{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "amazon-transcribe", "name": "Amazon Transcribe", "vendor": "Amazon Web Services", "vendorUrl": "https://aws.amazon.com/transcribe/", "kind": "model", "category": "speech-to-text", "summary": "Amazon Transcribe is AWS's speech-to-text API, with batch jobs that read audio from Amazon S3 and real-time streaming over HTTP/2 or WebSocket, signed with IAM credentials.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-transcribe", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-transcribe.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-transcribe.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-transcribe.json", "dns": "amazon-transcribe.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-python", "license": "Apache-2.0 (SDKs)", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://transcribe.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "boto3" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@aws-sdk/client-transcribe" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@aws-sdk/client-transcribe-streaming" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "AWS Signature Version 4 with IAM access keys or a role. Batch goes to `transcribe.\u003cregion\u003e.amazonaws.com`, streaming to `transcribestreaming.\u003cregion\u003e.amazonaws.com` (WebSocket needs a presigned URL).", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "US East is $0.006 a minute batch and $0.01 a minute streaming, billed per second with no minimum and up to two channels included. Diarisation, custom vocabularies and language ID are included. PII redaction adds $0.0024 a minute and custom language models $0.006. Accounts opened before 2025-07-15 get 60 free minutes a month for 12 months. Newer accounts get up to $200 in Free Tier credits, and AWS says most new customers can sign up without a payment method (https://aws.amazon.com/transcribe/pricing/, https://aws.amazon.com/free/free-tier-faqs/).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No machine payment. Billing runs through a cloud account with a card or invoice.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 185, "npmWeekly": 505959, "pypiWeekly": 200552, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/what-is.html", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "speech.stt", "speech.streaming", "speech.batch", "speech.diarisation", "speech.languages" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "python", "typescript", "enterprise", "streaming", "batch", "async-jobs", "llms-txt", "free-tier", "no-card" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-25", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 73.6, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 104, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 30, "reliability": 75, "schema": 90, "security": 83, "transparency": 85 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Batch transcription costs $0.006 a minute and streaming $0.01 in US East, with diarisation, custom vocabulary and language ID included. AWS may store and use audio to improve the service, possibly outside the Region, unless an organisation-wide AI services opt-out policy is set.", "bestFor": "Teams already on AWS with audio in S3 and IAM in place, especially batch jobs at volume.", "strengths": [ "$0.006 a minute batch and $0.01 streaming in US East, with diarisation, custom vocabulary and language ID included", "A reused `TranscriptionJobName` fails with `ConflictException`, so a retried submission can't create a second job", "IAM policies can limit a credential to single actions and resources, and custom models can use a customer-managed KMS key", "Covered by the Amazon Machine Learning Language SLA, with credits from 10 per cent below 99.9 per cent monthly uptime", "Two batch API model updates in the 90 days to 1 November (3 and 18 September 2026), and JavaScript SDK clients released 30 October" ], "weaknesses": [ "AWS may store and use audio to improve the service unless an organisation-wide AI services opt-out policy is set", "Listed in the open me-south-1 (Bahrain) disruption, where AWS said on 15 September 2026 that Region-only data can't be restored", "Batch input must sit in S3, and the WebSocket stream needs a presigned SigV4 URL", "Batch throttling returns `LimitExceededException` as a 400 with no Retry-After", "The Python streaming SDK the listing named is deprecated, and its replacement is pre-alpha and needs Python 3.12" ], "agentNotes": [ "Give every job a unique `TranscriptionJobName`. A retry with the same name fails with `ConflictException` rather than starting a second job", "Poll `GetTranscriptionJob` or listen on EventBridge, and set `OutputBucketName`, because job records are deleted after 90 days", "Back off on `LimitExceededException`. It arrives as a 400, not a 429", "Set the organisation's AI services opt-out policy before sending customer audio", "For Python streaming install `aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming` on Python 3.12 or later, not the deprecated `amazon-transcribe` package" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 4, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 73.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 30, "reliability": 75, "schema": 90, "security": 83, "transparency": 75 }, "provenanceScore": 94, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-01", "maintenance": "2026-11-01", "payments": "2026-11-01", "reliability": "2026-11-01", "schema": "2026-11-01", "security": "2026-11-01", "transparency": "2026-11-01" }, "last": "2026-11-01", "lastMoved": "2026-11-01", "oldest": "2026-11-01", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install boto3 aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming # or: npm i @aws-sdk/client-transcribe", "http": "curl -X POST \"https://transcribe.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/\" \\\n --aws-sigv4 \"aws:amz:us-east-1:transcribe\" --user \"$AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID:$AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY\" \\\n -H \"X-Amz-Target: Transcribe.StartTranscriptionJob\" -H \"content-type: application/x-amz-json-1.1\" \\\n -d '{\"TranscriptionJobName\":\"call-001\",\"LanguageCode\":\"en-US\",\"Media\":{\"MediaFileUri\":\"s3://my-bucket/call.wav\"}}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/speech.stt", "tool": "https://letme.dev/amazon-transcribe" }, "sameCompany": [ "amazon-bedrock", "amazon-nova-embeddings", "amazon-bedrock-guardrails", "amazon-polly", "amazon-nova-sonic", "agentcore-memory", "agentcore-identity", "aws-secrets-manager", "agentcore-web-search", "aws-mcp-servers", "amazon-ses", "amazon-location", "amazon-translate", "amazon-ads-api", "amazon-creators-api" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Batch", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.006, "note": "US East, per second" }, { "item": "Streaming", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.01, "note": "US East, per second" }, { "item": "PII redaction add-on", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.0024, "note": "first 250,000 minutes" }, { "item": "Custom language model add-on", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.006, "note": "first 250,000 minutes" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Amazon Web Services, Inc.", "domain": "amazon.com", "domainRegistered": "1994-11-01", "domainNote": "The endpoints are on amazonaws.com (registered 2005-08-18) and api.aws, both AWS domains. The security.txt on aws.amazon.com expired on 2026-09-24 and was renewed by 17 October 2026, with Expires 2027-10-16 (re-read on 1 November). The Service Terms show Last Updated 30 October 2026.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://aws.amazon.com/service-terms/", "privacy": "https://aws.amazon.com/privacy/", "statusPage": "https://health.aws.amazon.com/health/status", "changelog": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/doc-history.html", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-01", "score": 94 }, "requirements": { "setupChecked": true, "complianceChecked": true, "card": "paid-only", "freeTier": true, "minutes": 15, "credential": "cloud-iam", "hosting": [ "US", "CA", "EU", "UK", "APAC" ], "euResidency": "yes", "trainsOnData": "opt-out", "zeroRetention": "unknown", "certifications": [ "SOC 2 Type II", "ISO 27001", "ISO 27701", "CSA STAR", "HIPAA (BAA available)", "FedRAMP", "GDPR" ], "dpa": true, "selfHost": "no" }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-transcribe.json", "live": { "slug": "amazon-transcribe", "probe": { "target": "https://transcribe.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T19:21:51.90617018Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 335, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 271, "p95ms24h": 364, "samples24h": 238, "samples30d": 7920, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-11", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-17", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-18", "probes": 256, "ok": 256 }, { "date": "2026-10-19", "probes": 255, "ok": 255 }, { "date": "2026-10-20", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-22", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-23", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-24", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-26", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-27", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-28", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-29", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-11-01", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-11-02", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-11-03", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-11-04", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 }, { "date": "2026-11-05", "probes": 185, "ok": 185 }, { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 241, "ok": 241 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 197, "ok": 197 } ] }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@aws-sdk/client-transcribe", "version": "3.1164.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:05:58.591684858Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@aws-sdk/client-transcribe-streaming", "version": "3.1164.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:05:58.822479826Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "amazon-transcribe", "version": "0.6.4", "released": "2025-05-05", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T01:33:24.189537414Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming", "version": "0.12.0", "released": "2026-10-08", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:05:56.587826348Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "boto3", "version": "1.43.126", "released": "2026-11-06", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:05:56.461063686Z" } ], "githubStars": 178, "npmWeekly": 805969, "pypiWeekly": 637851852, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://amazon.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:18.354437696Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:31:35.873587592Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "amazon.com", "registered": "1994-11-01", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/amazon.com", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:09:08.477101866Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/transcribe/latest/dg/doc-history.html", "kind": "changelog", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:05:35.461309348Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-06T16:07:55.368671496Z", "fingerprint": "ecdbccfa98c4" }, { "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/transcribe/pricing/", "kind": "pricing", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:00:20.595439604Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:23:08.968887269Z", "fingerprint": "9fed68fee2ee" } ], "github": { "repo": "awslabs/aws-sdk-python", "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T08:33:28.439316307Z", "stars": 177, "archived": false, "issuesEnabled": true, "pushedAt": "2026-10-30T18:57:36Z", "openIssues": 9, "openPRs": 3, "issuesOpened90d": 0, "issuesClosed90d": 0, "prsMerged90d": 0, "replies": { "sampled": 16, "unanswered": 9, "medianDays": 39 } }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T19:21:51.90617018Z" } }, "answer": "Amazon Transcribe scores 73.6 (BB) on agent readiness against MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D), and leads in every scored category.", "b": { "slug": "minimax-stt", "name": "MiniMax Speech-to-Text", "vendor": "MiniMax", "vendorUrl": "https://www.minimax.io", "kind": "model", "category": "speech-to-text", "summary": "MiniMax's speech-to-text API transcribes audio files of up to 500 seconds with its `asr-1.0` model in 20 languages, with optional streamed text output, speaker diarisation, segment timestamps and SRT or VTT subtitles.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-stt", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-stt.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-stt.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/minimax-stt.json", "dns": "minimax-stt.grade.anchorterminal.com", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Bearer API key created in the platform console under Account, API Keys. No scopes were found in the docs. Mainland China accounts use `https://api.minimaxi.com`.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "$0.38 an hour of audio, pay as you go from a prepaid balance or through an M Plan subscription. Speech to text is for paid accounts only, with no free allowance.", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, OpenAPI file or pricing page (checked 2026-11-06). An empty balance returns 402 insufficient_balance_error with no payment requirements.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 0, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/speech-to-text", "llmsTxt": "https://platform.minimax.io/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://platform.minimax.io/docs/api-reference/speech/speech-to-text/api/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "speech.stt", "speech.diarisation", "speech.languages" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "usage-priced", "prepaid", "openapi", "llms-txt", "status-page" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 48.4, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 1126, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 19, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 6, "payments": 20, "reliability": 47, "schema": 82, "security": 33, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "MiniMax's ASR API has an OpenAPI file, typed error envelopes and a public price of $0.38 an hour, with diarisation and subtitle output. It takes files of up to 500 seconds only, allows 2 concurrent connections, has no free tier or status component, and no dated release.", "bestFor": "Cheap file transcription with diarisation and subtitles, strongest on Chinese and code-switched audio by the vendor's account.", "strengths": [ "OpenAPI 3.1 file with eight documented responses, and an error table with HTTP status, type and trigger", "$0.38 an hour of audio, published without a login", "Speaker diarisation, segment timestamps and SRT or VTT output from one call", "Automatic language detection with Chinese-English code-switching across 20 languages" ], "weaknesses": [ "Files only, up to 500 seconds and 50 MB; live audio input isn't supported", "2 concurrent connections and paid accounts only, with no free allowance", "No status page component and no dated release of `asr-1.0`", "Terms let MiniMax use inputs to improve its services, and no retention period for audio was found" ], "agentNotes": [ "Split recordings into pieces under 500 seconds before uploading, since longer audio returns 400", "Convert to mono 16 kHz or a compressed format to stay under 50 MB", "Use `verbose_json` for speakers and timestamps, and `json` only when streaming", "Treat 402 `insufficient_balance_error` as final and ask the user to top up", "Use `https://api.minimaxi.com` for a mainland China account" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 48.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 6, "payments": 20, "reliability": 47, "schema": 82, "security": 33, "transparency": 43 }, "provenanceScore": 82, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST https://api.minimax.io/v1/speech_to_text \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $MINIMAX_API_KEY\" \\\n -F model=asr-1.0 -F file=@meeting.mp3 -F response_format=verbose_json" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/speech.stt", "tool": "https://letme.dev/minimax-stt" }, "sameCompany": [ "minimax-api", "minimax-video", "minimax-speech", "minimax-voice-cloning", "minimax-code", "minimax-m2-5", "minimax-m2-7", "minimax-m3-1-flash" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "asr-1.0", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.00633, "note": "$0.38 an hour, paid accounts only" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Nanonoble Pte. Ltd.", "domain": "minimax.io", "domainRegistered": "2021-03-27", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://platform.minimax.io/protocol/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://platform.minimax.io/protocol/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.minimax.io", "changelog": "https://platform.minimax.io/docs/release-notes/apis", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "Nanonoble Pte. Ltd., 152 Beach Road, #14-02 Gateway East, Singapore, is named in the terms (effective 30 March 2026) and the privacy policy (updated 30 March 2026), read on 4 November 2026 from the document text the pages carry for the browser, as on the minimax-api listing. The 8 October reader recorded both pages as unreadable.", "RDAP for minimax.io gives a registration date of 2021-03-27 and a transfer on 2025-01-31, as recorded on 8 October.", "platform.minimax.io/.well-known/security.txt returns 404 (per the 8 October check), and www.minimax.io/.well-known/security.txt redirects to the home page.", "The API release notes page has no entry after 28 October 2025 on 4 November. Model releases are dated on a separate page, whose newest speech model is Speech 2.8 (23 January 2026).", "status.minimax.io/robots.txt disallows /api/, so incidents were read from the /history pages only.", "firstReleased and lastRelease are left empty, since no dated release of `asr-1.0` was found." ], "score": 82 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-stt.json", "live": { "slug": "minimax-stt", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.minimax.io", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T19:22:28.065014441Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://minimax.io/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:57.120551174Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://platform.minimax.io/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:33:06.549207563Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T19:22:28.065014441Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 54, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "amazon-transcribe", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "Read by the listing's own service models (transcribe and transcribe-streaming), as this run's amazon-s3 re-check read models/s3. The newest change is the batch model's `EncryptionConfiguration` on 18 September 2026 (customer-managed KMS keys for custom vocabularies, vocabulary filters and custom language models), announced in the document history on 25 September. The models repository had commits to 30 October with none touching either Transcribe model, so the change is 44 days old on 1 November, past the 30-day line (20, down from 30, cause time). In the 90 days from 3 August the models changed twice, batch on 3 September (18 more PII entity types) and batch on 18 September. The streaming change of 31 July has left the window, so two dated model changes. The listing's own repository, AWS's Python SDK, tagged `aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming` four times in the same 90 days (0.9.0 on 13 August, 0.10.0 on 20 August, 0.11.0 on 24 August and 0.12.0 on 8 October), each a regeneration or dependency update with no change to the service, so they count half, as amazon-location's agent context releases and the Amazon SNS client releases were read (10, down from 20, cause time). Public document history, AWS re:Post and paid support plans (10). Official SDKs are current, `@aws-sdk/client-transcribe` and `-streaming` at 3.1161.0 on 30 October 2026 (version bumps only), and AWS's Python client `aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming` at 0.12.0 on 8 October (15). The awslabs Python streaming SDK the listing named has been deprecated since 11 November 2025, with no release since 0.6.4 in May 2025, and its replacement is marked pre-alpha and needs Python 3.12 or later (5 of 10). 20 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 5 = 60.", "b": "Read as a model. No dated release or change of `asr-1.0` was found on the model or API release notes or the status page (0). No dated ASR entries in the last 90 days (0). Support by email and Discord, not tested (6 of 15). No official SDK, and the MCP servers have no transcription tool (0 of 15). No package to judge (0 of 10). Total 6." }, "scores": { "a": 60, "b": 6 } }, { "by": 50, "category": "security", "leads": "amazon-transcribe", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of least-privilege and injection lines. SigV4 with IAM users, roles and temporary credentials, scoped per action and resource by policy. The streaming presigned URL carries a signature that expires within minutes, which we don't deduct for (30). Section 50.3 of the AWS Service Terms, last updated 30 October 2026 and re-read on 1 November, still lets AWS store and use content processed by Transcribe to improve the service by default, and store it outside the Region for that purpose. Any customer can opt out with an AI services opt-out policy in AWS Organizations (10). Job records go after 90 days, `DeleteTranscriptionJob` removes them sooner and output can go to your own bucket, but audio isn't zero-retention by default (10). Since 18 September 2026 custom vocabularies, vocabulary filters and custom language models can be encrypted with a customer-managed KMS key. CloudTrail logs API calls per caller (15). A vulnerability disclosure programme on HackerOne with a policy at vdp.aws.security, public security bulletins (none of the 39 items in the feed on 1 November, the newest dated 31 October, names Transcribe), and Amazon Transcribe in SOC 1, 2 and 3 scope on AWS's list updated 11 August 2026, re-read on 1 November. The security.txt on aws.amazon.com, re-read on 1 November, expires on 16 October 2027 and points to the VDP. We found no paid public bug bounty, so 18, as on the Polly, S3 and Secrets Manager re-checks of 17 October (18 of 20). 30 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 18 = 83.", "b": "Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. Plain API keys from the console with no scopes found, and the docs say publicly leaked keys may be disabled, as on minimax-voice-cloning (20 of 30). The terms (effective 30 March 2026), as read for minimax-voice-cloning on 4 November, let MiniMax use input and generated content to operate, maintain, develop and improve its services, with no opt-out found, and the privacy policy rules out only training to profile or target consumers (5 of 20). No retention period for uploaded audio or transcripts was found (3 of 15). Each response carries a trace ID, with no audit log found (5 of 15). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification found, as on the other MiniMax listings (0 of 20). Total 33." }, "scores": { "a": 83, "b": 33 } }, { "by": 28, "category": "reliability", "leads": "amazon-transcribe", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "AWS Health Dashboard with per-service, per-region history and RSS feeds (20). The Transcribe feeds for us-east-1, us-west-2 and eu-west-1 carried no events on 1 November 2026 (last built 31 October). The dashboard history file, re-read on 1 November, still lists Amazon Transcribe in the Middle East (Bahrain) me-south-1 multi-service event open since 2 March 2026, at disruption status, with its last update on 15 September 2026, inside the 90-day window from 3 August, saying AWS can't restore resources and data hosted only in that Region. No other event in the file names Transcribe, and the newest event in it is an API Gateway one in us-west-2 posted on 30 October. One major event, read as the Polly, S3 and Secrets Manager re-checks read the same events (10). Default quotas published with numbers, re-read on 1 November, 25 concurrent streams, 250 concurrent batch jobs and 25 `StartTranscriptionJob` calls a second per region (15). Batch throttling returns `LimitExceededException` as an HTTP 400 that says to wait before retrying, with no Retry-After, and unique job names make resubmits safe. Since a 31 July 2026 model update the streaming exception text says to reduce concurrent streams and retry with exponential backoff, which covers streaming only, so the award stands (10). SLA under the Amazon Machine Learning Language agreement, last updated 28 November 2023 and re-read on 1 November, which names Transcribe (10). GA (10). 20 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 75.", "b": "Atlassian Statuspage at status.minimax.io with component history, but its components are LLM, Text-to-Speech and Video Generation, with none for speech to text (10 of 20). With no component, the history holds no record for transcription (5). Limits published with numbers, 2 concurrent connections and 30,000 audio seconds a minute (15). 429 is documented as `rate_limit_error`, and the general error code page says to retry later, with no backoff figures or Retry-After (7 of 15). No SLA in the terms or docs (0). `asr-1.0` is called the current public model with no beta label (10). 10 + 5 + 15 + 7 + 0 + 10 = 47." }, "scores": { "a": 75, "b": 47 } }, { "by": 22, "category": "transparency", "leads": "amazon-transcribe", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "Closed service under the AWS Service Terms, last updated 30 October 2026 (15). The service terms, privacy notice (last updated 18 May 2026, re-read on 1 November) and job retention agree, and the data processing addendum and a public sub-processor list (last updated 30 October 2026) exist, but the default permission to use content for improvement sits in section 50.3 of the service terms rather than the Transcribe guide. The DPA's text is per the 1 October check (25). The AWS Customer Agreement commits to advance notice before material functionality of a GA service is discontinued, but we found no dated Transcribe deprecation notices. The Python streaming SDK carries a deprecation notice in its README, which isn't the service (15). Sub-processors and regions disclosed, with region choice per request. Section 50.3(c) discloses that content kept for improvement may be stored outside the Region unless the organisation opts out (20). 15 + 25 + 15 + 20 = 75.", "b": "Closed API with clear terms under Singapore law naming Nanonoble Pte. Ltd., as on the other MiniMax listings (15 of 30). The terms and privacy policy agree that inputs may be used to improve services and that data sits in a United States data centre, with no retention period for audio (8 of 30). No deprecation notice or policy touches the ASR API (10 of 20, for the dated notices elsewhere on the API release notes). Data location stated as the United States and an EU representative named, with third parties only by category (10 of 20). Total 43." }, "scores": { "a": 85, "b": 63 } }, { "by": 10, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "amazon-transcribe", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "API reading of the checklist. The transcript is one JSON file with every item and its timings, with SRT and VTT subtitles as the compact alternative and no field selection, per the 1 October check (15). `ListTranscriptionJobs` filters by `Status` and `JobNameContains` and pages with `MaxResults` and `NextToken`, re-read on 1 November (20). Typed exceptions per action, each with a recovery hint (20). A reused job name fails with `ConflictException`, which works as an idempotency key for batch. Streaming has no resume (15). Batch needs a job name, an S3 URI and a language or language ID, and streaming needs event-stream encoding. SDKs in every major language (10).", "b": "API reading of the checklist. The default `json` returns only text, duration and a trace ID, with segments and subtitles opt-in (22 of 25). No lists to page. `response_format` and `language` are the output controls (12 of 20). Typed error envelopes with the real HTTP status, an error type and `request_id`, and 402 for an empty balance (18 of 20). Calls are synchronous with no idempotency key (10 of 20). Two fields, a model and a file. No official SDK, and MiniMax's MCP servers don't cover transcription (8 of 15). Total 70." }, "scores": { "a": 80, "b": 70 } }, { "by": 10, "category": "payments", "leads": "amazon-transcribe", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-minute prices by region published without a login, re-read on 1 November ($0.006 batch and $0.01 streaming in US East) (20). The pricing page still shows 60 free minutes a month for 12 months, which per the 1 October check applies only to accounts opened before 2025-07-15. Newer accounts get up to $200 in Free Tier credits, and Free Tier FAQ Q4, re-read on 1 November, says a payment method isn't required to sign up for most new customers, though AWS may request one to verify identity. Half, as on the Polly, S3 and Secrets Manager listings (10). A person signs up in a browser. IAM can mint keys by API, but only after a human has an account (0). 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30.", "b": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). $0.38 an hour published without a login (20). Speech to text is for paid accounts only (0). A person signs up in a browser and funds a balance (0). Total 20." }, "scores": { "a": 30, "b": 20 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Model API", "b": "Model API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Amazon Web Services", "b": "MiniMax", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://transcribe.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0 (SDKs)", "b": "none", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "0", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-25", "b": "none", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-10-01", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-05-18", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes, with an opt-out", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "185 stars, 506k npm/wk, 201k PyPI/wk", "b": "none", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "4/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Amazon Transcribe scores 73.6 (BB) on agent readiness against MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D), and leads in every scored category.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Amazon Transcribe or MiniMax Speech-to-Text?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do Amazon Transcribe and MiniMax Speech-to-Text need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Amazon Transcribe has a hosted endpoint at https://transcribe.us-east-1.amazonaws.com. No hosted endpoint is listed for MiniMax Speech-to-Text.", "question": "Can an agent call Amazon Transcribe and MiniMax Speech-to-Text without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 75 against 47", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 82", "Agent ergonomics, 80 against 70", "Security \u0026 auth, 83 against 33", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 60 against 6", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 85 against 63" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better", "A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Teams already on AWS with audio in S3 and IAM in place, especially batch jobs at volume.", "slug": "amazon-transcribe", "watchFor": "AWS may store and use audio to improve the service unless an organisation-wide AI services opt-out policy is set" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Cheap file transcription with diarisation and subtitles, strongest on Chinese and code-switched audio by the vendor's account.", "slug": "minimax-stt", "watchFor": "Files only, up to 500 seconds and 50 MB; live audio input isn't supported" } ], "history": { "amazon-transcribe": [ { "causes": [ "time" ], "date": "2026-11-01", "delta": -1.7, "from": 75.3, "fromGrade": "BB", "to": 73.6, "toGrade": "BB" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-27", "delta": 0, "from": 75.3, "fromGrade": "BB", "to": 75.3, "toGrade": "BB" }, { "causes": [ "security", "evidence", "correction" ], "date": "2026-10-17", "delta": 1.9, "from": 73.4, "fromGrade": "BB", "to": 75.3, "toGrade": "BB" } ], "minimax-stt": null }, "job": { "capability": "speech.stt", "name": "Speech-to-text" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-assemblyai-stt.json", "title": "Amazon Transcribe vs AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-assemblyai-stt" }, { "json": 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"title": "MiniMax Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "amazon-transcribe": 75, "by": 28, "edge": "amazon-transcribe", "key": "reliability", "minimax-stt": 47, "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "amazon-transcribe": 90, "by": 8, "edge": "amazon-transcribe", "key": "schema", "minimax-stt": 82, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "amazon-transcribe": 80, "by": 10, "edge": "amazon-transcribe", "key": "ergonomics", "minimax-stt": 70, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "amazon-transcribe": 83, "by": 50, "edge": "amazon-transcribe", "key": "security", "minimax-stt": 33, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "amazon-transcribe": 30, "by": 10, "edge": "amazon-transcribe", "key": "payments", "minimax-stt": 20, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "amazon-transcribe": 60, "by": 54, "edge": "amazon-transcribe", "key": "maintenance", "minimax-stt": 6, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "amazon-transcribe": 85, "by": 22, "edge": "amazon-transcribe", "key": "transparency", "minimax-stt": 63, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Amazon Transcribe scores 73.6 (BB) on agent readiness against MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do speech-to-text.", "tasks": [ { "a": "$0.36 to $0.60", "b": "$0.38", "cheaper": "amazon-transcribe", "task": "Transcribe a one-hour meeting", "what": "60 minutes of recorded audio" } ], "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "amazon-transcribe": "Batch transcription costs $0.006 a minute and streaming $0.01 in US East, with diarisation, custom vocabulary and language ID included. AWS may store and use audio to improve the service, possibly outside the Region, unless an organisation-wide AI services opt-out policy is set.", "minimax-stt": "MiniMax's ASR API has an OpenAPI file, typed error envelopes and a public price of $0.38 an hour, with diarisation and subtitle output. It takes files of up to 500 seconds only, allows 2 concurrent connections, has no free tier or status component, and no dated release." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt.min.md" }, "markdown": "Amazon Transcribe scores 73.6 (BB) on agent readiness against MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do speech-to-text.\n\n- Amazon Transcribe: grade BB, 73.6/100, rank #104 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-transcribe.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-transcribe.json\n- MiniMax Speech-to-Text: grade D, 48.4/100, rank #1126 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-stt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/minimax-stt.json\n- Best speech-to-text APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/speech-to-text/index.md\n- All 320 stt comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/speech-to-text/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Amazon Transcribe (BB)\n\nGood for: Teams already on AWS with audio in S3 and IAM in place, especially batch jobs at volume.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 75 against 47\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 82\n- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 70\n- Security \u0026 auth, 83 against 33\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 60 against 6\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 85 against 63\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: AWS may store and use audio to improve the service unless an organisation-wide AI services opt-out policy is set\n\n### MiniMax Speech-to-Text (D)\n\nGood for: Cheap file transcription with diarisation and subtitles, strongest on Chinese and code-switched audio by the vendor's account.\n\nWatch for: Files only, up to 500 seconds and 50 MB; live audio input isn't supported\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Amazon Transcribe +54\n\n- Amazon Transcribe (60): Read by the listing's own service models (transcribe and transcribe-streaming), as this run's amazon-s3 re-check read models/s3. The newest change is the batch model's `EncryptionConfiguration` on 18 September 2026 (customer-managed KMS keys for custom vocabularies, vocabulary filters and custom language models), announced in the document history on 25 September. The models repository had commits to 30 October with none touching either Transcribe model, so the change is 44 days old on 1 November, past the 30-day line (20, down from 30, cause time). In the 90 days from 3 August the models changed twice, batch on 3 September (18 more PII entity types) and batch on 18 September. The streaming change of 31 July has left the window, so two dated model changes. The listing's own repository, AWS's Python SDK, tagged `aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming` four times in the same 90 days (0.9.0 on 13 August, 0.10.0 on 20 August, 0.11.0 on 24 August and 0.12.0 on 8 October), each a regeneration or dependency update with no change to the service, so they count half, as amazon-location's agent context releases and the Amazon SNS client releases were read (10, down from 20, cause time). Public document history, AWS re:Post and paid support plans (10). Official SDKs are current, `@aws-sdk/client-transcribe` and `-streaming` at 3.1161.0 on 30 October 2026 (version bumps only), and AWS's Python client `aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming` at 0.12.0 on 8 October (15). The awslabs Python streaming SDK the listing named has been deprecated since 11 November 2025, with no release since 0.6.4 in May 2025, and its replacement is marked pre-alpha and needs Python 3.12 or later (5 of 10). 20 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 5 = 60.\n- MiniMax Speech-to-Text (6): Read as a model. No dated release or change of `asr-1.0` was found on the model or API release notes or the status page (0). No dated ASR entries in the last 90 days (0). Support by email and Discord, not tested (6 of 15). No official SDK, and the MCP servers have no transcription tool (0 of 15). No package to judge (0 of 10). Total 6.\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: Amazon Transcribe +50\n\n- Amazon Transcribe (83): Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of least-privilege and injection lines. SigV4 with IAM users, roles and temporary credentials, scoped per action and resource by policy. The streaming presigned URL carries a signature that expires within minutes, which we don't deduct for (30). Section 50.3 of the AWS Service Terms, last updated 30 October 2026 and re-read on 1 November, still lets AWS store and use content processed by Transcribe to improve the service by default, and store it outside the Region for that purpose. Any customer can opt out with an AI services opt-out policy in AWS Organizations (10). Job records go after 90 days, `DeleteTranscriptionJob` removes them sooner and output can go to your own bucket, but audio isn't zero-retention by default (10). Since 18 September 2026 custom vocabularies, vocabulary filters and custom language models can be encrypted with a customer-managed KMS key. CloudTrail logs API calls per caller (15). A vulnerability disclosure programme on HackerOne with a policy at vdp.aws.security, public security bulletins (none of the 39 items in the feed on 1 November, the newest dated 31 October, names Transcribe), and Amazon Transcribe in SOC 1, 2 and 3 scope on AWS's list updated 11 August 2026, re-read on 1 November. The security.txt on aws.amazon.com, re-read on 1 November, expires on 16 October 2027 and points to the VDP. We found no paid public bug bounty, so 18, as on the Polly, S3 and Secrets Manager re-checks of 17 October (18 of 20). 30 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 18 = 83.\n- MiniMax Speech-to-Text (33): Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. Plain API keys from the console with no scopes found, and the docs say publicly leaked keys may be disabled, as on minimax-voice-cloning (20 of 30). The terms (effective 30 March 2026), as read for minimax-voice-cloning on 4 November, let MiniMax use input and generated content to operate, maintain, develop and improve its services, with no opt-out found, and the privacy policy rules out only training to profile or target consumers (5 of 20). No retention period for uploaded audio or transcripts was found (3 of 15). Each response carries a trace ID, with no audit log found (5 of 15). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification found, as on the other MiniMax listings (0 of 20). Total 33.\n\n### Reliability: Amazon Transcribe +28\n\n- Amazon Transcribe (75): AWS Health Dashboard with per-service, per-region history and RSS feeds (20). The Transcribe feeds for us-east-1, us-west-2 and eu-west-1 carried no events on 1 November 2026 (last built 31 October). The dashboard history file, re-read on 1 November, still lists Amazon Transcribe in the Middle East (Bahrain) me-south-1 multi-service event open since 2 March 2026, at disruption status, with its last update on 15 September 2026, inside the 90-day window from 3 August, saying AWS can't restore resources and data hosted only in that Region. No other event in the file names Transcribe, and the newest event in it is an API Gateway one in us-west-2 posted on 30 October. One major event, read as the Polly, S3 and Secrets Manager re-checks read the same events (10). Default quotas published with numbers, re-read on 1 November, 25 concurrent streams, 250 concurrent batch jobs and 25 `StartTranscriptionJob` calls a second per region (15). Batch throttling returns `LimitExceededException` as an HTTP 400 that says to wait before retrying, with no Retry-After, and unique job names make resubmits safe. Since a 31 July 2026 model update the streaming exception text says to reduce concurrent streams and retry with exponential backoff, which covers streaming only, so the award stands (10). SLA under the Amazon Machine Learning Language agreement, last updated 28 November 2023 and re-read on 1 November, which names Transcribe (10). GA (10). 20 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 75.\n- MiniMax Speech-to-Text (47): Atlassian Statuspage at status.minimax.io with component history, but its components are LLM, Text-to-Speech and Video Generation, with none for speech to text (10 of 20). With no component, the history holds no record for transcription (5). Limits published with numbers, 2 concurrent connections and 30,000 audio seconds a minute (15). 429 is documented as `rate_limit_error`, and the general error code page says to retry later, with no backoff figures or Retry-After (7 of 15). No SLA in the terms or docs (0). `asr-1.0` is called the current public model with no beta label (10). 10 + 5 + 15 + 7 + 0 + 10 = 47.\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Amazon Transcribe +22\n\n- Amazon Transcribe (85): Closed service under the AWS Service Terms, last updated 30 October 2026 (15). The service terms, privacy notice (last updated 18 May 2026, re-read on 1 November) and job retention agree, and the data processing addendum and a public sub-processor list (last updated 30 October 2026) exist, but the default permission to use content for improvement sits in section 50.3 of the service terms rather than the Transcribe guide. The DPA's text is per the 1 October check (25). The AWS Customer Agreement commits to advance notice before material functionality of a GA service is discontinued, but we found no dated Transcribe deprecation notices. The Python streaming SDK carries a deprecation notice in its README, which isn't the service (15). Sub-processors and regions disclosed, with region choice per request. Section 50.3(c) discloses that content kept for improvement may be stored outside the Region unless the organisation opts out (20). 15 + 25 + 15 + 20 = 75.\n- MiniMax Speech-to-Text (63): Closed API with clear terms under Singapore law naming Nanonoble Pte. Ltd., as on the other MiniMax listings (15 of 30). The terms and privacy policy agree that inputs may be used to improve services and that data sits in a United States data centre, with no retention period for audio (8 of 30). No deprecation notice or policy touches the ASR API (10 of 20, for the dated notices elsewhere on the API release notes). Data location stated as the United States and an EU representative named, with third parties only by category (10 of 20). Total 43.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Amazon Transcribe +10\n\n- Amazon Transcribe (80): API reading of the checklist. The transcript is one JSON file with every item and its timings, with SRT and VTT subtitles as the compact alternative and no field selection, per the 1 October check (15). `ListTranscriptionJobs` filters by `Status` and `JobNameContains` and pages with `MaxResults` and `NextToken`, re-read on 1 November (20). Typed exceptions per action, each with a recovery hint (20). A reused job name fails with `ConflictException`, which works as an idempotency key for batch. Streaming has no resume (15). Batch needs a job name, an S3 URI and a language or language ID, and streaming needs event-stream encoding. SDKs in every major language (10).\n- MiniMax Speech-to-Text (70): API reading of the checklist. The default `json` returns only text, duration and a trace ID, with segments and subtitles opt-in (22 of 25). No lists to page. `response_format` and `language` are the output controls (12 of 20). Typed error envelopes with the real HTTP status, an error type and `request_id`, and 402 for an empty balance (18 of 20). Calls are synchronous with no idempotency key (10 of 20). Two fields, a model and a file. No official SDK, and MiniMax's MCP servers don't cover transcription (8 of 15). Total 70.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: Amazon Transcribe +10\n\n- Amazon Transcribe (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-minute prices by region published without a login, re-read on 1 November ($0.006 batch and $0.01 streaming in US East) (20). The pricing page still shows 60 free minutes a month for 12 months, which per the 1 October check applies only to accounts opened before 2025-07-15. Newer accounts get up to $200 in Free Tier credits, and Free Tier FAQ Q4, re-read on 1 November, says a payment method isn't required to sign up for most new customers, though AWS may request one to verify identity. Half, as on the Polly, S3 and Secrets Manager listings (10). A person signs up in a browser. IAM can mint keys by API, but only after a human has an account (0). 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30.\n- MiniMax Speech-to-Text (20): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). $0.38 an hour published without a login (20). Speech to text is for paid accounts only (0). A person signs up in a browser and funds a balance (0). Total 20.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Amazon Transcribe | MiniMax Speech-to-Text | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 47 | Amazon Transcribe +28 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 82 | Amazon Transcribe +8 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 70 | Amazon Transcribe +10 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 83 | 33 | Amazon Transcribe +50 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | Amazon Transcribe +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 6 | Amazon Transcribe +54 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 63 | Amazon Transcribe +22 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **73.6 · BB** | **48.4 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Amazon Transcribe | MiniMax Speech-to-Text |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model API |\n| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | MiniMax |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://transcribe.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) | none |\n| Tools exposed | none | 0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-25 | none |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-10-01 | couldn't be read |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | couldn't be read |\n| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Popularity | 185 stars, 506k npm/wk, 201k PyPI/wk | none |\n| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |\n\n## What the same task costs\n\n| Task | Amazon Transcribe | MiniMax Speech-to-Text |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Transcribe a one-hour meeting | $0.36 to $0.60 | $0.38 |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Amazon Transcribe\n\n- -1.7 on 1 November 2026: time\n- no change on 27 October 2026: checklist\n- +1.9 on 17 October 2026: security, new evidence, correction\n\n### MiniMax Speech-to-Text\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Amazon Transcribe.** Batch transcription costs $0.006 a minute and streaming $0.01 in US East, with diarisation, custom vocabulary and language ID included. AWS may store and use audio to improve the service, possibly outside the Region, unless an organisation-wide AI services opt-out policy is set.\n\n**MiniMax Speech-to-Text.** MiniMax's ASR API has an OpenAPI file, typed error envelopes and a public price of $0.38 an hour, with diarisation and subtitle output. It takes files of up to 500 seconds only, allows 2 concurrent connections, has no free tier or status component, and no dated release.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Amazon Transcribe\n\n1. Give every job a unique `TranscriptionJobName`. A retry with the same name fails with `ConflictException` rather than starting a second job\n2. Poll `GetTranscriptionJob` or listen on EventBridge, and set `OutputBucketName`, because job records are deleted after 90 days\n3. Back off on `LimitExceededException`. It arrives as a 400, not a 429\n4. Set the organisation's AI services opt-out policy before sending customer audio\n5. For Python streaming install `aws-sdk-transcribe-streaming` on Python 3.12 or later, not the deprecated `amazon-transcribe` package\n\n### MiniMax Speech-to-Text\n\n1. Split recordings into pieces under 500 seconds before uploading, since longer audio returns 400\n2. Convert to mono 16 kHz or a compressed format to stay under 50 MB\n3. Use `verbose_json` for speakers and timestamps, and `json` only when streaming\n4. Treat 402 `insufficient_balance_error` as final and ask the user to top up\n5. Use `https://api.minimaxi.com` for a mainland China account\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Amazon Transcribe or MiniMax Speech-to-Text?\n\nAmazon Transcribe scores 73.6 (BB) on agent readiness against MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D), and leads in every scored category.\n\n### Do Amazon Transcribe and MiniMax Speech-to-Text need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Amazon Transcribe and MiniMax Speech-to-Text without installing anything?\n\nAmazon Transcribe has a hosted endpoint at https://transcribe.us-east-1.amazonaws.com. No hosted endpoint is listed for MiniMax Speech-to-Text.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"amazon-transcribe\", \"b\": \"minimax-stt\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare amazon-transcribe minimax-stt`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-transcribe.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/minimax-stt.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Amazon Transcribe or MiniMax Speech-to-Text\n\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-assemblyai-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Azure AI Speech speech-to-text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-azure-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Cartesia Ink](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-deepgram-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-elevenlabs-scribe.md)\n- [Amazon 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Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-openai-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-rev-ai-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Smallest.ai Pulse STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-smallest-pulse-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-soniox-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Giggy Speech to Text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/giggy-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [MiniMax Speech-to-Text vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.md)\n- [MiniMax Speech-to-Text vs OpenAI Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text.md)\n- [MiniMax Speech-to-Text vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.md)\n- [MiniMax Speech-to-Text vs Smallest.ai Pulse STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-stt-vs-smallest-pulse-stt.md)\n- [MiniMax Speech-to-Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)\n- [MiniMax Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Amazon Transcribe vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text", "url": "" } ], "description": "Amazon Transcribe scores 73.6 (BB) to MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D) for speech-to-text. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Amazon Transcribe BB 73.6", "MiniMax Speech-to-Text D 48.4", "scores" ], "h1": "Amazon Transcribe vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Amazon Transcribe vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-minimax-stt" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 5750, "slim": 3430 }, "version": 1 }