# faster-whisper / whisper.cpp Review

> faster-whisper / whisper.cpp review: The de facto local Whisper runtimes: faster-whisper (Python/CTranslate2) and whisper.cpp (C/C++). Verified pricing.

![faster-whisper / whisper.cpp logo](https://www.versusref.com/logos/faster-whisper.png)

The de facto local Whisper runtimes: faster-whisper (Python/CTranslate2) and whisper.cpp (C/C++)

Among the 43 speech-to-text tools we track, faster-whisper / whisper.cpp has the 12th-widest language coverage - a fit for multilingual and localization projects.

See pricing · Open source · facts verified Jul 20, 2026

## What we know about faster-whisper / whisper.cpp

faster-whisper / whisper.cpp is a speech-to-text apis platform: the de facto local Whisper runtimes: faster-whisper (Python/CTranslate2) and whisper.cpp (C/C++). This profile tracks every faster-whisper / whisper.cpp fact we have verified, each linked to a primary source and dated.

faster-whisper / whisper.cpp does not publish a public per-minute rate we have been able to verify, so the price figure here stays blank until we can confirm one. We would rather show nothing than a guessed number; if you have a current faster-whisper / whisper.cpp quote, it is the fastest way for us to close that gap.

On capabilities, faster-whisper / whisper.cpp covers language auto-detection, word-level timestamps, custom vocabulary / keyterm boosting, speech translation, gdpr / eu data residency, and self-host / on-prem option, and does not offer entity detection, sentiment analysis, and summarization endpoint. Each of those is verified against faster-whisper / whisper.cpp's own docs or dashboard, not marketing copy.

Among the 43 speech-to-text tools in our matrix, faster-whisper / whisper.cpp leads with the 12th-widest language coverage; the fact sheet below has the raw numbers behind that placement.

In total we track 21 verified facts for faster-whisper / whisper.cpp today, each linking the primary source it came from so you can check our work - and vendor claims we have not measured ourselves are labeled as such on the faster-whisper / whisper.cpp fact sheet below.

## Fact sheet

### Capabilities

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Languages supported | 99 languages | Jul 20 | [source](https://huggingface.co/openai/whisper-large-v3) |
| Language auto-detection | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Speaker diarization | ✗  Not available | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| PII redaction | ✗  Not available | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Word-level timestamps | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Custom vocabulary / keyterm boosting | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Entity detection | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Sentiment analysis | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Summarization endpoint | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Speech translation | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/README.md) |

### Compliance & trust

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GDPR / EU data residency | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Self-host / on-prem option | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper) |
| Model weights license | MIT | Jul 20 | [source](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/README.md) |

### Build experience

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Official SDKs | Python (faster-whisper) | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Supported audio formats | Any FFmpeg-decodable audio (faster-whisper via PyAV) | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Websocket streaming API | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp) |

### Commercial

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Model size (parameters) | 39M (tiny) to 1.55B (large-v3); turbo 809M | Jul 20 | [source](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/README.md) |
| Hardware to self-host | CPU-capable | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper#readme) |
| Project maintenance status | Active - faster-whisper v1.2.1 released 2025-10-31 | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper/releases) |
| GitHub stars | 24,400 stars | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper) |
| Local vs cloud processing | Local (on-device) | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/SYSTRAN/faster-whisper) |

Source: https://www.versusref.com/stt/tools/faster-whisper/