found, but the sole proprietorship that sells it also sells older products, among them Sizzy, a browser for web developers. TrustMRR gives the founding date 2025-03-27 for the "Kitze" profile and the country PL, while the terms of service name Skopje, North Macedonia; this page follows the terms.
- **Recording, screen capture and consent.** Sotto records system audio from meetings and calls ("nothing joins the call") and its assistant can attach a screenshot. The terms say: "You are responsible for having the right to record and transcribe the audio you use with Sotto, including getting consent from other people where the law requires it." Version 1.4.17 made screen capture opt-in and skips password fields. Its text-to-speech uses local, OpenAI or ElevenLabs voices; no page read offers voice cloning.
- **Competition and model providers.** On this site MacWhisper (grade D) and Voibe sell Mac transcription and dictation apps built on the same open models, and Sotto's own comparison pages name Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, VoiceInk and Aqua Voice; Apple's built-in dictation is free. Sotto depends on OpenAI's Whisper and NVIDIA's Parakeet models and on Apple's Neural Engine for its default mode, and on the user's chosen cloud providers otherwise, by the home page and the terms.

## Sources

1. Sotto home page, read 6 November 2026 — https://sotto.to/ (grade C). Read in full, with the sitemap. Source for the product, the models and providers, the assistant, the local API, the FAQ and the comparison pages.
2. Sotto pricing page, read 6 November 2026 — https://sotto.to/pricing (grade C). Read in full. Source for the US$49 one-time price and the license terms.
3. Sotto terms of service, read 6 November 2026 — https://sotto.to/terms (grade C). Read in full. Source for the maker's name, his status as a sole proprietor in Skopje, the Polar refunds, the provider terms and the recording-consent clause.
4. Glink: Sotto changelogs, read 6 November 2026 — https://glink.so/kitze/sotto/changelogs (grade C). Read in full, with the page data for dates. Source for the project creation date, the 18 releases and the version history from July to September 2026.
5. IndieMakerList: makers data, entry for Kitze — https://indiemakerlist.com/api/makers.json (grade C). Read the entry for Kitze (downloaded by the pipeline on 6 November 2026). A maker directory. Source for the solo and bootstrapped tags, the product list and the credit of the US$223K figure to Tinkerer Club.
6. TrustMRR: Kitze profile (markdown) — https://trustmrr.com/startup/kitze (grade C). Read the markdown profile on 6 November 2026. Its Polar metrics are payment-verified but belong to the maker's account, not to Sotto, so they are used only to show that no Sotto figure exists there.
7. Kitze's personal site, read 6 November 2026 — https://kitze.io/ (grade C). Read in full. The product list in the page code includes sotto.to among the maker's products.
8. Sotto blog index, read 6 November 2026 — https://sotto.to/blog (grade C). Read in full. Source for the dated dictation guide of 18 June 2026 and the search-aimed articles.
9. Database of failed startups, local export — /method/#dead (grade C). Local export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.

Contact: aiolum@livyden.com. Run Sotto? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com (subject: Correction: Sotto).