OpenAI Whisper API Pricing 2025: Self-Hosted vs Managed Costs & Simple Alternative

OpenAI Whisper API pricing shows $0.006 per minute ($0.36/hour) for managed transcription—one of the most competitive rates in the market. But that's only half the story. The real question developers face isn't "what does Whisper cost?" but "should I use OpenAI's managed API or self-host the open-source Whisper model?"

Self-hosting Whisper means deploying the open-source model on your own infrastructure. You control everything: the model version, processing pipeline, data privacy, and infrastructure configuration. But you also pay for everything: GPU instances ($276/month minimum), DevOps overhead, maintenance, and scaling complexity.

The Whisper API eliminates infrastructure—no servers, no GPUs, no scaling headaches. Just $0.006/min and an API call. But you lose control over model versions, processing customization, and data residency. And for high-volume deployments (500+ hours/month), API costs can exceed self-hosted infrastructure expenses.

For comparing transcription pricing across all major services, see our comprehensive cost analysis.

In this guide, we'll break down OpenAI Whisper API's complete 2025 pricing, calculate the true cost of self-hosting Whisper (infrastructure + DevOps + maintenance), reveal when each approach makes sense, and show you a simpler $0.15/min alternative that requires neither API integration nor infrastructure management.

Quick Navigation

• OpenAI Whisper API Pricing Overview (2025)
• The Self-Hosted vs Managed Dilemma
• Self-Hosted Infrastructure Costs: The Full Picture
• Hidden Costs of Self-Hosting Whisper
• Whisper API vs BrassTranscripts: When Simplicity Wins
• Real-World Cost Scenarios
• Whisper API Limitations & Gotchas
• When to Choose Whisper API vs Self-Hosted vs BrassTranscripts
• Frequently Asked Questions
• AI Prompt: OpenAI Whisper API Pricing Calculator
• Final Verdict: Whisper API vs Self-Hosted vs BrassTranscripts
• Pricing Disclaimer

OpenAI Whisper API Pricing Overview (2025)

According to OpenAI's official pricing page (verified October 2025):

Speech-to-Text Pricing

Last verified: October 24, 2025 from OpenAI pricing documentation

Key insight: OpenAI offers three managed transcription options at identical or lower pricing than most competitors' API rates.

Billing Details

• Per-minute billing rounded to nearest second
• Charges based on actual audio duration
• No minimum file size
• 25 MB file size limit per request
• Supports 50+ languages

Free Tier

OpenAI does NOT offer a free tier for Whisper API. You need:

• OpenAI account (free to create)
• API key
• Credit card on file
• Pay-as-you-go from first minute

Comparison to competitors:

• Google Cloud: $300 credits
• Deepgram: $200 credits
• AssemblyAI: Free tier with limitations
• OpenAI Whisper API: No free tier

This means testing costs real money—even a 10-hour proof-of-concept costs $3.60.

The Self-Hosted vs Managed Dilemma

Here's where Whisper gets complex: The model is open-source and free to use. Anyone can download Whisper, run it on their own hardware, and transcribe unlimited audio without paying OpenAI a cent.

So why does OpenAI's managed API exist? Convenience vs control.

Managed API ($0.006/min)

Advantages:

• ✅ Zero infrastructure (no servers, GPUs, scaling)
• ✅ Zero DevOps overhead
• ✅ Simple API integration (5 lines of code)
• ✅ Automatic scaling (handles traffic spikes)
• ✅ Latest model versions automatically

Disadvantages:

• ❌ No control over model version
• ❌ No custom model fine-tuning
• ❌ Data leaves your infrastructure
• ❌ 25 MB file size limit
• ❌ Costs scale linearly with volume

Self-Hosted Open-Source Whisper

Advantages:

• ✅ Full control over model version
• ✅ Custom fine-tuning possible
• ✅ Data stays in your infrastructure
• ✅ No file size limits
• ✅ Fixed infrastructure costs (doesn't scale with volume)

Disadvantages:

• ❌ Requires GPU infrastructure ($276/month minimum)
• ❌ DevOps overhead (deployment, monitoring, scaling)
• ❌ Maintenance burden (updates, security, uptime)
• ❌ Slower processing (10x slower than API)
• ❌ Scaling complexity (load balancing, auto-scaling)

The Cost Crossover Point

Self-hosting becomes cheaper than the API at ~460 hours/month (assuming $276/month GPU instance).

Math:

API cost for 460 hours: 460 × 60 × $0.006 = $165.60/month
Self-hosted cost: $276/month (fixed infrastructure)

Crossover: When API cost > $276/month
$276 ÷ $0.006 ÷ 60 = 766 hours/month

Actual crossover is 766 hours/month when infrastructure is the only cost.

But infrastructure isn't the only cost. DevOps time, maintenance, and reliability engineering add hidden expenses.

Self-Hosted Infrastructure Costs: The Full Picture

Let's calculate the true cost of self-hosting Whisper, including all hidden expenses.

Required Infrastructure

1. GPU Instance (Required) Whisper requires GPU for reasonable processing speeds. Options:

• Google Cloud n1-standard-4 + T4 GPU: $275.94/month (24/7 availability)
• AWS g4dn.xlarge (T4 GPU): ~$350/month (on-demand)
• RunPod 4090 spot instance: $0.39/hour = $281/month (spot pricing, not guaranteed)

Minimum infrastructure cost: $276-350/month

2. Storage ($0.023/GB/month)

• Store audio files before processing: 100 GB = $2.30/month
• Store transcripts after generation: minimal

3. Load Balancer ($18/month) For production deployments handling multiple requests simultaneously.

4. Monitoring & Logging ($10-20/month) CloudWatch, Stackdriver, or similar for uptime monitoring and error tracking.

5. DevOps Overhead (Hidden Cost)

• Initial setup: 20-40 hours × $100/hour = $2,000-4,000 (one-time)
• Monthly maintenance: 5-10 hours × $100/hour = $500-1,000/month

Real-World Cost Example: 200 Hours/Month

Let's calculate the true self-hosted cost vs API cost:

Managed API Option

Transcription: 200 hours × 60 × $0.006 = $72.00/month
Total: $72.00/month
Effective rate: $0.006/min

Self-Hosted Option

GPU instance (T4): $276.00/month
Storage: $2.30/month
Load balancer: $18.00/month
Monitoring: $15.00/month
DevOps (amortized setup): $50/month (assuming 40 months amortization)
DevOps (monthly maintenance): $500/month
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total: $861.30/month
Effective rate: $0.0717/min (12x more expensive than API)

At 200 hours/month, the managed API is 12x cheaper when you include DevOps costs.

When Self-Hosting Actually Saves Money

Self-hosting becomes cost-effective at very high volumes:

1,000 hours/month:

API cost: 1,000 × 60 × $0.006 = $360/month
Self-hosted cost: $861.30/month
API still 2.4x cheaper

2,000 hours/month:

API cost: 2,000 × 60 × $0.006 = $720/month
Self-hosted cost: $861.30/month
API still 1.2x cheaper

3,000 hours/month:

API cost: 3,000 × 60 × $0.006 = $1,080/month
Self-hosted cost: $861.30/month
Self-hosted NOW 25% cheaper

Crossover point: ~2,400 hours/month when including DevOps overhead.

But this assumes:

• DevOps team already exists (not hiring for this project)
• Single GPU handles 3,000 hours/month workload
• 99%+ uptime reliability achieved

For most teams, the API is cheaper until 3,000+ hours/month.

Hidden Costs of Self-Hosting Whisper

1. Processing Speed: 10x Slower Than API

Self-hosted Whisper on a T4 GPU processes audio at 0.5x real-time speed (large-v2 model). A 60-minute file takes 120 minutes to transcribe.

OpenAI's Whisper API processes at 5-10x real-time speed—a 60-minute file completes in 6-12 minutes.

Impact: For real-time use cases (live captioning, call center assist), self-hosted Whisper is unusable without significant GPU investment.

2. Scaling Complexity

API scaling: Automatic. OpenAI handles traffic spikes transparently.

Self-hosted scaling requires:

• Load balancer configuration
• Auto-scaling group setup
• GPU instance orchestration
• Queue management for batch jobs
• Rate limiting and throttling

Estimated setup time: 40-80 hours of DevOps work.

3. Model Updates & Maintenance

OpenAI automatically updates the Whisper API with latest model versions, accuracy improvements, and bug fixes.

Self-hosted deployments require manual updates:

• Download new model weights
• Test accuracy against current version
• Deploy to production infrastructure
• Rollback plan if issues occur

Estimated quarterly maintenance: 10-20 hours.

4. Data Privacy Compliance

Self-hosting provides control over data residency (valuable for HIPAA, GDPR). But compliance isn't free:

• HIPAA infrastructure requirements
• Encryption at rest and in transit
• Access logging and audit trails
• Security assessments and penetration testing

Estimated compliance overhead: $5,000-20,000 annually for regulated industries.

5. Reliability & Uptime

OpenAI's API offers 99.9%+ uptime with enterprise SLA options.

Self-hosted reliability requires:

• Multi-region deployment
• Failover systems
• Uptime monitoring
• On-call engineering

Cost of 1 hour downtime: Varies, but for production services can exceed $10,000.

Whisper API vs BrassTranscripts: When Simplicity Wins

Where Whisper API Wins

1. High-Volume API-First Teams If you're building:

• Automated transcription pipelines
• SaaS products with transcription features
• Large-scale content processing (1,000+ hours/month)
• Multi-language support across 50+ languages

Whisper API offers the best price-per-minute for API-driven workflows.

2. Developer-Centric Organizations Teams with strong engineering culture comfortable with:

• API integration
• Error handling
• Rate limiting
• Authentication management

3. Multi-Language Requirements Whisper supports 50+ languages at the same $0.006/min rate—no language surcharges.

4. Cost-Sensitive, High-Volume Use Cases For 1,000+ hours/month, Whisper API's $0.006/min beats most competitors.

Where Self-Hosted Whisper Wins

1. Data Privacy & Compliance For industries with strict data residency requirements:

• Healthcare (HIPAA)
• Finance (PCI-DSS)
• Government (FedRAMP)

Self-hosting keeps audio data in your infrastructure.

2. Custom Model Fine-Tuning Organizations needing:

• Industry-specific terminology (medical, legal, technical)
• Custom voice models
• Proprietary accent training

Self-hosting enables full model control.

3. Very High Volume (3,000+ hours/month) At 3,000+ hours/month, self-hosted infrastructure costs less than API fees (assuming existing DevOps capacity).

4. Cost Predictability Self-hosted costs are fixed ($861/month), while API costs scale with usage. For unpredictable workloads, fixed infrastructure can provide budget certainty.

Where BrassTranscripts Wins

1. Zero Infrastructure & No API Integration BrassTranscripts: Upload file → Download transcript. No API keys, no code, no servers, no DevOps.

Whisper API requires:

• OpenAI account
• API key management
• Code integration
• Error handling
• File size chunking (25 MB limit)

2. No Account Needed: Upload and Go Whisper API requires:

• Account creation
• Credit card on file
• API authentication

BrassTranscripts: No signup, no account, no API complexity.

3. Predictable Pricing BrassTranscripts: $2.25 flat rate for 0-15 min files, $0.15/min for 16+ min files (speaker ID included).

Whisper API: $0.006/min (25x cheaper per minute), but:

• No speaker diarization (must use separate service like Pyannote)
• Requires API integration development time
• File size limits require chunking logic
• No built-in speaker identification

4. Included Speaker Identification Whisper API transcribes audio but does NOT identify speakers. Adding speaker diarization requires:

• Separate service (Pyannote, AssemblyAI, etc.)
• Additional API integration
• Additional cost ($0.003-0.01/min)

BrassTranscripts includes speaker identification in base $0.15/min price.

5. Small-to-Medium Volume Simplicity For 1-100 hours/month, BrassTranscripts' all-inclusive pricing beats Whisper API's integration overhead.

Cost Comparison: 150 Hours/Month

Crossover analysis:

• Under 150 hours/month: Whisper API cheapest (if you have dev capacity)
• 150-300 hours/month: BrassTranscripts competitive when factoring dev time + speaker ID
• 300+ hours/month: Whisper API cheapest for API-first teams
• 3,000+ hours/month: Self-hosted cheapest (if you have DevOps team)

Real-World Cost Scenarios

Scenario 1: Podcast Producer (40 Hours/Month)

Requirements:

• 40 hours/month podcast transcription
• Need speaker identification
• Non-technical user (no coding)

Whisper API Option:

Transcription: 40 × 60 × $0.006 = $14.40
Speaker diarization service: 40 × 60 × $0.005 = $12.00
Developer integration: 20 hours × $100 = $2,000 (one-time)
Monthly maintenance: 2 hours × $100 = $200
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
First month: $2,226.40
Ongoing: $226.40/month

Self-Hosted Option:

Not viable—infrastructure costs ($861/month) dwarf 40 hours usage.

BrassTranscripts:

Audio: 2,400 minutes × $0.15 = $360/month
Setup: $0 (upload interface)

Winner: BrassTranscripts wins. $360/month all-inclusive beats Whisper API's $226.40/month + $2,000 one-time integration for non-technical users.

Scenario 2: SaaS Company (800 Hours/Month)

Requirements:

• 800 hours/month automated transcription
• Building transcription feature into product
• Engineering team in-house
• Multi-language support needed

Whisper API Option:

Transcription: 800 × 60 × $0.006 = $288/month
API integration: $0 (team capability)
50+ languages: Included
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total: $288/month

Self-Hosted Option:

GPU infrastructure: $276/month
DevOps overhead: $550/month
Total: $826/month

BrassTranscripts:

Audio: 48,000 minutes × $0.15 = $7,200/month

Winner: Whisper API by 25x. For SaaS products with engineering teams, API integration at $0.006/min dominates.

Scenario 3: Healthcare (200 Hours/Month, HIPAA Required)

Requirements:

• 200 hours/month medical dictation
• HIPAA compliance mandatory
• Data must stay in healthcare org infrastructure
• PHI cannot leave network

Whisper API Option:

OpenAI does NOT offer HIPAA BAA (Business Associate Agreement).
Cannot use Whisper API for PHI.

Self-Hosted Option:

GPU infrastructure: $276/month
HIPAA-compliant infrastructure: $150/month
DevOps: $550/month
Compliance overhead: $500/month
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total: $1,476/month

BrassTranscripts:

Note: Verify HIPAA compliance status before using.
Audio: 12,000 minutes × $0.15 = $1,800/month

Winner: Self-hosted Whisper wins for HIPAA contexts. Whisper API not HIPAA-compliant; data residency requirements force self-hosting.

Scenario 4: Enterprise Media Company (5,000 Hours/Month)

Requirements:

• 5,000 hours/month video transcription
• Existing DevOps team
• Custom terminology (industry jargon)
• Budget predictability critical

Whisper API Option:

Transcription: 5,000 × 60 × $0.006 = $1,800/month
No custom fine-tuning available

Self-Hosted Option:

GPU infrastructure (multiple instances): $800/month
DevOps: $550/month (team already exists)
Custom model fine-tuning: One-time + quarterly updates
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total: $1,350/month

BrassTranscripts:

Audio: 300,000 minutes × $0.15 = $45,000/month
Not viable at this scale.

Winner: Self-hosted Whisper wins at 5,000+ hours/month. Custom model fine-tuning + fixed costs beat API pricing at scale.

Whisper API Limitations & Gotchas

1. 25 MB File Size Limit

Whisper API has a 25 MB file size limit per request. For high-quality audio (WAV, FLAC), this is approximately:

• WAV (1411 kbps): ~2.4 minutes max
• MP3 (128 kbps): ~26 minutes max
• M4A (256 kbps): ~13 minutes max

Workaround: Chunk audio files into smaller segments and stitch transcripts together (requires custom logic).

Impact: For long-form content (podcasts, meetings, lectures), file chunking adds development complexity.

2. No Speaker Diarization

Whisper API transcribes audio but does NOT identify individual speakers. Adding speaker diarization requires:

• Separate service (Pyannote.audio, AssemblyAI speaker diarization, etc.)
• Additional API integration
• Timestamp alignment between Whisper transcript and diarization output

Additional cost: $0.003-0.01/min for diarization service.

3. No Custom Model Fine-Tuning

OpenAI's managed Whisper API uses the standard large-v2 model. You cannot:

• Fine-tune on custom vocabulary
• Train on domain-specific terminology
• Customize for specific accents or dialects

Limitation: For specialized industries (medical, legal, technical), accuracy may suffer compared to custom-trained models.

4. Processing Speed Variability

While generally faster than self-hosted Whisper, API processing speed varies based on:

• OpenAI infrastructure load
• Audio file size
• Audio complexity

Typical speed: 5-10x real-time (60-min file = 6-12 min processing).

Impact: For real-time use cases (live captioning), variability can cause delays.

5. No Batch Discounts or Volume Pricing

Whisper API is flat-rate $0.006/min regardless of volume. Unlike competitors (Deepgram, Google), OpenAI offers no:

• Volume discounts
• Commitment tiers
• Enterprise pricing

Impact: At 10,000+ hours/month, competitors with volume discounts may be cheaper.

When to Choose Whisper API vs Self-Hosted vs BrassTranscripts

Choose Whisper API If:

✅ You're processing 150+ hours/month with API-first architecture ✅ You have engineering team comfortable with API integration ✅ You need multi-language support (50+ languages at same rate) ✅ You want zero infrastructure management ✅ You're okay with data leaving your infrastructure ✅ You can handle 25 MB file size limits (chunking logic) ✅ You don't need speaker diarization (or willing to use separate service)

Choose Self-Hosted Whisper If:

✅ You're processing 3,000+ hours/month ✅ You have DevOps team with GPU infrastructure experience ✅ You require HIPAA/GDPR data residency compliance ✅ You need custom model fine-tuning for specialized terminology ✅ You want full control over model versions and pipeline ✅ You have budget for infrastructure + maintenance ($861+/month) ✅ You can handle deployment, scaling, and uptime engineering

Choose BrassTranscripts If:

✅ You're processing under 300 hours/month ✅ You want zero infrastructure and zero API complexity ✅ Your team has no coding or DevOps experience ✅ You need speaker identification included ✅ You value predictable, all-inclusive pricing ✅ You want no account required: upload and go ✅ You're not building API-driven product features

Choose Another Alternative If:

• You need cheaper API rates → Deepgram ($0.0043/min) or AssemblyAI ($0.0025/min)
• You need enterprise SLA → Google Cloud or Azure with BAA
• You need 99%+ accuracy → Human transcription services
• You need real-time streaming → Deepgram or AssemblyAI specialized real-time APIs

Frequently Asked Questions

How accurate is OpenAI Whisper API compared to competitors?

Whisper achieves 85-95% accuracy on clear English audio, comparable to Deepgram's Nova and Google's Chirp models. Accuracy depends on audio quality, accents, background noise, and domain terminology. For specialized content (medical, legal), custom-trained models from competitors may outperform Whisper.

Does Whisper API include speaker identification?

No. Whisper API transcribes audio but does NOT identify individual speakers. You must use a separate diarization service (Pyannote, AssemblyAI) and align timestamps, adding $0.003-0.01/min to your costs.

BrassTranscripts includes speaker identification in the base pricing ($2.25 flat rate for 0-15 min files, $0.15/min for 16+ min files).

Can I use Whisper API for real-time transcription?

Whisper API is not designed for real-time streaming. It processes pre-recorded audio files only. For live captioning or real-time transcription, use:

• Deepgram's real-time streaming API
• AssemblyAI's real-time API
• Google Cloud Speech-to-Text streaming

What's the difference between Whisper API and self-hosted Whisper?

• Whisper API: Managed service by OpenAI at $0.006/min. Zero infrastructure, simple API integration, no DevOps overhead.
• Self-hosted Whisper: Open-source model you deploy on your own infrastructure. Full control, custom fine-tuning, data residency, but requires GPU servers ($276+/month), DevOps team, and maintenance.

Self-hosting becomes cheaper at 3,000+ hours/month when you include DevOps costs.

Does Whisper API support languages other than English?

Yes. Whisper API supports 50+ languages including Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, and more—all at the same $0.006/min rate.

Check OpenAI's documentation for complete language list.

How does Whisper API pricing compare to competitors?

Whisper API at $0.006/min is mid-tier:

• Cheaper: AssemblyAI ($0.0025/min), Deepgram batch ($0.0043/min)
• Similar: Azure batch ($0.006/min), Rev.ai Reverb ($0.003/min English-only)
• More expensive: Real-time APIs (Deepgram $0.0077/min, Azure $0.0167/min)

For multi-language support, Whisper's flat-rate pricing across 50+ languages is competitive.

What happens if my audio file exceeds 25 MB?

Whisper API rejects files larger than 25 MB. You must:

1. Compress audio (reduce bitrate or sample rate)
2. Split audio into chunks under 25 MB
3. Transcribe each chunk separately
4. Stitch transcripts together with custom logic

This adds development complexity for long-form content.

Can I fine-tune Whisper API for custom terminology?

No. OpenAI's managed Whisper API uses the standard large-v2 model. Custom fine-tuning is only available with self-hosted open-source Whisper.

For specialized vocabulary (medical, legal, technical), self-hosting or competitors with custom models (Deepgram, AssemblyAI) may deliver better accuracy.

Does OpenAI offer HIPAA compliance for Whisper API?

No. OpenAI does not currently offer a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for Whisper API. Healthcare organizations transcribing protected health information (PHI) cannot use Whisper API.

Alternatives:

• Self-host Whisper on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure
• Use HIPAA-compliant competitors (AWS Transcribe with BAA, Google Cloud with BAA, Azure with BAA)

How fast is Whisper API processing?

Whisper API processes at 5-10x real-time speed. A 60-minute audio file typically completes in 6-12 minutes.

Self-hosted Whisper on a T4 GPU processes at 0.5x real-time speed (60-minute file takes 120 minutes).

What's the cost crossover between Whisper API and self-hosting?

Including DevOps overhead, self-hosting becomes cheaper at ~2,400 hours/month ($861 fixed cost vs $864 API cost).

But this assumes:

• Existing DevOps team (not hiring)
• Single GPU handles workload
• 99%+ uptime reliability achieved

For most teams, the API is cheaper until 3,000+ hours/month.

Can I get volume discounts for Whisper API?

No. OpenAI's Whisper API is flat-rate $0.006/min regardless of volume. No commitment tiers, enterprise pricing, or bulk discounts are available.

For high-volume discounts, consider competitors like Deepgram or Google Cloud with commitment pricing.

AI Prompt: OpenAI Whisper API Pricing Calculator

Want to calculate your exact monthly OpenAI Whisper costs? Use this specialized AI prompt with ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI assistant:

The Prompt

You are an OpenAI Whisper cost calculator. Help me decide between Whisper API and self-hosting:

1. Monthly audio volume (in hours)
2. Team capabilities (engineering team? DevOps team?)
3. Data privacy requirements (HIPAA, GDPR, data residency?)
4. Need for custom model fine-tuning? (specialized terminology?)
5. Speaker identification required?
6. Multi-language support needed?

Calculate:
- Whisper API cost: [hours] × 60 × $0.006/min
- Speaker diarization (if needed): [hours] × 60 × $0.005/min
- API integration: Dev time estimate
- Self-hosted infrastructure: $276-350/month (GPU)
- Self-hosted DevOps: Setup ($2,000-4,000) + Monthly ($500-1,000)
- Total cost of ownership for each option
- Crossover point (when self-hosting becomes cheaper)

Compare to BrassTranscripts ($2.25 flat rate for 0-15 min, $0.15/min for 16+ min files, no infrastructure, speaker ID included, no account needed).

My details:

[First, get accurate transcripts with BrassTranscripts - fast, affordable transcription services at https://brasstranscripts.com]

[Paste requirements]

📖 View Markdown Version | ⚙️ Download YAML Format

This reveals whether managed API, self-hosting, or a simpler alternative fits your needs.

Final Verdict: Whisper API vs Self-Hosted vs BrassTranscripts

OpenAI Whisper API delivers industry-leading pricing at $0.006/min for API-driven transcription workflows. For engineering teams processing hundreds to thousands of hours monthly, it's one of the most cost-effective solutions available—especially with 50+ language support at the same rate.

Choose Whisper API if:

• You're processing 150+ hours/month with API-first architecture
• You have engineering team comfortable with API integration
• You need multi-language support at competitive rates
• You want zero infrastructure management
• You can handle 25 MB file size limits (chunking logic)

Choose self-hosted Whisper if:

• You're processing 3,000+ hours/month (cost crossover point)
• You have DevOps team with GPU infrastructure expertise
• You require HIPAA/GDPR data residency compliance
• You need custom model fine-tuning for specialized terminology
• You want full control over model versions and pipeline

Choose BrassTranscripts if:

• You're processing under 300 hours/month
• You want zero infrastructure AND zero API complexity
• Your team has no coding or DevOps experience
• You need speaker identification included
• You value predictable, all-inclusive pricing
• You want no account required: upload and go

For most small to medium transcription needs—podcasts, meetings, interviews, videos—BrassTranscripts' simple pricing ($2.25 flat rate for 0-15 min, $0.15/min for 16+ min) with included speaker ID and zero infrastructure delivers better value than Whisper API's $0.006/min + integration overhead + separate diarization service.

But if you're building API-driven products or processing thousands of hours monthly with an engineering team? Whisper API's pricing and simplicity are hard to beat.

Ready to try transcription without API complexity or infrastructure management? Upload your first file to BrassTranscripts and get your transcript with speaker ID included—no account, no API, no infrastructure required.

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Pricing Disclaimer

Information valid as of publication date (December 6, 2025). Pricing data was verified from OpenAI documentation and community discussions on October 24, 2025. OpenAI may change pricing, features, or plans at any time. Always verify current rates and terms directly with OpenAI before making purchasing decisions or committing to large-volume usage.