Speechmatics vs Whisper (OpenAI)
Ai Transcription Apis pricing comparison · 2026
Speechmatics pricing ranges from $0–$0.006/minute, while Whisper (OpenAI) ranges from $0.003–$0.006/minute. These products use different pricing models (Per-seat subscription vs Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute)), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.
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Speechmatics and Whisper (OpenAI) both operate in the ai transcription apis category. This page compares their published pricing.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | Speechmatics | Whisper (OpenAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free /minute | Free /minute |
| Pro | Custom | Free /minute |
| Enterprise | Custom | Free |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
Speechmatics
3 scenarios$0/month ($0/year)
Multilingual Content Creator (300 minutes/month)
300 minutes/month is fully covered by the Free tier's 480 minutes/month limit. No charges incurred. Excess 180 minutes/month unused.
$259.20/month ($3,110.40/year)
Customer Call Analytics (1,500 hours/month)
Base cost: 1,500 hours × $0.24/hr = $360/month. Less 480 free minutes ($1.92), less 20% volume discount ($71.62 on usage above 500 hours), net cost: $259.20/month. Total per-hour cost after discounts: $0.173/hr.
$1,500
Enterprise Media Platform with On-Premises (10,000 hours/month)
$2,500/month ($18,000-$30,000/year estimate) -- Enterprise custom pricing with 30-40% volume discount reduces base Pro rate ($0.24/hr) to ~$0.144-$0.192/hr. 10,000 hrs × $0.15-$0.20/hr = $1,500-$2,000/month for transcription, plus on-premises infrastructure ($2,000-$5,000/month GPU/Kubernetes) and DevOps ($1,000-$3,000/month). Total all-in cost: $4,500-$10,500/month. Minimum Enterprise commitment typically $25,000-$50,000 annually for transcription services alone.
Whisper (OpenAI)
3 scenarios$36/month ($432/year)
Startup Podcast Transcription (100 hours/month)
6,000 minutes at $0.006/min. With GPT-4o Mini Transcribe at $0.003/min, cost drops to $18/month ($216/year). No add-on fees for diarization. First month partially offset by $5 free credit.
$180/month ($2,160/year)
SaaS Meeting Recorder (500 hours/month)
30,000 minutes at $0.006/min with diarization included. Using GPT-4o Mini Transcribe reduces to $90/month ($1,080/year). At this volume, self-hosting open-source Whisper on GPU infrastructure ($276/month fixed) becomes cost-comparable and may be cheaper with dedicated hardware.
$1,800/month ($21,600/year)
Enterprise Call Center (5,000 hours/month)
300,000 minutes at $0.006/min. At this volume, self-hosting Whisper on dedicated GPU clusters ($500-$800/month) offers 55-70% savings but requires DevOps investment. Enterprise API pricing with volume discounts may be available through OpenAI sales.