Speech-to-Text API
Whisper Large v3 and NVIDIA Parakeet on the OpenAI /v1/audio/transcriptions endpoint. Upload audio, get text with timestamps. $0.002 per minute, 100 MB files, no daily cap.
Models
| Model | Languages | Price | Measured speed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whisper Large v3 OpenAI | 99 languages | $0.002 / min | 0.047× real time | Available |
| Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 NVIDIA | 25 languages | $0.002 / min | 0.036× real time | Available |
Quickstart
curl https://api.inferenceapis.com/v1/audio/transcriptions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $INFERENCE_API_KEY" \
-F "model=openai/whisper-large-v3" \
-F "file=@meeting.mp3" \
-F "response_format=verbose_json"import os
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.inferenceapis.com/v1", api_key=os.environ["INFERENCE_API_KEY"])
with open("meeting.mp3", "rb") as f:
result = client.audio.transcriptions.create(model="openai/whisper-large-v3", file=f, response_format="verbose_json")
print(result.text)
for s in result.segments:
print(f"{s.start:6.1f}s {s.text}")Parameters, Node.js examples and response shapes are on the Whisper and Parakeet pages.
Pricing versus alternatives
Per minute of audio. External prices are public pay-as-you-go list rates as of September 2026; volume plans differ.
| Provider / model | Price per minute | 10 hours of audio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inference APIs — Whisper Large v3 | $0.002 | $1.20 | 99 languages, 100 MB files, timestamps, SRT/VTT |
| Inference APIs — Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 | $0.002 | $1.20 | 25 languages, fastest option here |
| Groq — whisper-large-v3-turbo | $0.0007 | $0.42 | Free tier capped at 28,800 audio-seconds/day; Developer-tier upgrades paused |
| AssemblyAI — Universal | $0.0025 | $1.50 | Diarization and speech understanding included |
| OpenAI — whisper-1 | $0.006 | $3.60 | 25 MB file limit |
| Deepgram — Nova-3 | $0.0077 | $4.62 | Streaming, diarization, keyterms |
Side-by-side pages: Whisper here vs OpenAI whisper-1, vs Groq, Whisper vs Parakeet.
What people build with it
- Meeting and call notes — transcribe recordings, then summarise with a chat model on the same key.
- Subtitles —
response_format=srtstraight into a video pipeline. - Voice input — dictation apps, voice commands and assistants that were on a free tier that ran out. Open WebUI can switch its STT engine to this endpoint with three environment variables.
Frequently asked questions
Is it compatible with the OpenAI transcription API?
Yes. POST /v1/audio/transcriptions takes the same multipart fields (file, model, language, prompt, response_format, timestamp_granularities). The OpenAI SDKs work by setting base_url; whisper-1 is accepted as an alias for Whisper Large v3.
What is the file size limit?
100 MB per request (OpenAI's endpoint allows 25 MB). Supported containers: mp3, mp4, m4a, wav, webm, ogg, flac.
Do I get timestamps?
Yes — use response_format=verbose_json for segment timestamps, language and duration, or srt / vtt for subtitle files.
How is it billed?
Per minute of audio, measured from the uploaded file with ffprobe before it is transcribed. A 90-second clip is billed as 1.5 minutes.
Which languages are supported?
Whisper Large v3 supports 99 languages with automatic detection. Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 supports 25 European languages and is the faster of the two.
Is speaker diarization or real-time streaming available?
Not yet. Both models transcribe pre-recorded audio; diarization and streaming are on the roadmap. For those today, Deepgram and AssemblyAI are the usual choices and are listed in the comparison table.
Is there a free tier or a daily cap?
New accounts receive free credit. There is no daily cap on requests or audio minutes — usage is limited only by your prepaid balance.