OpenAI Whisper API

by OpenAI

Hosted Whisper large-v3 from OpenAI — $0.006 per minute.

TL;DR

Hosted Whisper large-v3 from OpenAI — $0.006 per minute.

Best for teams already on OpenAI's stack who want Whisper without operating a GPU. Pricing: $0.006/min.

Category
Transcription APIs
License
—
Stars
—
Last push
—
Pricing
$0.006/min
Platforms
API

What it is

OpenAI's hosted Whisper API is the easiest way to get Whisper-grade transcription without running infrastructure. $0.006 per minute, pay-as-you-go. No diarization, no streaming — if you need those, pick a different endpoint or self-host whisperX. Last price check: 2026-04-20.

Best for: Teams already on OpenAI's stack who want Whisper without operating a GPU.
Watch out for: 25 MB file size limit; no diarization; no batch discount; latency dominated by upload for large files.

Install / use

POST https://api.openai.com/v1/audio/transcriptions

View OpenAI Audio API docs ↗

Features

Speaker diarizationNo
Word-level timestampsYes
Streaming / real-timeNo
Languages supported99
HIPAA eligibleNo

OpenAI Whisper API vs Whipscribe

FeatureOpenAI Whisper APIWhipscribe
CategoryTranscription APIsTranscription APIs
Pricing$0.006/minfree beta
Speaker diarizationNoYes
Word timestampsYesYes
StreamingNoNo
Languages9999
PlatformsAPIWeb, API, MCP
Sources & dates for the comparison above
  1. diarization: “The transcription API returns text and segments; speaker labels are not produced.” — source (checked 2026-04-23)
  2. word timestamps: “Set timestamp_granularities[] to word to receive per-word timestamps.” — source (checked 2026-04-23)
  3. streaming: “The transcription endpoint accepts complete audio files; streaming input is not supported.” — source (checked 2026-04-23)
  4. pricing: “Whisper: $0.006 / minute (rounded to the nearest second)” — source (checked 2026-04-24)

Alternatives to OpenAI Whisper API

AssemblyAI
AssemblyAI

Universal-2 model + diarization, PII redaction, topic detection, summarization.

from $0.37/hr
Deepgram
Deepgram

Nova-2 model, excellent streaming, strong at conversational audio.

from $0.0043/min
Rev.ai
Rev.ai

The API spin-off of Rev — strong English accuracy, topic detection, custom vocab.

from $0.02/min

Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.