Live vs file transcription cost: gpt-live-transcribe and batch rates
Streaming transcription costs 2 to 4 times file transcription on vendor pages. When live is worth it, and when Sume's $0.01 per minute file job is enough.
If the audio already exists as a file, pay for file transcription. The vendor pages price streaming at about two to four times the batch rate: OpenAI's gpt-live-transcribe is $0.017 per minute against $0.0045 for gpt-transcribe, and xAI's streaming STT is $0.20 per hour against $0.10 for REST. Pay the live premium only when words must appear while someone is still talking.
The rates
| Vendor | Live | File | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | gpt-live-transcribe $0.017 per min | gpt-transcribe $0.0045 per min | about 3.8x |
| xAI | $0.20 per hour | $0.10 per hour | 2x |
| Sume | not offered | $0.01 per audio minute | no live |
When live is worth it
- Live captions on a call or stream.
- A voice agent that must react mid-sentence.
- Accessibility features where a delay of several seconds breaks the experience.
When a file job is enough
- Podcasts, meetings and webinars after they end.
- Subtitle files and searchable archives.
- Cutting video by transcript. Sume returns word-level start and end times with every result, so you can cut on words. See a clickable transcript from word timestamps.
Worked example
For a 45-minute recording, OpenAI file transcription is 45 x $0.0045 = $0.2025, OpenAI live is 45 x $0.017 = $0.765, and Sume is 45 x $0.01 = $0.45, split into five requests because the cap is 10 minutes each. The Sume figure assumes you send an accurate duration_seconds for each clip.
Limits
Sume does not offer streaming transcription. Rates here are list prices and exclude any plan discounts, and no accuracy comparison is made. See the full file-rate table in cheapest speech-to-text per hour.
Sources
Related posts
More in Comparisons
- Mirelo SFX video-to-sound vs how Sume adds sound to video
Mirelo generates sound effects synced to existing video. Sume has no video-to-SFX route; here is what it does offer for sound on a clip, and where each fits.
- Mubert Render 25-minute tracks and licence limits vs Sume Music
Mubert Render makes tracks up to 25 minutes on paid plans but bars streaming release. Sume Music makes song-length tracks at $0.125 each; loop for longer.
- Murf API alternative for video voiceover: where Sume fits
Murf is a voice API with Falcon, dubbing and 150+ voices. Sume has an async TTS route and turns a script into a talking video; it has no dubbing API.
- Mux thumbnail time and fit_mode vs Sume video frames at and max_edge
Mux gets a thumbnail from a playback ID URL with time, width and fit_mode. Sume video-frames takes at[] times or fps and returns durable image files.
Written by Sume