Speechmatics vs Whisper (OpenAI)
Ai Transcription Apis pricing comparison · 2026
Speechmatics pricing ranges from $0–$0/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.
Speechmatics
Speechmatics is a multilingual speech recognition platform specializing in speech-to-text
verified 21d ago
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Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$0.24 per hour
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
Usage-based
$0.003 per minute
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
No Vendr data
—
Not in Vendr's deal flow
Median annual
$169/yr
Vendr · n=8 · limited data
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
No structured sources
Last verified
3w ago
Confidence
High confidence
Sources
1 sourced fact
Vendr median
Last verified
3w ago
Confidence
High 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
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.