OpenAI Whisper / GPT-4o Transcribe vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text pricing
Both are in speech-to-text apis. OpenAI Whisper / GPT-4o Transcribe is billed per minute (per-second billed); Google Cloud Speech-to-Text is billed per 15 seconds. Numbers below are copied from each vendor's pricing page.
OpenAI Whisper / GPT-4o TranscribeNo free tier
- Free tier
- None (pay-per-use)
- Billed
- Per minute (per-second billed)
- Best for
- Transcription inside the OpenAI model API
- Verified
- Jun 27, 2026
Google Cloud Speech-to-TextFree tier or trial
- Free tier
- 60 min/mo + $300 credit
- Billed
- Per 15 seconds
- Best for
- Enterprise multilingual STT on GCP
- Verified
- Jun 27, 2026
OpenAI Whisper / GPT-4o Transcribe plans
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| whisper-1 | $0.006 / min | Original hosted Whisper model; billed per second of audio duration, ~$0.36/hour. |
| gpt-4o-transcribe | $0.006 / min (~$6.00 / 1M audio input tokens) | Flagship GPT-4o speech-to-text; lower WER and better multilingual accuracy than Whisper. |
| gpt-4o-mini-transcribe | $0.003 / min (~$3.00 / 1M audio input tokens) | Cost-efficient smaller model, half the price of the flagship. |
| gpt-4o-transcribe-diarize | Usage-based (audio token pricing) | Adds built-in speaker diarization; Transcription API only, returns diarized_json with A:/B: speaker labels. |
- Token-based GPT-4o billing can produce less predictable costs on long audio than flat per-minute pricing
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text plans
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (v2 / Chirp) | $0.016 / minute | Real-time and batch transcription on the v2 API; Chirp models included at no surcharge. Down from $0.024/min on v1. |
| Dynamic Batch | ~$0.004 / minute (≈75% off Standard) | Discounted async tier for non-urgent jobs with results delivered within up to 24 hours. |
| Volume / committed-use tiers | as low as $0.004 / minute | Per-minute rate drops at high monthly transcription volumes. |
| Legacy v1 API | $0.024 / minute | Older API generation; standard and enhanced/phone-call models. |
| Free tier | $0 for first 60 min/month | 60 minutes of audio free each month; new Google Cloud customers also get $300 in credits. |
- Confusing v1-vs-v2 split with different features, prices and regional availability
- Add-ons such as speaker diarization cost extra and are not transparently documented on the public pricing page
- Effective bill often exceeds the headline $0.016/min once GCP overhead and add-ons are counted