# Google Cloud Speech-to-Text Review

> Google Cloud Speech-to-Text review: Hyperscaler STT API with Chirp foundation models and enterprise compliance. Verified pricing, features, and the strongest.

![Google Cloud Speech-to-Text logo](https://www.versusref.com/logos/google-stt.png)

Hyperscaler STT API with Chirp foundation models and enterprise compliance

Among the 43 speech-to-text tools we track, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text has the 2nd-widest language coverage - a fit for multilingual and localization projects.

See pricing · facts verified Jul 20, 2026

## What we know about Google Cloud Speech-to-Text

Google Cloud Speech-to-Text is a speech-to-text apis platform: hyperscaler STT API with Chirp foundation models and enterprise compliance. This profile tracks every Google Cloud Speech-to-Text fact we have verified, each linked to a primary source and dated.

Google Cloud Speech-to-Text 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 Google Cloud Speech-to-Text quote, it is the fastest way for us to close that gap.

On capabilities, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text covers language auto-detection, word-level timestamps, custom vocabulary / keyterm boosting, speech translation, soc 2 type ii, and gdpr / eu data residency, and does not offer entity detection, sentiment analysis, and summarization endpoint. Each of those is verified against Google Cloud Speech-to-Text's own docs or dashboard, not marketing copy.

For compliance, with Google Cloud Speech-to-Text: SOC 2 Type II is in place. If you are in a regulated space, confirm the current posture with Google Cloud Speech-to-Text before you commit, since these change plan by plan.

Google Cloud Speech-to-Text ranks the 2nd-widest language coverage of the 43 speech-to-text tools we track, so where it lands for you depends on which of those matters more.

In total we track 25 verified facts for Google Cloud Speech-to-Text 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 Google Cloud Speech-to-Text fact sheet below.

## Google Cloud Speech-to-Text pricing

Published rates: batch $0.016/min · streaming $0.016/min, verified Jul 20, 2026 ([source](https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing)).

| Monthly volume | Batch bill | Streaming bill |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1K min/mo | $16 | $16 |
| 10K min/mo | $160 | $160 |
| 100K min/mo | $1,600 | $1,600 |

Sticker rates only; diarization and PII redaction add-ons price in the stack builder.

## Fact sheet

### Pricing

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Batch price per audio minute | 0.016 $/audio-min | Jul 20 | [source](https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing) |
| Streaming price per audio minute | 0.016 $/audio-min | Jul 20 | [source](https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing) |
| Pricing model | usage | Jul 20 | [source](https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing) |
| Free tier quota | 60 min/mo (V1 API) + $300 new-customer credit | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/free/docs/free-cloud-features) |
| Published volume discounts | V2: $0.01 at 500k+, $0.008 at 1M+, $0.004 at 2M+ min/mo | Jul 20 | [source](https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/pricing) |
| Concurrency on base plan | 300 concurrent streaming sessions per region (V2) | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs/quotas) |

### Capabilities

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WER (third-party benchmark) | 4.32 % WER | Jul 20 | [source](https://artificialanalysis.ai/speech-to-text) |
| Languages supported | ~125 languages | Jul 20 | [source](https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text) |
| Language auto-detection | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs/multiple-languages) |
| Speaker diarization | ✓  Included | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs/multiple-voices) |
| PII redaction | ✗  Not available | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs) |
| Word-level timestamps | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/models/chirp-2) |
| Custom vocabulary / keyterm boosting | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs/adaptation) |
| Entity detection | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs) |
| Sentiment analysis | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs) |
| Summarization endpoint | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs) |
| Speech translation | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/models/chirp-2) |

### Compliance & trust

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HIPAA BAA available | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/hipaa-compliance) |
| SOC 2 Type II | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/soc-2) |
| GDPR / EU data residency | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/models/chirp-3) |
| Self-host / on-prem option | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/on-prem/docs) |

### Build experience

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Official SDKs | C#, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/reference/libraries) |
| Max file size / duration | Batch 8h/file; sync 1 min or 10MB; stream 5 min | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs/quotas) |
| Supported audio formats | FLAC, LINEAR16, MULAW, AMR, AMR_WB, OGG/WEBM Opus, MP3 | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/encoding) |
| Websocket streaming API | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/v2/docs/streaming-recognize) |

## Google Cloud Speech-to-Text head-to-head

| Comparison | Record | Per use case |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Azure AI Speech (STT)](https://www.versusref.com/stt/azure-speech-vs-google-stt/) | won 0 · lost 4 · tied 3 | Call Centers: lost; Developers: lost; Dictation: tie; Medical: tie; Meetings: lost; Self-Hosted: tie; Voice Agents: lost |
| [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Amazon Transcribe](https://www.versusref.com/stt/amazon-transcribe-vs-google-stt/) | won 0 · lost 4 · tied 1 | Developers: lost; Dictation: tie; Medical: lost; Meetings: lost; Voice Agents: lost |
| [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Deepgram](https://www.versusref.com/stt/deepgram-vs-google-stt/) | won 0 · lost 5 · tied 2 | Call Centers: lost; Developers: lost; Dictation: tie; Medical: lost; Meetings: lost; Self-Hosted: tie; Voice Agents: lost |

Source: https://www.versusref.com/stt/tools/google-stt/