Dictating text is faster than typing for many people, whether you are drafting an email, filling a form or writing notes. A voice to text extension adds this ability across the web instead of relying on a single app's built-in dictation, and the good ones handle punctuation commands and multiple languages well.
Voice typing versus text-to-speech reading
Voice to text and read aloud text to speech are opposite tools: one turns your speech into typed text, the other reads written text back to you as audio. Some extensions bundle both features, so check the description carefully if you specifically need dictation rather than a reading tool, or the reverse.
Accuracy across languages and accents
Recognition quality varies by language, accent and background noise, so results can differ from what you expect based on reviews alone. If you dictate in a language other than English or with a strong accent, check that the extension explicitly lists support for it before relying on it for important writing.
Where your voice data goes
Most voice to text tools send audio to a speech recognition service to convert it into text, since accurate recognition typically requires it. Check whether the extension states how long audio is kept and whether it is used for anything beyond generating your text, especially if you dictate sensitive information.