Sold by the audio hour through an API, transcription costs about $0.15 to $0.36 an hour on list prices read on 2 Oct 2026. Meeting tools sell something different, a seat with a bot, summaries and storage, and cost more per hour of audio: Otter Pro works out at $0.42 an hour when all 1,200 monthly minutes are used on annual billing. Fireflies Pro, which lists unlimited transcription, becomes cheaper per hour than an API only above 28 to 67 hours a month on annual billing, depending on which API (37 against the middle rate). The tables show each price and the break-even point.
Priced by the hour: API list prices
USD, pay as you go, pre-recorded audio. Per-hour is the per-minute price times 60.
| Service and model | Listed price | Per hour | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| AssemblyAI Universal-2 | $0.15 an hour | $0.15 | 2 Oct 2026 |
| OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-transcribe | $0.003 a minute | $0.18 | 2 Oct 2026 |
| AssemblyAI Universal-3.5 Pro | $0.21 an hour | $0.21 | 2 Oct 2026 |
| Deepgram Nova-3 (monolingual) | $0.0043 a minute | $0.26 | 2 Oct 2026 |
| OpenAI gpt-transcribe | $0.0045 a minute | $0.27 | 2 Oct 2026 |
| OpenAI gpt-4o-transcribe | $0.006 a minute | $0.36 | 2 Oct 2026 |
| Deepgram Nova-3 (multilingual) | $0.0052 a minute | $0.31 | 2 Oct 2026 |
Things the list prices leave out. OpenAI also lists live transcription at $0.017 a minute ($1.02 an hour). AssemblyAI lists optional add-ons, such as Medical Mode, that are priced on top of its base hourly rate, so check the option you need. Deepgram’s page offers a $200 starting credit. These prices buy text out; they do not include a meeting bot, a calendar integration or a shared workspace.
Priced by the seat: meeting tools
Per seat, USD, as read on 29 Sep 2026. Hours of audio at full use is each plan’s stated allowance.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing, per month | What the allowance is | Cost per hour of audio at full use (monthly / annual) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter Pro | $16.99 | $8.33 | 1,200 minutes a month (20 hours), 90 minutes a meeting | $0.85 / $0.42 |
| Fireflies Pro | $18 | $10 | Unlimited transcription; 8,000 minutes of storage per seat (about 133 hours) | falls with use: $0.90 / $0.50 at 20 hours, $0.36 / $0.20 at 50 hours |
| Descript Hobbyist | $24 | $16 | 10 media hours a month | $2.40 / $1.60 |
Otter’s Basic plan (300 minutes a month free) and Fireflies’ free plan cost nothing; their limits are covered in Otter vs Fireflies vs Descript. Descript is an editor; its media hours are what you upload, which is why it costs most per hour of audio.
Break-even: hours a month at which the seat beats the API
Seat price divided by the API hourly price. Above this many hours a month a flat seat is cheaper per hour than paying by the hour. Shown against the dearest and cheapest of the API rows (gpt-4o-transcribe at $0.36, AssemblyAI Universal-2 at $0.15), with gpt-transcribe ($0.27) and gpt-4o-mini-transcribe ($0.18) between.
| Seat plan | Against $0.36 an hour | Against $0.27 an hour | Against $0.18 an hour | Against $0.15 an hour | Plan’s own cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fireflies Pro, annual ($10) | 28 hours | 37 hours | 56 hours | 67 hours | storage about 133 hours |
| Fireflies Pro, monthly ($18) | 50 hours | 67 hours | 100 hours | 120 hours | storage about 133 hours |
| Otter Pro, annual ($8.33) | 23 hours | 31 hours | 46 hours | 56 hours | 20 hours |
| Otter Pro, monthly ($16.99) | 47 hours | 63 hours | 94 hours | 113 hours | 20 hours |
| Descript Hobbyist, annual ($16) | 44 hours | 59 hours | 89 hours | 107 hours | 10 hours |
Read the last column first. Otter Pro and Descript Hobbyist cap out below their break-even hours, so on raw transcription cost an API beats them at every volume the plan allows. Their price is paying for the product around the text. Fireflies Pro is the one where volume can flip it: a single seat on annual billing recording more than about 37 hours a month, with storage for 133 hours, beats the middle API rate on cost alone (28 hours against the dearest, 67 against the cheapest). On monthly billing the break-even runs from 50 to 120 hours, so a monthly seat only wins near the storage cap, if at all.
Which to use
| If you need | Cheapest priced route |
|---|---|
| Text from files you already have, in bulk, via code | An API; start from the $0.15 to $0.36 an hour range |
| Meetings joined, summarised and shared by a team | A seat plan; the question is which limit you hit first, covered in Otter vs Fireflies vs Descript |
| Heavy volume of meetings on one account | Fireflies Pro on annual billing past roughly 28 to 67 hours a month, if storage and 2-hour recording limits fit |
| Editing audio or video from the transcript | Descript, priced for editing, not transcription |
Accuracy, speaker labelling and language coverage differ between these services and are not on any pricing page; check a named independent test on audio like yours before choosing on price. A transcript of a recorded call also raises consent questions that depend on your jurisdiction. For voice generation prices instead, see ElevenLabs vs Murf vs WellSaid; the wider roundup is best AI transcription and voice tools.
Method
Researched from the OpenAI, Deepgram and AssemblyAI pricing pages (read 2 Oct 2026) and the Otter, Fireflies and Descript pricing pages (read 29 Sep 2026, via the pricing dataset), USD list prices. Per-hour and break-even figures are our division and assume the allowance is fully used; break-even compares list prices only and ignores free credits, volume tiers and taxes. Nothing here comes from using these services.