Two giants in speech recognition: OpenAI's open-source Whisper and Google's cloud-based Speech-to-Text API. Here's how they compare for real-world use.
Architecture Differences
Whisper is a transformer model you can run locally. Google Speech-to-Text is a cloud API that processes audio on Google's servers. This fundamental difference affects everything else.
Accuracy Comparison
Both achieve excellent accuracy, but with different strengths:
- Whisper: Better with accents, multiple languages, noisy audio
- Google: Excellent real-time streaming, better punctuation
Privacy
Whisper runs 100% locally—your audio never leaves your device. Google processes everything in their cloud, meaning your conversations pass through their servers.
Cost Over Time
| Usage | Google (per month) | Whisper Local |
|---|---|---|
| Light (1hr/day) | ~$15 | $0 |
| Heavy (4hr/day) | ~$60 | $0 |
The Verdict
For dictation and personal use, Whisper wins on privacy and cost. For enterprise apps needing streaming transcription with SLAs, Google might make sense.
Best of Both Worlds
Sotto runs Whisper locally by default with optional cloud fallback. $29 one-time purchase.
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