Whisper (OpenAI) vs AWS Transcribe
Ai Transcription Apis pricing comparison · 2026
Whisper (OpenAI) pricing ranges from $0.003–$0.006/minute, while AWS Transcribe ranges from $0–$6.75/minute. These products use different pricing models (Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute) vs Per-seat subscription), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.
AWS Transcribe
Amazon Transcribe is AWS's fully managed automatic speech recognition (ASR) service that c
verified 27d ago
$169
$196
Verdict · Vendr median · year 1
Whisper
saves
$27
vs
AWS
· 25 seats
Cheapest
$169
Spread
14%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$0.003 per minute
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
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
$169/yr
Vendr · n=8 · limited data
Median annual
$196/yr
Vendr · n=13
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
High 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
Whisper (OpenAI) and AWS Transcribe both operate in the ai transcription apis category. This page compares their published pricing.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | Whisper (OpenAI) | AWS Transcribe |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o Mini Transcribe | Free /minute | Free /minute |
| Whisper / GPT-4o Transcribe | Free /minute | Free /minute |
| Enterprise (via ChatGPT Enterprise / API) | Free | Free /minute |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
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.
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.
Market Intelligence
Whisper (OpenAI)
- Median annual cost
- $169
- Based on
- 8 deals
AWS Transcribe
- Median annual cost
- $196
- Based on
- 13 deals