Whisper Cost Calculator
Calculate the API cost of transcribing audio using OpenAI's Whisper model.
About Whisper Cost Calculator
OpenAI's Whisper API charges a flat $0.006 per minute of audio processed, rounded up to the nearest second, with no volume discounts — cost scales linearly no matter how much audio you send. This calculator shows your total cost plus a bulk-volume reference table so you can quickly gauge spend at different scales, from a single call to enterprise-level transcription volumes.
Formula
total_cost = audio_minutes × rate_per_minute
- audio_minutes
- Total audio duration in minutes
- rate_per_minute
- Whisper API rate (default $0.006/min)
Worked example
With the default values below, Whisper Cost Calculator returns Total Cost of $3.6000. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Audio Durationaccepts 0–100,000,000 minutes
- 600 minutes
- Rate per Minuteaccepts 0–1 $/min
- 0.006 $/min
Results
- Total Cost
- $3.6000
- Audio Duration
- 10.00 hours
- Cost per Hour of Audio
- $0.36
Step by step
- 1Total cost= $3.6000
- 2Equivalent cost per hour= $0.36
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 2 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does OpenAI offer bulk discounts for Whisper?
As of standard published pricing, no — Whisper API pricing is flat per minute regardless of volume. The bulk table here is for budgeting reference, not a discount schedule.
Is self-hosted Whisper cheaper?
Self-hosting the open-source Whisper model avoids the per-minute API fee but requires GPU infrastructure, which may cost more or less depending on your utilization.
How is audio duration rounded?
OpenAI bills to the nearest second, so this calculator's per-minute math is a close approximation of your exact invoice.