Whisper API pricing
Whisper by OpenAI, priced on OpenAI API. Price for pre-recorded audio. API model ID whisper-1
Whisper API pricing starts at $0.36/hour (official pricing page, verified Oct 9, 2026).
| Tier | Price | 1 hour | 100 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single price | $0.36/hour | $0.36 | $36.00 |
Verified against the official pricing page on Oct 9, 2026. Official pricing page
Prices here are converted to one unit per category so models can be compared; the official figures are below. The official list price is $0.006 per minute.
Examples are unit price × length or count. They do not include retries, free allowances, or inputs and options that the official page prices separately.
Other speech-to-text models
- Universal-2 · $0.15/hour · pre-recorded audio
- Universal-3.5 Pro · $0.21/hour · pre-recorded audio
- Scribe v2 · $0.22/hour · pre-recorded audio
- Nova-3 · $0.258/hour · pre-recorded audio
- GPT-Transcribe · $0.27/hour · pre-recorded audio
- Nova-3 Multilingual · $0.312/hour · pre-recorded audio
- Scribe v2 Realtime · $0.39/hour · realtime (streaming)
- GPT-Live-Transcribe · $1.02/hour · realtime (streaming)
Starting prices from each model's official pricing page, verified Oct 9, 2026. Every tier and its source are on the model's own page.
Questions
- How much does Whisper cost per hour of audio?
- Whisper: $0.36/hour.
- How much does it cost to transcribe 100 hours of audio with Whisper?
- At the listed price, 100 hours of audio with Whisper cost $36.00, before any separately priced inputs, options or retries.
- Are there lower-priced alternatives to Whisper?
- Among the models listed on modelpick, these start lower: Universal-2 ($0.15/hour), Universal-3.5 Pro ($0.21/hour), Scribe v2 ($0.22/hour), Nova-3 ($0.258/hour), GPT-Transcribe ($0.27/hour), Nova-3 Multilingual ($0.312/hour) (official pricing pages, verified Oct 9, 2026). Starting prices can be for a different tier, and output quality differs; compare the same tier and samples before switching.