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Both start the same way, by holding a button and talking. What happens to the words afterwards is the difference.

Dictation

The text goes into the app you are using, as if you typed it. Dictations stay on the device in dictation history and are not uploaded as Notes.

Notes

The text goes into Vox, saved and searchable. Nothing is inserted anywhere else.

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Use dictation when

You have a cursor somewhere and you want words at that cursor. Writing a Slack message, filling a form, replying to an email, writing code comments.

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Use notes when

You want to say something now and deal with it later. Walking between meetings, capturing an idea, leaving yourself a reminder. There is no target app and no cursor involved, so it does not matter what is on screen.

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Telling them apart while you use them

Dictation is intended for a focused text field and inserts text there. Notes do not insert anything into the app in front of you; they are saved in Vox. Notes also receive more aggressive cleanup and formatting by default, while dictation stays closer to the words you said, with lightweight cleanup. Dictation formatting can be enabled or left off in Vox’s dictation settings.

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Switching between them

Choose the action assigned to a button gesture. Use Start / Stop Dictation to type into the focused app, or use Start / Stop Note to save a note in Vox. On iOS, button presses default to note capture because iOS cannot send keystrokes into another app.

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What happens to notes afterwards

Notes are listed in the Notes tab, newest first. You can search them, label them, and copy the text out. Notes upload to your account when you are online. If you are offline, Vox keeps the capture locally and retries the upload later. Once uploaded, the note appears on your other signed-in devices.
Dictations are retained locally in Dictation history. Notes are the better choice when you want a searchable, account-synced record that is available on other devices.