Microsoft Azure Speech vs Speechmatics pricing
STT: Microsoft Azure Speech from $0.003 vs Speechmatics from $0.002; TTS: Microsoft Azure Speech from $15.00 vs Speechmatics from $11.00.
Last updated · prices checked daily
Speech-to-text: Microsoft Azure Speech vs Speechmatics
Speechmatics has the lower listed STT price: $0.002 per minute (Melia 1 (pre-recorded)) vs $0.003 for Microsoft Azure Speech (Standard batch transcription), about 33% less.
| Vendor | Product / tier | $/min |
|---|---|---|
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Melia 1 (pre-recorded) | $0.002 |
| Microsoft Azure Speech Visit site ↗ | Standard batch transcription | $0.003 |
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Standard (pre-recorded) | $0.0038 |
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Enhanced (pre-recorded) | $0.0063 |
| Microsoft Azure Speech Visit site ↗ | Standard real-time transcription | $0.0167 |
What it costs at volume (lowest listed rate)
| Minutes | Microsoft Azure Speech | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 min | $3.00 | $2.00 |
| 10,000 min | $30.00 | $20.00 |
| 100,000 min | $300.00 | $200.00 |
Text-to-speech: Microsoft Azure Speech vs Speechmatics
Speechmatics has the lower listed TTS price: $11.00 per 1M characters (Speechmatics TTS) vs $15.00 for Microsoft Azure Speech (Neural / Neural HD Flash), about 27% less.
| Vendor | Product / tier | $/1M chars |
|---|---|---|
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Speechmatics TTS | $11.00 |
| Microsoft Azure Speech Visit site ↗ | Neural / Neural HD Flash | $15.00 |
What it costs at volume (lowest listed rate)
| Characters | Microsoft Azure Speech | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| 1M chars | $15.00 | $11.00 |
| 10M chars | $150.00 | $110.00 |
| 100M chars | $1,500.00 | $1,100.00 |
Cost-per-call calculator
Estimate what one call really costs. Prices come from today's table; LLM and telephony presets are per-minute rates published by Retell and Vapi. Everything is editable.
Cartesia's pricing page puts one minute of speech at 750–800 characters; Rime says about 1,000. The talk share is your own guess at how much of each call the agent is speaking.
FAQ
Is Microsoft Azure Speech or Speechmatics cheaper for speech-to-text?
Speechmatics has the lower listed STT price: $0.002 per minute (Melia 1 (pre-recorded)) vs $0.003 for Microsoft Azure Speech (Standard batch transcription), about 33% less. Prices checked Oct 28, 2026.
Is Microsoft Azure Speech or Speechmatics cheaper for text-to-speech?
Speechmatics has the lower listed TTS price: $11.00 per 1M characters (Speechmatics TTS) vs $15.00 for Microsoft Azure Speech (Neural / Neural HD Flash), about 27% less. Prices checked Oct 28, 2026.
How often are these prices updated?
Every day. A script reads each vendor's public pricing page, extracts the listed rates and keeps a dated copy, so price changes show up in the history.