AWS Transcribe vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
Ai Transcription Apis pricing comparison · 2026
AWS Transcribe pricing ranges from $0–$6.75/minute, while Google Cloud Speech-to-Text ranges from $0–$0/minute. Google Cloud Speech-to-Text is typically 100% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.
AWS Transcribe
Amazon Transcribe is AWS's fully managed automatic speech recognition (ASR) service that c
verified 27d ago
$196
$300
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text pricing is usage-based, starting free for 60 minutes/month as
verified 27d ago
$196
$300
Verdict · Vendr median · year 1
AWS
saves
$104
vs
Google
· 25 seats
Cheapest
$196
Spread
35%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Pricing model unknown
Pricing model unknown
no public list price found
Pricing model unknown
Pricing model unknown
no public list price found
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
↓ Lowest median
Median annual
$196/yr
Vendr · n=13
Median annual
$300/yr
Vendr · n=15
REF · 01
Sources & confidence
Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.
Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources
1 sourced fact
Vendr median
Last verified
3w ago
Confidence
Medium confidence
Sources
1 sourced fact
Vendr median
Last verified
3w ago
Confidence
Medium confidence
REF · 02
Plans at a glance
Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.
Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 05
What users say
Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.
User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats).
Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges.
Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
VS
AWS Transcribe and Google Cloud Speech-to-Text both operate in the ai transcription apis category. This page compares their published pricing.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | AWS Transcribe | Google Cloud Speech-to-Text |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (Tier 1: 0-250K min/month) | Free /minute | Free /minute |
| Volume Discounted (Tier 2-4: 250K+ min/month) | Free /minute | Free /minute |
| Transcribe Medical | Free /minute | Free |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
AWS Transcribe
3 scenarios$1,440/month ($17,280/year)
Small SaaS Voice Feature (1,000 hours/month)
60,000 minutes at $0.024/min (Tier 1). Add ~$300-$600/month for speaker diarization and custom vocabulary add-ons, plus $100-$200/month for supporting AWS services (S3, Lambda, CloudWatch). Total effective cost: $1,840-$2,240/month.
$9,000
Contact Center Analytics (10,000 hours/month)
$10,440/month ($108,000-$125,280/year) -- First 250K min at $0.024/min ($6,000) + next 350K min at $0.015/min ($5,250) = $11,250 base. PII redaction adds $1,440 ($0.0024/min x 600K). With volume blending, effective rate is ~$0.015-$0.017/min. Supporting AWS service costs add $200-$400/month.
$9,000/month ($108,000/year)
Healthcare Transcription Platform (2,000 hours/month)
120,000 minutes at $0.075/min for Medical transcription. No volume discounts apply to Medical tier. Add $200-$500/month for HIPAA-compliant AWS infrastructure (dedicated VPC, encryption, audit logging). Total: ~$9,200-$9,500/month.
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
3 scenarios$120/month ($1,440/year)
Media Company Archive Processing (500 hours/month, batch)
30,000 minutes at $0.004/min via Dynamic Batch. Add $50-$100/month for Cloud Storage and egress fees. Total: $170-$220/month. This is 92% cheaper than AWS Transcribe standard ($720/month) and 67% cheaper than OpenAI Whisper ($180/month) for the same volume.
$192/month ($2,304/year)
Real-Time Captioning Service (200 hours/month)
12,000 minutes at $0.016/min for standard real-time processing. Add $30-$80/month for GCP infrastructure (Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub, Storage). Total: $222-$272/month. First 60 minutes/month free reduces to 11,940 billable minutes ($191/month).
$4,800/month ($57,600/year)
Enterprise Analytics Platform (5,000 hours/month)
300,000 minutes at $0.016/min standard rate. Enterprise volume pricing (contact sales) may reduce to $0.008-$0.012/min ($2,400-$3,600/month). Add $300-$500/month for BigQuery, Storage, and Cloud Functions. Using Dynamic Batch where real-time is not needed reduces to $1,200/month base.
Market Intelligence
AWS Transcribe
- Median annual cost
- $196
- Based on
- 13 deals
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
- Median annual cost
- $300
- Based on
- 15 deals