Podcast transcription
2 episodes a week at 60 minutes each is about 520 minutes of audio a month.
Every month I transcribe of audio.
AssemblyAI is the cheapest, at $1.82 a month. Azure would cost 4.8 times as much.
Estimated monthly bill for 520 minutes, lowest first. 7 of 7 providers fit.
- 1AssemblyAIUniversal-3.5 Pro (pre-recorded), $0.21/hr$1.82 per monthLowest priceVisit AssemblyAI
Usage $1.82 Monthly total $1.82 Works out to $0.0035 per minute.
Priced in the "Above 0" tier; every unit is billed at that tier's rate.
- 2Mistral VoxtralVoxtral Mini Transcribe 3, $0.0035/min$1.82 per month+<$0.01, 0.0% moreVisit Voxtral
Usage $1.82 Monthly total $1.82 Works out to $0.0035 per minute.
Priced in the "Above 0" tier; every unit is billed at that tier's rate.
- 3ElevenLabsScribe v2 (and v2 Medical), $0.22/hr$1.91 per month+$0.09, 4.8% moreVisit ElevenLabs
Usage $1.91 Monthly total $1.91 Works out to $0.00367 per minute.
Priced in the "Above 0" tier; every unit is billed at that tier's rate.
- 4DeepgramNova-3 (pre-recorded), $0.0043/min$2.24 per month+$0.42, 22.9% moreVisit Deepgram
Usage $2.24 Monthly total $2.24 Works out to $0.0043 per minute.
Priced in the "Above 0" tier; every unit is billed at that tier's rate.
- 5OpenAIGPT Transcribe, $0.0045/min$2.34 per month+$0.52, 28.6% moreVisit OpenAI
Usage $2.34 Monthly total $2.34 Works out to $0.0045 per minute.
Priced in the "Above 0" tier; every unit is billed at that tier's rate.
- 6Google CloudSpeech-to-Text V2 Standard (incl. Chirp), $0.016/min$8.32 per month+$6.50, 357.1% moreVisit Google Cloud
Usage $8.32 Monthly total $8.32 Works out to $0.016 per minute.
Tiers are graduated: each band of usage is billed at its own rate (reached: Up to 500000).
- 7AzureStandard real-time transcription, $1/hr$8.67 per month+$6.85, 376.2% moreVisit Azure
Usage $8.67 Monthly total $8.67 Works out to $0.0167 per minute.
Priced in the "Above 0" tier; every unit is billed at that tier's rate.
- Prices updated 2026-10-30.
- Priced in the "Above 0" tier; every unit is billed at that tier's rate.
- Free-tier credits are not subtracted.
- How we calculate this
Some “Visit” links are affiliate links: the provider may pay us if you sign up. That never changes the order, which is set by price alone.
What to look at
- Speaker labels matter if you publish transcripts with host and guest names.
- Batch (pre-recorded) pricing is usually cheaper than streaming, and a podcast does not need streaming.
- Accuracy on names and jargon varies more between providers than price does at this volume.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to transcribe a podcast with an API?
- It depends on the provider and on how many hours you publish. The calculator on this page is set to a weekly show of about 520 minutes a month and ranks every provider by price.
- Do I need speaker labels for a podcast?
- Only if your transcripts show who is talking. Some providers include speaker labels in the base price and others charge extra, which the calculator accounts for when you turn the option on.