MAI-Transcribe-2 at $0.54 an hour vs Sume STT at 1 cent a minute

Microsoft's MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming launched on 2026-10-01 at an introductory $0.54 per hour of audio through the end of 2026, with 60 languages (as reported by Digital Applied and PYMNTS, read 2026-10-06). Sume's speech-to-text is billed per audio minute at $0.01 catalog price, which is $0.60 an hour. Neither source gives the post-2026 price of MAI-Transcribe, so this post compares only the intro rate.

Monthly bill by volume

What differs besides price

MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming is a streaming model: you get text while the audio is still playing. Sume STT is an asynchronous job on an uploaded recording, so it fits transcripts for editing, captions and search rather than live captions. If you need live captions, the Microsoft model is built for that and Sume's is not.

The difference at 100 hours a month is about $6. For recorded media, the more likely deciding factor is whether you want the transcript to feed straight into Sume captions, trims and dubs, where the same job ids and balance apply. See 40 meeting hours a month for another worked case.

Check the date

Because the Microsoft price is an intro rate, rerun this table in January 2027 with Microsoft's own price page. Sume's STT price is a catalog constant; both numbers appear in the catalog your key can read.