Simon is open source speech recognition software which aims to be flexible and highly customizable. You can open programs, URLs, type configurable text snippets, simulate shortcuts, control the mouse and keyboard and more.
If you would like to be able to talk to your computer, check out Simon. It accepts voice commands and turns audio into text. Simon is not bound to any language and works with any dialect.
This project utilizes the open source large vocabulary continuous speech recognition engine Julius, although it uses its own modified version.
Key Features
- Speech recognition.
- Speech modelling.
- Acoustic modelling.
- Voice control.
- Import dictionaries, grammar structures and compile a language model.
- Control many different types of software including web browsers, email clients, media centers, by using a few words such as “right”, “left”, “ok”, “stop”, etc.
- Read newspapers and surf the net.
- Enter codes or TAN-numbers with a voice controlled keyboard.
- Write predetermined email addresses using numbers and ask basic questions.
- Control VoIP software such as Skype.
- Voice controlled calculator.
Website: apps.kde.org/simon
Support:
Developer: Peter Grasch
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

Related Software
| Speech Recognition Tools | |
|---|---|
| Whisper | Automatic speech recognition (system trained on 680,000 hours of data |
| whisper.cpp | Run Whisper locally with fast, efficient C/C++ speech recognition |
| Flashlight | Fast, flexible machine learning library written entirely in C++. |
| sherpa-onnx | Offline speech recognition for many platforms and languages |
| Kaldi | C++ toolkit designed for speech recognition researchers. |
| FunASR | Versatile speech recognition toolkit for real-world audio |
| faster-whisper | Faster Whisper transcription with reduced memory use |
| SpeechBrain | All-in-one conversational AI toolkit based on PyTorch |
| Handy | Offline speech-to-text application |
| ESPnet | End-to-End speech processing toolkit |
| PocketSphinx | Lightweight speech recognition for embedded and mobile use |
| deepspeech.pytorch | Implementation of DeepSpeech2 using Baidu Warp-CTC. |
| Epicenter | Transcription application with global speech-to-text functionality |
| Julius | Two-pass large vocabulary continuous speech recognition engine |
| Speech Note | Write notes, transcribe speech, translate text and read content aloud |
| aTrain | Private local transcription of recorded speech through a polished GUI |
| hyprwhspr | Native speech-to-text designed for Arch / Omarchy |
| Vocalinux | Local voice dictation through a clean desktop interface |
| ostt | Open Speech-to-Text |
| Simon | Flexible speech recognition software |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Universal Access Tools | |
|---|---|
| Orca Screen Reader | Scriptable screen reader |
| Liblouis | Braille translator, back-translator and formatter |
| Florence Virtual Keyboard | Extensible scalable virtual keyboard |
| Speakup | Kernel-based speech synthesizer driver suite |
| BRLTTY | Gives a braille user access to the text consoles |
| Maliit | Virtual keyboard implemented as a plug-in for Maliit Framework |
| keymapper | Context-aware key remapping with layers, shortcuts and macros |
| Julius | Two-pass large vocabulary continuous speech recognition engine |
| Emacspeak | Emacs extension that provides spoken output |
| Mouse actions | Execute commands from mouse events |
| squeekboard | Keyboard-shaped input method supporting Wayland |
| GOK | GNOME On Screen Keyboard |
| CoreKeyboard | Simple virtual keyboard with word suggestions |
| Dasher | Graphical predictive text input system |
| borse | Practice braille, Morse, semaphore |
| KMouseTool | Clicks automatically when the mouse pointer pauses |
| KMouth | Speech aid that turns typed text into spoken words and phrases |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |


Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.