Head to head / AI Transcription

Deepgram vs OpenAI Whisper API

The verdict
  • Deepgram has a free tier to start; OpenAI Whisper API does not.
ComparedDeepgramOpenAI Whisper API
Accuracy (tested)95.6%Not tested
Starting price
Free tierYes
Visit DeepgramVisit OpenAI Whisper API

Feature by feature

FeatureDeepgramOpenAI Whisper API
Languages30+90+
APIYesYes
Real-timeYesNo
Speaker labelsYesNo
Export formatsJSON, TXT, SRT, VTTJSON, TXT, SRT, VTT
Human optionNoNo

Deepgram

Developers who need fast, low-cost speech-to-text at scale, in real-time or batch.

  • +Nova-3 model, very low streaming latency
  • +Among the cheapest per-minute pricing
  • +Self-hosted / on-prem deployment option
  • +High-throughput batch processing

OpenAI Whisper API

Developers who want cheap, accurate multilingual batch transcription with a dead-simple API.

  • +Strong multilingual accuracy across 90+ languages
  • +Very low price per minute
  • +Built-in translation to English
  • +Newer gpt-4o-transcribe models available

Compared on the metrics we track for this category. Prices are the cheapest paid tier. Some links are affiliate links.