{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "slug": "azure-speech-to-text",
      "name": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text",
      "vendor": "Microsoft Azure",
      "vendorUrl": "https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-services/speech-to-text",
      "kind": "model",
      "category": "speech-to-text",
      "summary": "Azure's speech-to-text service for transcribing audio.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-speech-to-text",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-speech-to-text.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-speech-to-text.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/azure-speech-to-text.json",
      "repo": "https://github.com/Azure-Samples/cognitive-services-speech-sdk",
      "license": "MIT (samples), SDK under Microsoft's own licence",
      "transports": [
        "http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://eastus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/speechtotext",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "azure-cognitiveservices-speech"
        },
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "microsoft-cognitiveservices-speech-sdk"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "`Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key` header with a Speech resource key, or a Microsoft Entra ID bearer token (Microsoft's recommended keyless option). Endpoints are per region or per resource. The MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming Realtime WebSocket also takes the key as an `api-key` header or query-string parameter.",
      "pricing": "freemium",
      "pricingNotes": "Free F0 tier with 5 audio hours a month of real-time. Pay as you go in East US is $1 an hour real-time, $0.36 fast transcription, $0.18 batch, $1.20 custom real-time. Diarisation and continuous language ID in real time add $0.30 an hour each. MAI-Transcribe-2 is $0.10 an hour until 2026-12-31. MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming is $0.54 an hour until the end of 2026 per Microsoft AI's launch post (https://microsoft.ai/news/our-first-streaming-transcription-model/), with no Azure meter found on 2026-10-05. Commitment tiers from $1,600 a month for 2,000 hours (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/speech/).",
      "priceSummary": "Freemium",
      "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": 3450,
        "npmWeekly": 475621,
        "pypiWeekly": 1032532,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/speech-service/speech-to-text",
      "capabilities": [
        "speech.stt",
        "speech.streaming",
        "speech.batch",
        "speech.diarisation",
        "speech.languages",
        "speech.translation"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "freemium",
        "free-tier",
        "closed-source",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "enterprise",
        "streaming",
        "batch",
        "async-jobs",
        "webhooks"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-09-28",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 73,
        "grade": "BB",
        "agentReady": true,
        "rank": 93,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 950,
        "categoryRank": 2,
        "methodology": "0.4",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 75,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 80,
          "schema": 80,
          "security": 85,
          "transparency": 85
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-05"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Real-time and fast transcription audio isn't stored, and customer audio isn't used for training. MAI-Transcribe-2 and the new MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming are preview with no SLA, and the streaming model's WebSocket route accepts the resource key in the URL query string.",
        "bestFor": "Teams on Azure who need several modes (real time, synchronous files, cheap batch, custom models) under one resource, or strict default data handling.",
        "strengths": [
          "Real-time and fast transcription audio isn't stored, and customer audio isn't used for training",
          "Fast transcription returns files up to 5 hours and 500 MB in one synchronous call",
          "Batch at $0.18 an hour, and a free F0 tier with 5 real-time hours a month",
          "429 guidance with a concrete backoff pattern of 1, 2, 4 and 4 minutes",
          "Keys or Entra ID tokens with role-based access"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "MAI-Transcribe-2 and MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming are preview with no SLA, and both introductory prices end with 2026",
          "The MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming WebSocket docs allow the resource key as an `api-key` query parameter",
          "REST API v3.0 and the v3.2 previews were retired on 2026-03-31, and older samples still target them",
          "No llms.txt, and the pricing page needs JavaScript",
          "An Azure subscription needs a card, even for the F0 tier"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Use fast transcription (`transcriptions:transcribe`) for files under 5 hours and 500 MB, and batch for bulk jobs with `timeToLive` set",
          "Pin `api-version=2025-10-15`. v3.0 and the v3.2 previews are retired",
          "On a 429, back off 1, 2, 4 then 4 minutes. It usually means autoscaling, not a quota",
          "For MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming, use Speech SDK 1.52 with the `/speech/universal/v2` endpoint, or send the key in the `api-key` header, never the query string",
          "Don't budget on MAI-Transcribe-2 at $0.10 or MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming at $0.54 an hour after 2026-12-31"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 8,
        "avgRating": 3.3,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "BB",
            "methodology": "0.4",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 73
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 75,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 80,
          "schema": 80,
          "security": 85,
          "transparency": 80
        },
        "provenanceScore": 90
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "pip install azure-cognitiveservices-speech   # or: npm i microsoft-cognitiveservices-speech-sdk",
        "http": "curl -X POST \"https://$AZURE_SPEECH_RESOURCE.cognitiveservices.azure.com/speechtotext/transcriptions:transcribe?api-version=2025-10-15\" \\\n  -H \"Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: $AZURE_SPEECH_KEY\" \\\n  -F \"audio=@call.wav\" -F 'definition={\"locales\":[\"en-US\"]}'"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/speech.stt",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/azure-speech-to-text"
      },
      "sameCompany": [
        "azure-foundry-fine-tuning",
        "azure-ai-content-safety",
        "azure-text-to-speech",
        "microsoft-agent-framework",
        "microsoft-execution-containers",
        "microsoft-entra-agent-id",
        "azure-key-vault",
        "azure-document-intelligence",
        "azure-devops-mcp",
        "microsoft-learn-mcp",
        "playwright-mcp",
        "azure-mcp",
        "azure-maps",
        "azure-translator",
        "microsoft-graph-calendar",
        "azure-blob-storage",
        "onedrive-sharepoint",
        "microsoft-teams",
        "dynamics-365-sales",
        "power-automate",
        "foundry-local",
        "microsoft-advertising-api",
        "microsoft-excel-graph",
        "outlook-mail-graph"
      ],
      "area": "voice",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Real-time standard",
          "unit": "audio-minute",
          "usd": 0.0167,
          "note": "$1 an hour, East US"
        },
        {
          "item": "Fast transcription",
          "unit": "audio-minute",
          "usd": 0.006,
          "note": "$0.36 an hour"
        },
        {
          "item": "Batch standard",
          "unit": "audio-minute",
          "usd": 0.003,
          "note": "$0.18 an hour"
        },
        {
          "item": "MAI-Transcribe-2 (preview)",
          "unit": "audio-minute",
          "usd": 0.00167,
          "note": "$0.10 an hour, promotional until 2026-12-31"
        },
        {
          "item": "MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming (preview)",
          "unit": "audio-minute",
          "usd": 0.009,
          "note": "$0.54 an hour, introductory until the end of 2026, per Microsoft AI's launch post. No Azure meter found"
        },
        {
          "item": "Custom real-time",
          "unit": "audio-minute",
          "usd": 0.02,
          "note": "$1.20 an hour, plus endpoint hosting"
        },
        {
          "item": "Real-time add-on (diarisation or language ID)",
          "unit": "audio-minute",
          "usd": 0.005,
          "note": "$0.30 an hour per feature"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Microsoft Corporation",
        "domain": "microsoft.com",
        "domainRegistered": "1991-05-02",
        "domainNote": "Endpoints are on speech.microsoft.com, api.cognitive.microsoft.com and cognitiveservices.azure.com. microsoft.com publishes a security.txt, but it passed its Expires date on 2026-09-23.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/",
        "privacy": "https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement",
        "statusPage": "https://azure.status.microsoft/en-us/status",
        "changelog": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/speech-service/releasenotes",
        "securityTxt": "expired",
        "checked": "2026-09-30",
        "score": 90
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-speech-to-text.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "azure-speech-to-text",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://eastus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/speechtotext",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-10-10T03:06:57.654383033Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 404,
          "lastMs": 328,
          "authRequired": false,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 335,
          "p95ms24h": 435,
          "samples24h": 249,
          "samples30d": 2468,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-09-30",
              "probes": 35,
              "ok": 35
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-01",
              "probes": 276,
              "ok": 276
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-02",
              "probes": 248,
              "ok": 248
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-03",
              "probes": 271,
              "ok": 271
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-04",
              "probes": 272,
              "ok": 272
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-05",
              "probes": 272,
              "ok": 272
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-06",
              "probes": 272,
              "ok": 272
            },
            {
              "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": 32,
              "ok": 32
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://azure.status.microsoft/en-us/status",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T10:02:53.355601307Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "github",
            "name": "Azure-Samples/cognitive-services-speech-sdk",
            "version": "ingestion-v2.1.13",
            "released": "2026-07-10",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:41:59.685551187Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "microsoft-cognitiveservices-speech-sdk",
            "version": "1.52.0",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:41:58.867091363Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "azure-cognitiveservices-speech",
            "version": "1.52.0",
            "released": "2026-09-28",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:41:58.653131652Z"
          }
        ],
        "githubStars": 3451,
        "npmWeekly": 443378,
        "pypiWeekly": 708418,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://microsoft.com/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "expired",
          "expires": "2026-09-23T16:00:00.000Z",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T15:40:16.790821018Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "microsoft.com",
          "registered": "1991-05-02",
          "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/microsoft.com",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:04:13.488857536Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/speech-service/releasenotes",
            "kind": "changelog",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:41:11.934839768Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-10-09T18:41:11.934839768Z",
            "fingerprint": "ff387f6ed40a"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/speech-service/mai-transcribe",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 304,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:41:10.134039809Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "ebf9086dffd9"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/speech-service/rest-speech-to-text",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 304,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:41:13.706182763Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "fd2ed8814ecb"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/speech/",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:32:58.283662913Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:02:47.446412299Z",
            "fingerprint": "425d06bee416"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement",
            "kind": "privacy",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-01T13:14:57.860748137Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "07484a06f35c"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 502,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-01T13:17:52.720054167Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
          }
        ],
        "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T03:06:57.654383033Z"
      }
    },
    "answer": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community.",
    "b": {
      "slug": "cartesia-ink-stt",
      "name": "Cartesia Ink",
      "vendor": "Cartesia",
      "vendorUrl": "https://www.cartesia.ai",
      "kind": "model",
      "category": "speech-to-text",
      "summary": "Cartesia's hosted speech-to-text API. Ink 2 transcribes live audio in five languages over a WebSocket with built-in turn detection, and the older Ink Whisper model transcribes uploaded files in about 100 languages.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-ink-stt",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.json",
      "repo": "https://github.com/cartesia-ai/cartesia-python",
      "license": "Proprietary hosted service under the Cartesia Terms of Service. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are Apache-2.0",
      "transports": [
        "http",
        "websocket",
        "streamable-http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://api.cartesia.ai",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "cartesia"
        },
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "@cartesia/cartesia-js"
        },
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "cartesia-mcp"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "api-key",
      "authNotes": "Self-serve API key (`sk_car_...`) from the Playground at play.cartesia.ai/keys, sent as `Authorization: Bearer` or `X-API-Key`. Browser clients use an access token with an `stt` grant, valid for at most one hour, passed as the `access_token` query parameter on WebSockets. Usage and key-metadata endpoints need a separate admin key (https://docs.cartesia.ai/use-the-api/api-conventions).",
      "pricing": "freemium",
      "pricingNotes": "Billed in credits. `ink-2` costs 3 credits a second of audio on both realtime endpoints, silence included. `ink-whisper` costs 1 credit a second in realtime and 1 credit per 2 seconds in batch (https://docs.cartesia.ai/pricing). Plans are Free ($0, 20,000 credits a month), Pro ($5, 100,000), Startup ($49, 1.25 million) and Scale ($299, 8 million), so an agent's owner can start without a contract. Commercial use starts at Pro (https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing).",
      "priceSummary": "Freemium",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs index, the pricing pages or the STT reference (checked 2026-10-09).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": 134,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-10-09"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://docs.cartesia.ai/use-the-api/stt/compare-endpoints",
      "llmsTxt": "https://docs.cartesia.ai/llms.txt",
      "openapi": "https://docs.cartesia.ai/latest.yml",
      "capabilities": [
        "speech.stt",
        "speech.streaming",
        "speech.batch",
        "speech.languages"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "official",
        "hosted",
        "model",
        "closed-source",
        "streaming",
        "batch",
        "free-tier",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "openapi",
        "llms-txt",
        "mcp",
        "status-page",
        "security-txt",
        "soc2",
        "enterprise"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-09-17",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 67.9,
        "grade": "B",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 238,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 950,
        "categoryRank": 9,
        "methodology": "0.4",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 74,
          "maintenance": 85,
          "payments": 35,
          "reliability": 73,
          "schema": 89,
          "security": 52,
          "transparency": 67
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-09"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Ink 2 streams transcripts with turn detection built into the model, documented by an AsyncAPI file with typed ranges and structured errors. The terms, last revised 14 June 2024, let Cartesia train on inputs and outputs unless the customer opts out, and zero data retention is an Enterprise setting. Ink 2 has no batch endpoint and no diarisation.",
        "bestFor": "Suited to voice agents that need turn detection and transcription from one model in English, French, Hindi, Japanese or Spanish, and to teams already using Cartesia text-to-speech.",
        "strengths": [
          "`/stt/turns/websocket` emits `turn.start`, `turn.update`, `turn.eager_end`, `turn.resume` and `turn.end`, so no separate voice activity detector is needed",
          "OpenAPI and AsyncAPI files, llms.txt and Markdown twins of every docs page, with enums and numeric ranges on the WebSocket parameters",
          "Structured errors on `Cartesia-Version` 2026-03-01 and later, with `error_code`, `title`, `message`, `request_id` and an optional `doc_url`",
          "Short-lived access tokens (at most one hour) carry an `stt` grant, and admin keys are a separate key type from standard keys",
          "The status page lists Speech to Text in four regions, at 99.97% (US), 99.994% (EU and APAC) and 100% (AU) for July to October 2026"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "The terms let Cartesia train models on inputs and outputs unless otherwise agreed. Opting out is a form in the Playground's data controls",
          "Zero data retention is an Enterprise plan setting, and no retention period for other plans was found in the terms, privacy policy or docs",
          "`ink-2` supports English, French, Hindi, Japanese and Spanish only and has no batch endpoint. `POST /stt` accepts `ink-whisper` only",
          "No diarisation or speaker labels in the reviewed documentation, and realtime input is raw mono PCM with `encoding` and `sample_rate` required",
          "The terms of 14 June 2024 forbid automation software (bots) and any robot or scraper that accesses the Services to collect data, which matters before any probe is run",
          "No SLA was found, and a 429 for exceeding the concurrency limit is documented without a `Retry-After` header or backoff guidance"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Use `wss://api.cartesia.ai/stt/turns/websocket` with `model=ink-2`, `encoding`, `sample_rate` and `cartesia_version=2026-08-14`. All four are required.",
          "Send raw mono audio in chunks of about 100 ms at the speed it was spoken. Pushing a whole file into the socket can return an internal server error.",
          "Read the final text from `turn.end` only. `transcript` is cumulative within a turn, so joining `turn.update` events duplicates text.",
          "Send `{\"type\": \"close\"}` after the last audio and keep reading until the server closes the socket, or the buffered tail is lost.",
          "Check `encoding` and `sample_rate` against the source before sending. The docs say the server might not return an error when they are wrong."
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 0,
        "avgRating": 0,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "B",
            "methodology": "0.4",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 67.9
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 74,
          "maintenance": 85,
          "payments": 35,
          "reliability": 73,
          "schema": 89,
          "security": 52,
          "transparency": 49
        },
        "provenanceScore": 84
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "pip install 'cartesia[websockets]'   # or: npm install @cartesia/cartesia-js",
        "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http --scope user cartesia https://mcp.cartesia.ai/mcp"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/speech.stt",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/cartesia-ink-stt"
      },
      "sameCompany": [
        "cartesia-tts",
        "cartesia-voice-cloning"
      ],
      "area": "voice",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
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        "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Azure AI Speech speech-to-text or Cartesia Ink?"
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        "question": "Do Azure AI Speech speech-to-text and Cartesia Ink need an API key?"
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        "answer": "Yes. Azure AI Speech speech-to-text has a hosted endpoint at https://eastus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/speechtotext and Cartesia Ink at https://api.cartesia.ai.",
        "question": "Can an agent call Azure AI Speech speech-to-text and Cartesia Ink without installing anything?"
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          "Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 80"
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-azure-speech-to-text.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-azure-speech-to-text"
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-deepgram-stt.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-elevenlabs-scribe.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-gladia-stt.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-rev-ai-stt.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt"
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-soniox-stt.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-soniox-stt"
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.json",
        "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text",
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        "by": 7,
        "cartesia-ink-stt": 73,
        "edge": "azure-speech-to-text",
        "key": "reliability",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "weight": 16
      },
      {
        "key": "performance",
        "name": "Performance",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "azure-speech-to-text": 80,
        "by": 9,
        "cartesia-ink-stt": 89,
        "edge": "cartesia-ink-stt",
        "key": "schema",
        "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation",
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "azure-speech-to-text": 75,
        "by": 1,
        "cartesia-ink-stt": 74,
        "edge": "azure-speech-to-text",
        "key": "ergonomics",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "azure-speech-to-text": 85,
        "by": 33,
        "cartesia-ink-stt": 52,
        "edge": "azure-speech-to-text",
        "key": "security",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "weight": 14
      },
      {
        "azure-speech-to-text": 20,
        "by": 15,
        "cartesia-ink-stt": 35,
        "edge": "cartesia-ink-stt",
        "key": "payments",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "key": "tasks",
        "name": "Task success",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "azure-speech-to-text": 80,
        "by": 5,
        "cartesia-ink-stt": 85,
        "edge": "cartesia-ink-stt",
        "key": "maintenance",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "weight": 7
      },
      {
        "azure-speech-to-text": 85,
        "by": 18,
        "cartesia-ink-stt": 67,
        "edge": "azure-speech-to-text",
        "key": "transparency",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "weight": 7
      }
    ],
    "summary": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do speech-to-text.",
    "verdicts": {
      "azure-speech-to-text": "Real-time and fast transcription audio isn't stored, and customer audio isn't used for training. MAI-Transcribe-2 and the new MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming are preview with no SLA, and the streaming model's WebSocket route accepts the resource key in the URL query string.",
      "cartesia-ink-stt": "Ink 2 streams transcripts with turn detection built into the model, documented by an AsyncAPI file with typed ranges and structured errors. The terms, last revised 14 June 2024, let Cartesia train on inputs and outputs unless the customer opts out, and zero data retention is an Enterprise setting. Ink 2 has no batch endpoint and no diarisation."
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  "markdown": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do speech-to-text.\n\n- Azure AI Speech speech-to-text: grade BB, 73/100, rank #93 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-speech-to-text.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/azure-speech-to-text.json\n- Cartesia Ink: grade B, 67.9/100, rank #238 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.json\n- Best speech-to-text APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/speech-to-text/index.md\n- All 91 stt comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/speech-to-text/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Azure AI Speech speech-to-text (BB)\n\nGood for: Teams on Azure who need several modes (real time, synchronous files, cheap batch, custom models) under one resource, or strict default data handling.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 80 against 73\n- Security \u0026 auth, 85 against 52\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 85 against 67\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: MAI-Transcribe-2 and MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming are preview with no SLA, and both introductory prices end with 2026\n\n### Cartesia Ink (B)\n\nGood for: Suited to voice agents that need turn detection and transcription from one model in English, French, Hindi, Japanese or Spanish, and to teams already using Cartesia text-to-speech.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 89 against 80\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 35 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 80\n\nWatch for: The terms let Cartesia train models on inputs and outputs unless otherwise agreed. Opting out is a form in the Playground's data controls\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Azure AI Speech speech-to-text | Cartesia Ink | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 73 | Azure AI Speech speech-to-text +7 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 89 | Cartesia Ink +9 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 74 | Azure AI Speech speech-to-text +1 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 85 | 52 | Azure AI Speech speech-to-text +33 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 35 | Cartesia Ink +15 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 85 | Cartesia Ink +5 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 67 | Azure AI Speech speech-to-text +18 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **73 · BB** | **67.9 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Azure AI Speech speech-to-text | Cartesia Ink |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model API |\n| Vendor | Microsoft Azure | Cartesia |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://eastus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/speechtotext` | `https://api.cartesia.ai` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, websocket, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT (samples), SDK under Microsoft's own licence | Proprietary hosted service under the Cartesia Terms of Service. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-17 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2024-06-14 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | 2024-06-14 |\n| Customer content may train models | yes | yes, with an opt-out |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Popularity | 3.5k stars, 476k npm/wk, 1M PyPI/wk | 134 stars |\n| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (8) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Azure AI Speech speech-to-text.** Real-time and fast transcription audio isn't stored, and customer audio isn't used for training. MAI-Transcribe-2 and the new MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming are preview with no SLA, and the streaming model's WebSocket route accepts the resource key in the URL query string.\n\n**Cartesia Ink.** Ink 2 streams transcripts with turn detection built into the model, documented by an AsyncAPI file with typed ranges and structured errors. The terms, last revised 14 June 2024, let Cartesia train on inputs and outputs unless the customer opts out, and zero data retention is an Enterprise setting. Ink 2 has no batch endpoint and no diarisation.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Azure AI Speech speech-to-text\n\n1. Use fast transcription (`transcriptions:transcribe`) for files under 5 hours and 500 MB, and batch for bulk jobs with `timeToLive` set\n2. Pin `api-version=2025-10-15`. v3.0 and the v3.2 previews are retired\n3. On a 429, back off 1, 2, 4 then 4 minutes. It usually means autoscaling, not a quota\n4. For MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming, use Speech SDK 1.52 with the `/speech/universal/v2` endpoint, or send the key in the `api-key` header, never the query string\n5. Don't budget on MAI-Transcribe-2 at $0.10 or MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming at $0.54 an hour after 2026-12-31\n\n### Cartesia Ink\n\n1. Use `wss://api.cartesia.ai/stt/turns/websocket` with `model=ink-2`, `encoding`, `sample_rate` and `cartesia_version=2026-08-14`. All four are required.\n2. Send raw mono audio in chunks of about 100 ms at the speed it was spoken. Pushing a whole file into the socket can return an internal server error.\n3. Read the final text from `turn.end` only. `transcript` is cumulative within a turn, so joining `turn.update` events duplicates text.\n4. Send `{\"type\": \"close\"}` after the last audio and keep reading until the server closes the socket, or the buffered tail is lost.\n5. Check `encoding` and `sample_rate` against the source before sending. The docs say the server might not return an error when they are wrong.\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Azure AI Speech speech-to-text or Cartesia Ink?\n\nAzure AI Speech speech-to-text scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community.\n\n### Do Azure AI Speech speech-to-text and Cartesia Ink need an API key?\n\nAzure AI Speech speech-to-text takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Cartesia Ink needs an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Azure AI Speech speech-to-text and Cartesia Ink without installing anything?\n\nYes. Azure AI Speech speech-to-text has a hosted endpoint at https://eastus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/speechtotext and Cartesia Ink at https://api.cartesia.ai.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"azure-speech-to-text\", \"b\": \"cartesia-ink-stt\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare azure-speech-to-text cartesia-ink-stt`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/azure-speech-to-text.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Azure AI Speech speech-to-text or Cartesia Ink\n\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- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Azure AI Speech speech-to-text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-azure-speech-to-text.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Cartesia Ink](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-deepgram-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-elevenlabs-scribe.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-gladia-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-google-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs OpenAI Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-openai-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-rev-ai-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-deepgram-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-elevenlabs-scribe.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-gladia-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-google-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs OpenAI Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)\n",
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