What speech-to-text API should I use for a startup app?

For a startup app, the best speech-to-text API usually depends on your priorities, but if you want a practical default:

Good default choice: OpenAI Whisper API

• Strong accuracy across accents and noisy audio
• Easy to integrate
• Good for transcribing recordings and voice notes
• Great if you already use OpenAI for other parts of your app

Use Google Cloud Speech-to-Text if you need:

• Real-time streaming transcription
• Strong enterprise reliability
• Broad language support
• Tight Google Cloud integration

Use AWS Transcribe if you need:

• AWS-native infrastructure
• Call center / contact center features
• Speaker diarization and streaming options
• Easy fit if your stack is already on AWS

Use Deepgram if you need:

• Low-latency real-time transcription
• Competitive pricing for startup-scale usage
• Developer-friendly APIs
• Good streaming performance

My recommendation

• For MVPs and asynchronous transcription: OpenAI Whisper API
• For live dictation/real-time apps: Deepgram or Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
• If you're already on AWS: AWS Transcribe

What to evaluate before choosing

• Accuracy on your real audio: accents, background noise, domain jargon
• Latency: batch vs live transcription
• Cost: per minute / per hour pricing
• Features: punctuation, diarization, timestamps, word-level confidence
• Compliance: data retention, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR if relevant
• Scalability: can it handle spikes and growing usage?

Simple rule of thumb

If you’re early-stage and need the fastest path to a solid product, start with Whisper/OpenAI for batch transcription. If your app is real-time voice-first, test Deepgram and Google Cloud first.

If you tell me:

1. whether you need real-time or batch,
2. your budget, and
3. your current stack (AWS/GCP/OpenAI/etc.),

I can recommend one option more precisely.