Transcription (STT) Cost Comparison
Compare speech-to-text models by price per minute.
With the default inputs, Speech-to-text models compared — 100,000 minutes/month · ranked cheapest first. Enter your own numbers below to recompute instantly; the full step-by-step math is shown under the worked example.
Results update automatically as you type.
| GPT-4o mini Transcribe | OpenAI | $0.003/min | $300.00 |
| GPT-4o Transcribe | OpenAI | $0.006/min | $600.00 |
Compare transcription models by their per-minute price and your monthly audio volume, ranked cheapest first.
How this is calculated
We rank transcription models by per-minute price × your monthly audio minutes, cheapest first. Most STT is billed per minute of audio, so volume and rate are the whole comparison.
Is this a good result? What to do next
Price differences are small in absolute terms; accuracy on your audio matters more. Rank on cost, then test each model on your accents, noise and domain terms before committing.
Typical planning ranges
- Ranked by
- per-minute rate × minutes
- Standard STT
- ~$0.003–$0.006/min
- Extras
- diarization/translation cost more
Ranges are typical planning figures to sanity-check your result, not authoritative benchmarks. Your numbers will vary with use case, volume, and vendor.
How to improve this number
- Use the cheapest model that meets your accuracy bar.
- Skip silence to reduce billed minutes.
- Batch large libraries.
Common mistakes
- Choosing on price without testing accuracy.
- Ignoring feature surcharges (diarization, translation).
When to use a different approach
For a single model's cost, use the speech-to-text cost calculator. For TTS, use the TTS cost comparison.
Worked example (defaults)
With the default inputs above, here is the result:
| GPT-4o mini Transcribe | OpenAI | $0.003/min | $300.00 |
| GPT-4o Transcribe | OpenAI | $0.006/min | $600.00 |
Sources & references
Frequently asked questions
What affects transcription cost?+
Mostly audio minutes processed. Some providers charge more for features like diarization or translation.
Is accuracy the same?+
No — test each model on your audio (accents, noise, domain terms) before choosing on price alone.
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