OpenAI vs Microsoft Azure Speech pricing

STT: OpenAI from $0.003 vs Microsoft Azure Speech from $0.003.

Last updated · prices checked daily

Speech-to-text: OpenAI vs Microsoft Azure Speech

Both list the same lowest STT price: $0.003 per minute.

VendorProduct / tierPrice per minute$/minPer hourAs listedSource
OpenAI
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gpt-4o-mini-transcribe (estimated)
Token-billed; OpenAI's own per-minute estimate.
$0.003$0.18$0.003 /minsource
2026-10-28
Microsoft Azure Speech
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Standard batch transcription$0.003$0.18$0.18 /hrsource
2026-10-28
OpenAI
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gpt-transcribe (batch)$0.0045$0.27$0.0045 /minsource
2026-10-28
Microsoft Azure Speech
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Standard real-time transcription$0.0167$1.00$1 /hrsource
2026-10-28
OpenAI
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gpt-live-transcribe (streaming)$0.017$1.02$0.017 /minsource
2026-10-28

What it costs at volume (lowest listed rate)

MinutesOpenAIMicrosoft Azure Speech
1,000 min$3.00$3.00
10,000 min$30.00$30.00
100,000 min$300.00$300.00

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.

$0.00per call
$0.000per minute
$0per month

FAQ

Is OpenAI or Microsoft Azure Speech cheaper for speech-to-text?

Both list the same lowest STT price: $0.003 per minute. 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.

All OpenAI prices · All Microsoft Azure Speech prices