W
WAmazon Transcribe vs OpenWhispr
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
A
Choose Amazon Transcribe if…
- you work on Web
- you're in its core audience: developers building on aws, contact center teams
O
Choose OpenWhispr if…
- you want open source you can self-host or audit
- you work on macOS, Windows, Linux
- you're in its core audience: developers, writers
Side by side
Feature Amazon Transcribe OpenWhispr
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starting price—$6.67/mo
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Trains AI on your content—No
Data retention—Cloud recordings deleted after transcription; desktop audio kept 30 days by default
Security and compliance—SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR
Updates, last 90 days—5
Speaker labels
Bot-free recording—
File upload
Custom note templates—
HIPAA compliant—
MCP server—
PlatformsWeb, APImacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, API
CategoryTranscriptionTranscription
CompanyAmazon Web Services, Inc.Gizmo Labs Inc.
Based inUnited StatesUnited States
Founded——
Part ofAmazon.com, Inc.—
Key features
A Amazon Transcribe
- Batch and real-time streaming transcription
- Speaker diarization and automatic language identification
- Custom vocabularies and custom language models
- Automatic redaction of sensitive information
- Call Analytics with sentiment and generative summaries
- Toxicity detection and content moderation
- HIPAA-eligible medical transcription
- Features available in 100+ languages
O OpenWhispr
- Dictation into any app that accepts text
- On-device speech-to-text that works offline
- Bring your own API keys for cloud transcription
- Bot-free meeting recording with speaker labels
- 100+ languages with auto-detection
- Custom dictionary that learns from corrections
- Voice commands to clean up or draft text
- Audio file upload and transcription
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
Amazon Transcribe
Free TierFree
Standard Batch$0.006/min (US East example)
Standard Streaming$0.01/min (US East example)
Call Analytics (post-call)$0.03/min first 250K min; $0.0186 next 750K; $0.0138 next 4M
Generative call summarization$0.0024/min (Tier 1)
Content redaction$0.0024/min (Tier 1)
OpenWhispr
Free$0
Pro$6.67/user/mo ($80/user billed annually)
Business$13.33/user/mo ($160/user billed annually)
EnterpriseCustom
Strengths and limitations
Amazon Transcribe
- Free tier with 60 minutes a month for 12 months
- Billed per second with no minimum charge
- Volume tiers lower the per-minute cost at scale
- Features available in more than 100 languages
- Prices vary by region and the page gives some only as examples
- Redaction and custom language models are not in the free tier
- Requires an AWS account and some developer setup
OpenWhispr
- Unlimited local dictation is free on every plan
- Open source under the MIT license
- Works offline with on-device models
- Lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR compliance
- Free plan limits OpenWhispr Cloud transcription to 2,000 words a week
- iOS app and device sync require a paid plan
- No Android app listed
- Paid prices shown are for annual billing
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Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy