Is Avencera cheaper than Amazon?

Yes. Avencera transcribes from $0.06 an hour, or $0.07 with speaker labels. At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Amazon Transcribe costs $36.00 against $7.00 at Avencera, 5.1× as much.

Is Avencera more accurate than Amazon?

Amazon transcribes words more accurately on the one published test that covers both, by up to 0.4 points. Transcribe scores 4.1% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.

Does Amazon Transcribe charge extra for speaker labels?

No. Speaker labels are included in its standard batch price.

How do I switch from Amazon to Avencera?

Avencera uses OpenAI’s transcription API format, so any OpenAI SDK works. Send the same audio files you send Amazon, and map its response fields to the OpenAI-style transcript.

Amazon Transcribe alternative: Avencera vs Amazon

At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Amazon Transcribe costs 5.1× as much as Avencera. Amazon transcribes words more accurately on the one published test that covers both, by up to 0.4 points.

By Praveen Perera. Prices and features checked October 23, 2026.

At a glance

Amazon Transcribe is AWS’s speech-to-text service, billed per second with speaker labels included. It fits teams that keep audio in S3 and want transcription inside their AWS account.

Feature	Avencera	Amazon
Transcript, at 100 hours a month	$0.06 an hour	Transcribe: $0.36 an hour (6.0×)
With speaker labels, at 100 hours a month	$0.07 an hour	Transcribe: $0.36 an hour (5.1×)
Speaker labels	Included in the speaker transcript price	Transcribe: included
Billing	Prepaid credit, no subscription	Transcribe: pay as you go
Real-time streaming	No, recorded audio only	Yes
Longest file	2 hours or 100 MB per request, 24 hours as a job	8 hours or 2 GB per file
API	OpenAI-compatible	Amazon’s own

Price with speaker labels

Audio a month	Avencera	Amazon Transcribe
10 hours	$0.70	$3.60 5.1×
100 hours	$7.00	$36.00 5.1×
1,000 hours	$70.00	$360.00 5.1×
10,000 hours	$700.00	$3,600.00 5.1×

See every provider at any volume on the pricing page.

Accuracy

Words

Amazon transcribes words more accurately on the one published test that covers both, by up to 0.4 points.

Word error rate by benchmark, lower is better

Artificial Analysis Word error rate, measured on each provider’s own API

Transcribe by 0.4 points

Avencera Parakeet v3: 4.5%. Amazon Transcribe: 4.1%.

Choose Amazon if

Word accuracy matters most. Transcribe scores 4.1% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.
You need real-time streaming. Amazon offers it; Avencera transcribes recorded audio only.
You want to start free. Amazon Transcribe includes 60 free minutes a month for the first 12 months.
Your audio already lives in S3 and you want transcription inside your AWS account and bill.
You need an API today. Avencera opens soon.

Choose Avencera if

You want the lower bill. Amazon Transcribe costs 5.1× as much at 100 hours a month with speaker labels.
You want prepaid credit with no subscription, no minimum and no expiry.
Your audio stays yours. Avencera deletes it once the transcript is ready and never trains on it.

Switching to Avencera

Avencera serves OpenAI’s transcription API, so the official OpenAI SDKs work with a new base URL and model name. Set speaker_labels to true for a speaker on every segment.

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.avencera.com/v1", api_key="YOUR_AVENCERA_KEY")

with open("meeting.mp3", "rb") as audio:
    transcript = client.audio.transcriptions.create(
        model="avencera/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2",
        file=audio,
        extra_body={"speaker_labels": True},
    )

Questions

Is Avencera cheaper than Amazon?: Yes. Avencera transcribes from $0.06 an hour, or $0.07 with speaker labels. At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Amazon Transcribe costs $36.00 against $7.00 at Avencera, 5.1× as much.
Is Avencera more accurate than Amazon?: Amazon transcribes words more accurately on the one published test that covers both, by up to 0.4 points. Transcribe scores 4.1% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.
Does Amazon Transcribe charge extra for speaker labels?: No. Speaker labels are included in its standard batch price.
How do I switch from Amazon to Avencera?: Avencera uses OpenAI’s transcription API format, so any OpenAI SDK works. Send the same audio files you send Amazon, and map its response fields to the OpenAI-style transcript.