Hunspell is a spell checker and morphological analyser designed for languages with rich morphology and complex word compounding and character encoding, originally designed for the Hungarian language.
Hunspell is based on MySpell and is backward-compatible with MySpell dictionaries. While MySpell uses a single-byte character encoding, Hunspell can use Unicode UTF-8-encoded dictionaries.
Hunspell is free software, distributed under the terms of a GPL, LGPL and MPL tri-license.
What is Hunspell?
Hunspell is an open-source program for Windows from FSF.hu (developed by Red Hat). The first release dates back to 2003. It is written in C++. Besides Windows, it is available for Linux and macOS.
Installation and requirements
Official installers exist for 64-bit as Portable. It runs without installation (portable).
Popularity and file types
The Chocolatey package has been downloaded 8,471 times. The source code on GitHub (hunspell/hunspell) has 2,608 stars. Wikipedia has an article about it in 17 of our languages.
Project description on GitHub: “The most popular spellchecking library.”
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Open source: the code can be inspected and built by anyone
- Portable: runs without installation
- Also runs on Linux and macOS
- Mature project (since 2003)
Cons
- No native ARM64 build
- No update for more than a year
In short: Hunspell is an open-source Windows tool for 64-bit PCs. Updates have slowed down.
Is Hunspell safe to download?
- The file is served by github.com, the publisher’s own domain
- The download link uses HTTPS
- A SHA256 hash is published, so you can verify the file:
2F927BE348BA588AB8F3C3DE4EABB45A143E110C8E34AA01033DC98C84EABE12· Open the VirusTotal report for this hash - The link has not been checked yet
- The source code is public
- ExeAtlas does not host, wrap or modify installers
Related guide: How to check a file’s SHA256 hash on Windows
Security practices (OpenSSF Scorecard)
Automated checks of the hunspell/hunspell repository on GitHub by the Open Source Security Foundation, last run on October 19, 2026.
- Actively maintained10
- Security policy10
- No binaries in the repository10
- Fuzzing10
- Licence declared10
- Code review1
- OpenSSF Best Practices badge0
- Pinned dependencies0
- Signed releases0
- Static code analysis0
The score rates how the project is developed and released, not whether the program is safe to install. scorecard.dev
Recent versions
All 1 versions ›| Version | Date | Size | Files |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.7.0Latest | September 6, 2023 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
Install from the command line
Silent install ›winget install --id FSFhu.Hunspell -echoco install hunspell.portable -yRelated guide: How to use winget: install and update apps
Also for other systems
brew install hunspellInformation
- Publisher
- FSF.hu
- Developer
- Red Hat and FLOSS contributor
- Licence
- LGPL/GPL/MPL
- Price
- Free
- Source code
- github.com/hunspell/hunspell
- Written in
- C++
- Requires
- Windows 11 / 10
- Architecture
- 64-bit
- Installer
- Portable
- Other platforms
- Linux, macOS
- Version
- 1.7.0
- Released
- September 6, 2023
- First release
- 2003
- Added to the catalogue
- September 6, 2023
- Versions listed
- 1
- Chocolatey downloads
- 8,471
- GitHub stars
- 2,608
- GitHub forks
- 284
- Website
- hunspell.github.io
- winget ID
- FSFhu.Hunspell
- Chocolatey package
- hunspell.portable
Ratings and reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to rate it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hunspell free?
Yes. Hunspell is open-source software under the LGPL/GPL/MPL licence.
Is Hunspell safe to download?
The download comes from github.com, which belongs to the publisher; ExeAtlas does not host or change the file. Compare its SHA256 hash with the one shown here, or open the VirusTotal report for that hash.
How do I install Hunspell with winget?
Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the winget command shown on this page. winget downloads the official installer and checks its SHA256 hash before running it.
Does Hunspell run on ARM (Windows on Arm)?
There is no ARM64 build; Windows 11 on Arm can run the 64-bit version through emulation.
Can I use Hunspell without administrator rights?
Yes, it is portable: unpack and run it.