Amazon Transcribe vs Deepgram
Default scenario: At 1,000 audio hours / month, estimated bills are $3,096/yr for Deepgram and $4,320/yr for Amazon Transcribe. That’s a $1,224 difference before accounting for different features or operating costs.
The services may differ in features, performance, support and the work you need to do yourself. Read the notes and test what matters to your setup.
Your selected usage
1,000 audio hours / month
- Amazon Transcribe: $4,320/yr estimated
- Deepgram: $3,096/yr estimated
Estimated costs at different usage levels
| Usage | Amazon Transcribe | Deepgram |
|---|---|---|
| Default scenario1,000 audio hours / month | $4,320/yr$0.36/hour | $3,096/yr$0.258/hour |
| Podcast / media500 audio hours / month | $2,160/yr$0.36/hour | $1,548/yr$0.258/hour |
| Call center10,000 audio hours / month | $43,200/yr$0.36/hour | $30,960/yr$0.258/hour |
| Meeting-notes SaaS100,000 audio hours / month | $432,000/yr$0.36/hour | $309,600/yr$0.258/hour |
Pre-recorded audio, standard model, English. Real-time streaming, diarization and other add-ons often cost extra. Accuracy varies by language and audio quality. Try your own numbers against all speech-to-text providers.
Side by side
| Amazon Transcribe | Deepgram | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AWS speech-to-text with batch and streaming APIs, per-second billing, diarization included; runs in several EU regions. | US speech AI vendor with Nova-3 pre-recorded and Flux/Nova-3 streaming STT, pay-as-you-go with no minimums; EU endpoint available. |
| Headquarters | 🇺🇸 United States | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Parent jurisdiction | 🇺🇸 United States (Amazon) | 🇺🇸 United States |
| EU self-serve plan | Available; check eligible plans and regions | Available; check eligible plans and regions |
| GDPR DPA | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | payg | payg |
| Free tier | 60 minutes/month for the first 12 months (AWS Free Tier). | $200 one-time sign-up credit, no card required. |
| Open source | No | No |
| Source last checked | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-06 |
| Pricing evidence | Published rates | Published rates |
Which should you choose?
Deepgram has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 100 audio hours / month to 100,000 audio hours / month.
Choose Amazon Transcribe if…
Our data shows no advantage on price, residency, jurisdiction or licensing. Compare features in the notes below.
Choose Deepgram if…
- it has the lower estimated bill at Podcast / media, Call center and Meeting-notes SaaS usage
Based on estimated list-price bills and the facts above. Features, performance and support aren’t scored.
Amazon Transcribe pricing
Calculated from the listed vendor rates; exclusions still apply.
| Audio hour |
|---|
| $0.36 |
Standard batch transcription $0.006/min ($0.36/hour) and streaming $0.01/min ($0.60/hour) in US East; the AWS price list now shows a single flat rate for both (same in Frankfurt and Ireland), with volume tiers (250k / 1M / 5M minutes) applying only to add-ons and Call Analytics. Billed per second with no minimum, according to the pricing page. Diarization, custom vocabularies, vocabulary filtering and language ID are included. Add-ons: PII redaction $0.0024/min (tier 1, falling to $0.00102), custom language models extra, toxicity detection $0.0036/min. Call Analytics $0.03/min (tier 1, down to $0.0114 above 5M minutes). Transcribe Medical $0.075/min. Available in EU regions (Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Paris and others). AWS GDPR DPA is part of the service terms.
Amazon Transcribe plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
Deepgram pricing
Calculated from the listed vendor rates; exclusions still apply.
| Audio hour |
|---|
| $0.258 |
Nova-3 monolingual pre-recorded $0.0043/min ($0.258/hour) pay-as-you-go; Nova-3 multilingual $0.0052/min; Whisper Large $0.0048/min. Growth plan ($4K+/year prepaid credits) lowers Nova-3 pre-recorded to $0.0036/min ($0.216/hour). Streaming: Nova-3 $0.0048/min promotional (regular $0.0077), Flux English (voice-agent model with turn detection) $0.0065/min promotional (regular $0.0077), Flux Multilingual $0.0078/min. Diarization and smart formatting included for pre-recorded; redaction $0.0020/min, keyterm prompting $0.0013/min, entity detection $0.0017/min. No minimums. EU endpoint (api.eu.deepgram.com, EU AWS regions) is generally available with the same API keys, Whisper excluded. Self-hosted deployment on enterprise contracts.
Deepgram plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
Frequently asked questions
Is Amazon Transcribe cheaper than Deepgram?
Deepgram has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 100 audio hours / month to 100,000 audio hours / month. At 1,000 audio hours / month, the estimates are $4,320/yr for Amazon Transcribe and $3,096/yr for Deepgram. Estimates use list prices and leave out features, support and operating costs.
Do Amazon Transcribe and Deepgram offer EU data residency?
Both offer EU data residency on a self-serve plan. Check which plans and regions qualify.
Do Amazon Transcribe and Deepgram have a free tier or trial?
Amazon Transcribe: 60 minutes/month for the first 12 months (AWS Free Tier). Deepgram: $200 one-time sign-up credit, no card required.
Where are Amazon Transcribe and Deepgram based?
Amazon Transcribe is headquartered in the United States and owned by Amazon (the United States). Deepgram is headquartered in the United States.