Amazon Transcribe
Managed speech-to-text service on AWS for batch and streaming audio
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Pricing
Freemium
Free trial
Yes
API
Yes
Platforms
What is Amazon Transcribe?
Amazon Transcribe is a fully managed automatic speech recognition (ASR) service from AWS. It converts recorded and streaming speech to text, using a speech foundation model with several billion parameters, and its features work across more than 100 languages.
You can add custom vocabularies, vocabulary filters, speaker diarization, automatic language identification, word-level confidence scores, redaction of sensitive data and custom language models. Transcribe Call Analytics adds sentiment, call categories and summaries generated with generative AI, for both live and finished calls. Transcribe Medical handles HIPAA-eligible clinical transcription.
Billing is pay-as-you-go per minute of audio, in one-second increments. It suits developers and companies that already use AWS and want to build transcription into contact centers, subtitling, content moderation or clinical documentation.
Key features
- 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
Use cases
Who it's for
Contact center analytics
Get insights, categories and summaries from calls, either live or after they end, including with Amazon Connect Contact Lens.
Subtitles and meeting capture
Create transcripts to caption videos and record meetings, which also improves accessibility.
Toxic speech detection
Flag toxic audio in gaming, social media and peer-to-peer conversations.
Clinical documentation
Transcribe clinical conversations with Transcribe Medical so they can go into EHR systems.
Amazon Transcribe pricing
From the vendor's site, checked Oct 26, 2026; we re-check prices monthly. Prices change — confirm on their pricing page.
Free Tier
60 minutes/month for 12 months
Free
- Covers Standard, Call Analytics and Medical
- Unused minutes don't roll over
- Content redaction and custom language models not included
Standard Batch
per minute
$0.006/min (US East example)
- Billed per second, no minimum
- Custom vocabulary, diarization, language ID
Standard Streaming
per minute
$0.01/min (US East example)
- Real-time transcription
Call Analytics (post-call)
per minute
$0.03/min first 250K min; $0.0186 next 750K; $0.0138 next 4M
- Tiered by monthly volume
Generative call summarization
per minute
$0.0024/min (Tier 1)
- Post-call add-on
- 15-second minimum per request
Content redaction
per minute
$0.0024/min (Tier 1)
- PII redaction add-on, no free tier
How Amazon Transcribe compares
- Amazon Transcribe has a free plan, like 3 of the 4 alternatives below.
| Tool | Starts at | Free plan | Free trial | API | Open source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAmazon Transcribe | — | — | ||||
W Wispr Flow | $12/mo | — | — | — | Amazon Transcribe vs Wispr Flow | |
| V | Free | — | Amazon Transcribe vs Vosk | |||
R Reduct | $12/mo | — | — | Amazon Transcribe vs Reduct | ||
O OpenWhispr | $6.67/mo | — | Amazon Transcribe vs OpenWhispr |
Compare 7 capabilities
| Capability | Amazon Transcribe | Wispr Flow | Vosk | Reduct | OpenWhispr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker labels | — | ||||
| Bot-free recording | — | — | — | ||
| File upload | — | — | |||
| Mobile app capture | — | — | — | — | |
| Custom note templates | — | — | — | — | |
| HIPAA compliant | — | — | |||
| MCP server | — | — | — |
Capabilities as stated on each vendor's own site; — means the site doesn't say. The closest alternatives in our directory by category. “Starts at” is the cheapest paid plan per month, as each vendor lists it.
Who's behind Amazon Transcribe
- Company
- Amazon Web Services, Inc.
- Based in
- Seattle, United States
- Part of
- Amazon.com, Inc.
“with Amazon.com, Inc. and the affiliates that Amazon.com, Inc. controls”
From Amazon Transcribe's own about, terms and privacy pages, checked Oct 28, 2026.
Pros and cons
Strengths
- 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
Limitations
- 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
Amazon Transcribe FAQ
How much does Amazon Transcribe cost?
Pricing is per minute. In the US East example, standard batch costs $0.006/min and streaming costs $0.01/min. Call Analytics post-call starts at $0.03/min.
Is there a free tier?
Yes. You get 60 minutes per month for 12 months, covering Standard, Call Analytics and Medical.
Does it support medical transcription?
Yes. Transcribe Medical is HIPAA-eligible and trained on medical terminology.
How is usage billed?
In one-second increments with no minimum. Generative summarization has a 15-second minimum per request.
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Amazon Transcribe in our articles
Amazon Transcribe
Freemium
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