STT & TTS API Cost 2026: Whisper vs ElevenLabs vs Google Speech
Voice AI adds real cost at scale. Transcribing 10,000 audio hours with Whisper costs $3,600 — with Google STT Standard it costs $14,400. The 4× gap matters. This guide breaks down every major STT and TTS API price for 2026.
How STT and TTS Pricing Works
STT (Speech-to-Text) APIs charge per audio minute processed. TTS (Text-to-Speech) APIs charge per 1,000 characters synthesised. Both pricing models have significant free tiers — Whisper has no free tier via API, but Google Cloud STT gives 60 minutes free per month.
2026 STT API Price Comparison
| Provider | Price / min | Free tier | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deepgram Nova-2 | $0.0043 | 200 min | Real-time, accuracy |
| OpenAI Whisper | $0.006 | None | Batch transcription |
| Google STT Standard | $0.024 | 60 min/mo | GCP ecosystem |
| AWS Transcribe | $0.024 | 60 min/mo | AWS ecosystem |
2026 TTS API Price Comparison
| Provider | Price / 1M chars | Voice quality | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google TTS Standard | $16 | Good | High volume, low cost |
| OpenAI TTS Standard | $15 | Excellent | Natural voice, apps |
| OpenAI TTS HD | $30 | Studio | Podcasts, premium |
| ElevenLabs Starter | $330 | Cloned voices | Voice cloning, brand |
Real Costs at Scale: 10,000 Audio Hours / Month
| STT Provider | 1K hours | 10K hours | 100K hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deepgram Nova-2 | $258 | $2,580 | $25,800 |
| OpenAI Whisper | $360 | $3,600 | $36,000 |
| Google STT | $1,440 | $14,400 | $144,000 |
When to Choose ElevenLabs vs OpenAI TTS
ElevenLabs ($330/1M chars) is 22× more expensive than OpenAI TTS Standard ($15/1M chars) — but it offers voice cloning, custom voice styles and emotional control. Use ElevenLabs for brand voice, podcasts or accessibility. Use OpenAI TTS for app notifications, IVR and high-volume synthesis where natural sound matters but custom voice doesn't.
FAQ
How much does Whisper API cost?
OpenAI Whisper API costs $0.006 per audio minute ($0.36/hour). There is no free tier via the API. For 10,000 hours of audio: $3,600. Self-hosting Whisper on a GPU instance can reduce this to ~$0.001/min.
Is ElevenLabs cheaper than Google TTS?
No — ElevenLabs Starter costs $330/1M characters vs Google TTS Standard at $16/1M. ElevenLabs charges 20× more. The premium buys voice cloning and emotional expressiveness.
What is the cheapest STT API?
Deepgram Nova-2 at $0.0043/min is currently the cheapest high-quality STT API — 30% cheaper than Whisper, 82% cheaper than Google STT Standard.
Free developer cost tools. Prices from official docs, reviewed monthly.