ElevenLabs Scribe vs Whisper API on price
ElevenLabs Scribe is cheaper for both recorded and live audio at every volume from 10 to 10,000 hours a month. At 100 hours a month, for recorded audio, ElevenLabs' Scribe v2 costs $0.21 an hour against $0.36 for OpenAI's Whisper (whisper-1), 42% less; for live audio, ElevenLabs' Scribe v2 Realtime costs $0.38 an hour against $1.02 for OpenAI's gpt-realtime-whisper, 63% less.
Each side's cheapest option at each volume, at regular pay-as-you-go prices; bold marks the cheaper. Price only: accuracy, languages and latency differ.
Recorded audio (batch)
| Audio a month | ElevenLabs Scribe | Whisper API |
|---|---|---|
| 10 hours | $1.21 ($0.121/h) Scribe v2 | $3.60 ($0.36/h) Whisper (whisper-1) |
| 100 hours | $21.01 ($0.21/h) Scribe v2 | $36 ($0.36/h) Whisper (whisper-1) |
| 1,000 hours | $219 ($0.219/h) Scribe v2 | $360 ($0.36/h) Whisper (whisper-1) |
| 10,000 hours | $2,199 ($0.22/h) Scribe v2 | $3,600 ($0.36/h) Whisper (whisper-1) |
Live audio (streaming)
| Audio a month | ElevenLabs Scribe | Whisper API |
|---|---|---|
| 10 hours | $2.93 ($0.293/h) Scribe v2 Realtime | $10.20 ($1.02/h) gpt-realtime-whisper |
| 100 hours | $38.03 ($0.38/h) Scribe v2 Realtime | $102 ($1.02/h) gpt-realtime-whisper |
| 1,000 hours | $389 ($0.389/h) Scribe v2 Realtime | $1,020 ($1.02/h) gpt-realtime-whisper |
| 10,000 hours | $3,899 ($0.39/h) Scribe v2 Realtime | $10,200 ($1.02/h) gpt-realtime-whisper |
What else changes the bill
| On the bill | ElevenLabs Scribe | Whisper API |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier or credit | The Free / pay-as-you-go column of the API price table includes 4 hours 30 minutes of Scribe v2 and 2 hours 30 minutes of Scribe v2 Realtime. | No free allowance or credit is listed on OpenAI's pricing page. |
| Billing | ElevenLabs says speech to text is billed per audio minute; it doesn't say how partial minutes are counted. | OpenAI's pricing page doesn't say how partial minutes are counted. |
| Speaker labels, recorded audio | Not listed on the pricing page. | Through the separate gpt-4o-transcribe-diarize model, at the same estimated $0.006 a minute as gpt-4o-transcribe. |
| Speaker labels, live audio | Not listed on the pricing page. | Not listed on the pricing page. |
Not counted here: OpenAI's gpt-transcribe (batch, $0.27 an hour), OpenAI's gpt-4o-mini-transcribe (batch, $0.18 an hour, an estimate), OpenAI's gpt-4o-transcribe (batch, $0.36 an hour, an estimate), OpenAI's gpt-4o-transcribe-diarize (batch, $0.36 an hour, an estimate) and OpenAI's gpt-live-transcribe (streaming, $1.02 an hour).
ElevenLabs Scribe or Whisper API: quick answers
Is ElevenLabs Scribe cheaper than Whisper API?
For recorded audio, ElevenLabs Scribe is cheaper at every volume from 1 minute to 10,000 hours a month. At 1,000 hours a month that's $141 a month apart, $1,692 a year ($219 on ElevenLabs Scribe's Scribe v2 against $360 on Whisper API's Whisper (whisper-1)). For live audio, ElevenLabs Scribe is cheaper at every volume from 1 minute to 10,000 hours a month. At 1,000 hours a month that's $631 a month apart, $7,572 a year ($389 on ElevenLabs Scribe's Scribe v2 Realtime against $1,020 on Whisper API's gpt-realtime-whisper). Regular pay-as-you-go prices, each side's cheapest model.
How much more does live transcription cost than recorded on ElevenLabs Scribe and Whisper API?
On ElevenLabs Scribe, live audio costs 77% more than recorded, $0.39 an hour on Scribe v2 Realtime against $0.22 on Scribe v2; on Whisper API, live audio costs 183% more than recorded, $1.02 an hour on gpt-realtime-whisper against $0.36 on Whisper (whisper-1). Each side's cheapest model for each kind of audio at 100 hours a month, at its list price.
Do ElevenLabs Scribe and Whisper API have a free tier or free credit?
ElevenLabs Scribe: The Free / pay-as-you-go column of the API price table includes 4 hours 30 minutes of Scribe v2 and 2 hours 30 minutes of Scribe v2 Realtime. Whisper API: No free allowance or credit is listed on OpenAI's pricing page.
Do ElevenLabs Scribe and Whisper API bill per second?
ElevenLabs Scribe: ElevenLabs says “Speech to Text is billed per audio minute.” Whisper API: OpenAI's pricing page doesn't say how partial minutes are counted.
What do speaker labels add on ElevenLabs Scribe and Whisper API?
For recorded audio: ElevenLabs Scribe's pricing page doesn't list them; Whisper API offers them through the separate gpt-4o-transcribe-diarize model, at the same estimated $0.006 a minute as gpt-4o-transcribe. For live audio: ElevenLabs Scribe's pricing page doesn't list them; Whisper API's pricing page doesn't list them.
Do ElevenLabs Scribe or Whisper API give volume discounts?
ElevenLabs Scribe: Monthly plans include more hours at the same hourly rate: 27 hours of Scribe v2 on Starter ($6), 100 on Creator ($22), 450 on Pro ($99), 1,359 on Scale ($299) and 4,500 on Business ($990). Whisper API: no volume discount is listed on its pricing page.
Every model on each side
ElevenLabs Scribe
| Model | Audio | Per minute | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scribe v2 | batch | $0.0037 | $0.22 |
| Scribe v2 Realtime | streaming | $0.0065 | $0.39 |
Whisper API
| Model | Audio | Per minute | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whisper (whisper-1) | batch | $0.006 | $0.36 |
| gpt-realtime-whisper | streaming | $0.017 | $1.02 |
Full details: ElevenLabs speech to text pricing and Whisper API pricing. Compare every vendor in the speech-to-text cost calculator, or see the cheapest speech-to-text API.
Prices on this page were checked against the official pricing pages on .