Google Speech-to-Text pricing per hour and per minute
Google Cloud charges $0.18 to $1.44 an hour for recorded audio ($0.003 to $0.024 a minute) across 4 options, and $0.96 to $1.44 an hour for live audio ($0.016 to $0.024 a minute) across 3 options. The V1 API's first 60 minutes a month are free; the V2 table lists no free minutes. Billed per second: each request is rounded up to the nearest second.
Ranked by each vendor's cheapest option at 100 hours a month, Google Cloud comes 4th of 12 for recorded audio (tied with OpenAI and Azure AI Speech) and 8th of 10 for live audio.
Prices by model
| Model | Audio | Per minute | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| V2 dynamic batch Processed at lower urgency in exchange for the discount. | batch | $0.003 | $0.18 |
| V2 standard Volume tiers apply to each month's minutes per account. | batch | $0.016 | $0.96 |
| V2 standard Volume tiers apply to each month's minutes per account. | streaming | $0.016 | $0.96 |
| V1 with data logging First 1 hour a month free. First 60 minutes a month free. Data logging lets Google use your audio. | batch | $0.016 | $0.96 |
| V1 with data logging First 1 hour a month free. First 60 minutes a month free. Data logging lets Google use your audio. | streaming | $0.016 | $0.96 |
| V1 without data logging First 1 hour a month free. First 60 minutes a month free. | batch | $0.024 | $1.44 |
| V1 without data logging First 1 hour a month free. First 60 minutes a month free. | streaming | $0.024 | $1.44 |
Per minute and per hour show the first volume tier; the next table applies every tier.
What 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 hours a month cost
| Model | 10 hours | 100 hours | 1,000 hours | 10,000 hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| V2 dynamic batch batch | $1.80 $0.18/h | $18 $0.18/h | $180 $0.18/h | $1,800 $0.18/h |
| V2 standard batch | $9.60 $0.96/h | $96 $0.96/h | $960 $0.96/h | $9,000 $0.90/h |
| V2 standard streaming | $9.60 $0.96/h | $96 $0.96/h | $960 $0.96/h | $9,000 $0.90/h |
| V1 with data logging batch | $8.64 $0.864/h | $95.04 $0.95/h | $959 $0.959/h | $9,599 $0.96/h |
| V1 with data logging streaming | $8.64 $0.864/h | $95.04 $0.95/h | $959 $0.959/h | $9,599 $0.96/h |
| V1 without data logging batch | $12.96 $1.30/h | $143 $1.43/h | $1,439 $1.44/h | $14,399 $1.44/h |
| V1 without data logging streaming | $12.96 $1.30/h | $143 $1.43/h | $1,439 $1.44/h | $14,399 $1.44/h |
Regular prices, free monthly minutes taken off first. One-off credits and promotions aren't counted.
Free tier and credits
- Every month: The V1 API's first 60 minutes a month are free; the V2 table lists no free minutes.
- Once, at sign-up: New Google Cloud customers get $300 of free credit to try any Google Cloud product.
Billing
- Billed per second: each request is rounded up to the nearest second.
- Each audio channel is billed separately.
- Google's free-tier page lists Speech-to-Text at 60 minutes a month without naming an API version; the pricing page shows those free minutes only in the V1 table, so we count them on V1 only.
Volume discounts and commitments
- V2 standard drops from $0.016 to $0.01 a minute after 500,000 minutes in a month, $0.008 after 1 million and $0.004 after 2 million.
- Google's Gemini Enterprise Flexible Savings Plans (1 or 3 years) list V2 standard from $0.0144 and $0.0128 a minute.
- Very large workloads can ask sales for more discounts.
Also priced, not ranked
Specialist products and promotion-only prices, kept out of the comparisons:
- Medical dictation and conversation (batch): $0.078 a minute ($4.68 an hour). For medical audio. First 1 hour a month free.
- Medical dictation and conversation (streaming): $0.078 a minute ($4.68 an hour). For medical audio. First 1 hour a month free.
Quick answers
How much does Google Speech-to-Text cost per hour?
$0.18 to $1.44 an hour for recorded audio, and $0.96 to $1.44 an hour for live audio, at regular pay-as-you-go prices.
What do 100 hours of audio a month cost on Google Cloud?
$18 for recorded audio on V2 dynamic batch, or $95.04 for live audio on V1 with data logging.
Does Google Cloud have a free tier?
The V1 API's first 60 minutes a month are free; the V2 table lists no free minutes. New Google Cloud customers get $300 of free credit to try any Google Cloud product.
Does Google Cloud bill per second?
Billed per second: each request is rounded up to the nearest second.
Is anything cheaper than Google Cloud for recorded audio?
Yes: at 100 hours a month, 3 of the 11 other vendors we price cost less: Groq Whisper Large V3 Turbo at $0.04 an hour, Speechmatics Melia 1 at $0.12 an hour and AssemblyAI Universal-2 at $0.15 an hour.
Is anything cheaper than Google Cloud for live audio?
Yes: at 100 hours a month, 7 of the 9 other vendors we price cost less: AssemblyAI Universal-Streaming at $0.15 an hour, Speechmatics Linden 1 (voice agents) at $0.20 an hour, ElevenLabs Scribe v2 Realtime at $0.38 an hour and 4 more.
Google Cloud against the market: recorded audio
| # | Vendor and option | Per month | Per hour | Per minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Groq Whisper Large V3 Turbo | $4 | $0.04 | $0.0007 |
| 2 | Speechmatics Melia 1 | $12 | $0.12 | $0.002 |
| 3 | AssemblyAI Universal-2 | $15 | $0.15 | $0.0025 |
| 4 | OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-transcribe | $18 | $0.18 | $0.003 |
| 4 | Google Cloud V2 dynamic batch | $18 | $0.18 | $0.003 |
| 4 | Azure AI Speech Batch transcription | $18 | $0.18 | $0.003 |
| 7 | Rev AI Reverb (English) | $20 | $0.20 | $0.0033 |
| 8 | ElevenLabs Scribe v2 | $21.01 | $0.21 | $0.0035 |
| 9 | Deepgram Nova-3 Monolingual | $25.80 | $0.258 | $0.0043 |
| 10 | Gemini API Gemini 3.5 Transcribe | $30.60 | $0.306 | $0.0051 |
| 11 | Amazon Transcribe Standard | $36 | $0.36 | $0.006 |
| 12 | Gladia Starter (async) | $61 | $0.61 | $0.0102 |
Google Cloud against the market: live audio
| # | Vendor and option | Per month | Per hour | Per minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AssemblyAI Universal-Streaming | $15 | $0.15 | $0.0025 |
| 2 | Speechmatics Linden 1 (voice agents) | $20 | $0.20 | $0.0033 |
| 3 | ElevenLabs Scribe v2 Realtime | $38.03 | $0.38 | $0.0063 |
| 4 | Deepgram Nova-3 Monolingual | $46.20 | $0.462 | $0.0077 |
| 5 | Gemini API Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live | $53.55 | $0.536 | $0.0089 |
| 6 | Amazon Transcribe Standard | $60 | $0.60 | $0.01 |
| 7 | Gladia Starter (real-time) | $75 | $0.75 | $0.0125 |
| 8 | Google Cloud V1 with data logging | $95.04 | $0.95 | $0.0158 |
| 9 | Azure AI Speech Real-time transcription | $100 | $1 | $0.0167 |
| 10 | OpenAI gpt-live-transcribe | $102 | $1.02 | $0.017 |
Price your own monthly hours with the speech-to-text cost calculator, or see the cheapest speech-to-text API.
Head to head: Google Speech-to-Text vs Whisper API, AWS Transcribe vs Google Speech-to-Text.
Generating speech instead? See Google Cloud Text-to-Speech pricing.
Sources
Read on 6 October 2026:
- cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing (plain HTTP)
- cloud.google.com/free (plain HTTP; Google Cloud's free program page)
Show the quoted text
Speech-to-Text is priced based on the amount of audio successfully processed by the service each month , measured in increments of one second.
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Each request is rounded up to the nearest increment of 1 seconds
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
The prices in the table below apply to minutes of audio processed per month for the Speech-to-Text v2 API.
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Recognition (sku:3099-B70F-0949) Standard 0 minute to 500,000 minute $0.016 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account 500,000 minute to 1,000,000 minute $0.01 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account 1,000,000 minute to 2,000,000 minute $0.008 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account 2,000,000 minute and above $0.004 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Gemini Enterprise Flexible Savings Plan - 1 Year * (USD) info Consumption model ID: BBB5-D209-3835 Gemini Enterprise Flexible Savings Plan - 3 Year * (USD)
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
2,000,000 minute and above $0.004 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account 0 minute to 500,000 minute $0.0144 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing. The second and third price columns are the 1-year and 3-year savings plans; the 3-year first tier reads $0.0128.
Dynamic Batch Recognition (sku:7700-6778-EF8E) Standard¹ $0.003 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Dynamic batch processes audio at a lower level of urgency. If you enable dynamic batch, you will be billed at a discounted rate.
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
The prices in the table below apply to minutes of audio processed per month for the Speech-to-Text v1 API.
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Speech Recognition (with data logging) sku:67F5-A183-E319 Standard¹ 0 minute to 60 minute $0.00 (Free) / 1 minute, per 1 month / account 60 minute and above $0.016 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Speech Recognition (without data logging) sku:60AE-2FE3-C3D8 Standard¹ 0 minute to 60 minute $0.00 (Free) / 1 minute, per 1 month / account 60 minute and above $0.024 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Medical Dictation (sku:6649-62EF-CB8F) Medical² 0 minute to 60 minute $0.00 (Free) / 1 minute, per 1 month / account 60 minute and above $0.078 / 1 minute, per 1 month / account
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Each audio channel is billed separately.
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
For customers with very large workloads, additional volume discounts may be available.
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
Google Cloud Free Program $300 in free credits and 20+ free products.
cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing
New customers get $300 in free credit to try Google Cloud products and build a proof of concept.
cloud.google.com/free
Speech-to-Text Speech-to-text transcription — the same that powers Google's own products. 60 minutes per month
cloud.google.com/free
Prices on this page were checked against the official pricing pages on .