{ "data": { "a": { "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": [ { "item": "Ink 2 realtime, Scale plan", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.0067, "note": "180 credits a minute at $299 for 8M credits. Cartesia quotes $0.39 an hour" }, { "item": "Ink 2 realtime, Startup plan", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.0071, "note": "180 credits a minute at $49 for 1.25M credits" }, { "item": "Ink 2 realtime, Pro plan", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.009, "note": "180 credits a minute at $5 for 100,000 credits" }, { "item": "Ink Whisper realtime, Scale plan", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.0022, "note": "60 credits a minute at $299 for 8M credits" }, { "item": "Ink Whisper batch, Scale plan", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.0011, "note": "30 credits a minute at $299 for 8M credits" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Cartesia AI, Inc.", "domain": "cartesia.ai", "domainRegistered": "2023-05-10", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.cartesia.ai/legal/terms", "privacy": "https://www.cartesia.ai/legal/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.cartesia.ai", "changelog": "https://docs.cartesia.ai/changelog/2026", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-09", "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.json", "live": { "slug": "cartesia-ink-stt", "probe": { "target": "https://api.cartesia.ai", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-10T03:07:00.809061285Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 126, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 69, "p95ms24h": 203, "samples24h": 117, "samples30d": 117, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 85, "ok": 85 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 32, "ok": 32 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.cartesia.ai", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-10T03:01:52.995710279Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "cartesia-ai/cartesia-python", "version": "v4.2.0", "released": "2026-09-02", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:44:27.669680758Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@cartesia/cartesia-js", "version": "4.2.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:44:25.845737197Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "cartesia", "version": "4.2.0", "released": "2026-09-02", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:44:25.659263821Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "cartesia-mcp", "version": "0.26.1", "released": "2026-10-08", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:44:26.977578193Z" } ], "githubStars": 134, "npmWeekly": 79696, "pypiWeekly": 205864, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.cartesia.ai/changelog/2026", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:36:45.184290806Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:04:49.25388057Z", "fingerprint": "405fadad924b" }, { "url": "https://docs.cartesia.ai/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:36:47.532132362Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "379a41a8bcf3" }, { "url": "https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:48:59.764022121Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "12bd9269bdef" }, { "url": "https://www.cartesia.ai/legal/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:48:55.522982064Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:54.204830291Z", "fingerprint": "90fbd63881e5" }, { "url": "https://www.cartesia.ai/legal/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:48:57.753461207Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:56.591248396Z", "fingerprint": "2153bed03a23" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T03:07:00.809061285Z" } }, "answer": "Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation and maintenance \u0026 community.", "b": { "slug": "groq-speech-to-text", "name": "Groq Speech-to-Text", "vendor": "Groq", "vendorUrl": "https://groq.com", "kind": "model", "category": "speech-to-text", "summary": "Groq's hosted speech-to-text API. It runs OpenAI's Whisper Large v3 and Whisper Large v3 Turbo on OpenAI-compatible transcription and translation endpoints, for uploaded files or audio URLs, with a half-price batch mode.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/groq-speech-to-text", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/groq-speech-to-text.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/groq-speech-to-text.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/groq-speech-to-text.json", "repo": "https://github.com/groq/groq-python", "license": "Proprietary hosted service under the Groq Services Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0 and the Whisper weights are published by OpenAI on Hugging Face", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "groq" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "groq-sdk" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Self-serve bearer key from the GroqCloud console, created inside a project. Projects carry their own rate limits per model, usage data and request logs (https://console.groq.com/docs/projects).", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "$0.04 per audio hour for Whisper Large v3 Turbo and $0.111 for Whisper Large v3, with a 10-second minimum a request and 50% off through the Batch API (https://console.groq.com/docs/models). The free plan needs no card, so an agent's owner can start without a contract. The Developer plan is postpaid by card, US bank account or SEPA debit.", "priceSummary": "Freemium", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the speech-to-text guide, the API reference or the billing pages (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 621, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://console.groq.com/docs/speech-to-text", "llmsTxt": "https://console.groq.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "speech.stt", "speech.batch", "speech.languages" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "model", "fast", "free-tier", "no-card", "llms-txt", "python", "typescript", "batch", "openai-compatible" ], "lastRelease": "2026-08-26", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 71.8, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 117, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 950, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 75, "maintenance": 68, "payments": 40, "reliability": 90, "schema": 58, "security": 79, "transparency": 85 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Whisper Large v3 Turbo costs $0.04 an audio hour and Whisper Large v3 $0.111, with a no-card free plan and zero data retention as a self-serve setting. There is no streaming endpoint, no diarisation and no subtitle output, and uploads stop at 25 MB on the free plan and 100 MB on the Developer plan.", "bestFor": "Suited to cheap, fast transcription of recorded files in many languages, and to agents that already hold a Groq key or use an OpenAI-compatible client.", "strengths": [ "Published prices of $0.04 an audio hour for Whisper Large v3 Turbo and $0.111 for Whisper Large v3, with 50% off through the Batch API", "Free plan with no card at 20 requests a minute, 2,000 a day and 7,200 audio seconds an hour on both models", "Inputs and outputs are not retained by default, and zero data retention is a console setting that covers both audio endpoints", "The status page lists each Whisper model as its own component, both at 100% uptime for July to October 2026", "OpenAI-compatible request shape, with `model` and a `file` or `url` as the only required fields" ], "weaknesses": [ "No streaming or realtime endpoint and no diarisation in the reviewed documentation", "Uploads are capped at 25 MB on the free plan and 100 MB on the Developer plan, so long recordings need client-side chunking", "`srt` and `vtt` response formats are not supported, and Whisper Large v3 Turbo cannot translate", "No OpenAPI document was found, and the docs changelog's newest entry is dated 18 April", "The 99.9% availability SLA of the enterprise Performance Tier names three language models and neither Whisper model" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `whisper-large-v3-turbo` for transcription and `whisper-large-v3` for translation to English. The translations endpoint does not accept Turbo.", "Pass `url` instead of `file` for audio over 25 MB, and split anything over the plan's size limit into overlapping chunks before sending.", "Set `response_format` to `verbose_json` before asking for `timestamp_granularities[]`. Word timestamps add latency, segment timestamps do not.", "Every request is billed as at least 10 seconds of audio, so join very short clips where the task allows.", "Read `retry-after` on a 429 and back off. Audio limits count seconds an hour and a day as well as requests." ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 71.8 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 75, "maintenance": 68, "payments": 40, "reliability": 90, "schema": 58, "security": 79, "transparency": 72 }, "provenanceScore": 98 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install groq # or: npm install --save groq-sdk", "http": "curl https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/audio/transcriptions \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $GROQ_API_KEY\" \\\n -H \"Content-Type: multipart/form-data\" \\\n -F file=\"@./sample_audio.m4a\" \\\n -F model=\"whisper-large-v3\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/speech.stt", "tool": "https://letme.dev/groq-speech-to-text" }, "sameCompany": [ "groq" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Whisper Large v3 Turbo ($0.04 an audio hour)", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.000667 }, { "item": "Whisper Large v3 ($0.111 an audio hour)", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.00185 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Groq LLC", "domain": "groq.com", "domainRegistered": "2007-07-22", "domainNote": "The registration date is per the 26 September check of the GroqCloud listing and was not re-read on 8 October. groq.com was registered before Groq existed. Customers in the EEA and Switzerland contract with Groq UK Limited.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://console.groq.com/docs/legal/services-agreement", "privacy": "https://groq.com/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://groqstatus.com", "changelog": "https://console.groq.com/docs/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "score": 98 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/groq-speech-to-text.json", "live": { "slug": "groq-speech-to-text", "probe": { "target": "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-10T03:07:07.598634731Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 177, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 199, "p95ms24h": 284, "samples24h": 201, "samples30d": 201, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 169, "ok": 169 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 32, "ok": 32 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://groqstatus.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-10T03:02:13.557858059Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "groq/groq-python", "version": "v1.7.0", "released": "2026-08-26", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:56:57.125960169Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "groq-sdk", "version": "1.6.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:56:56.300671531Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "groq", "version": "1.7.0", "released": "2026-08-26", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:56:56.108246835Z" } ], "githubStars": 621, "npmWeekly": 884716, "pypiWeekly": 4040988, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://groq.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T15:40:10.425828811Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://console.groq.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T14:02:04.377441459Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://console.groq.com/docs/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:34:17.894319038Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ac2cb86ef05a" }, { "url": "https://groq.com/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:39:59.465247347Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-09T18:39:59.465247347Z", "fingerprint": "1ae299b9f26b" }, { "url": "https://console.groq.com/docs/legal/services-agreement", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:34:22.225273307Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a0b93cf713d4" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T03:07:07.598634731Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Model API", "b": "Model API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Cartesia", "b": "Groq", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.cartesia.ai", "b": "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, websocket, Streamable HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary hosted service under the Cartesia Terms of Service. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are Apache-2.0", "b": "Proprietary hosted service under the Groq Services Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0 and the Whisper weights are published by OpenAI on Hugging Face", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-17", "b": "2026-08-26", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2024-06-14", "b": "2026-06-22", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2024-06-14", "b": "2025-11-12", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes, with an opt-out", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "134 stars", "b": "621 stars", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation and maintenance \u0026 community.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Cartesia Ink or Groq Speech-to-Text?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do Cartesia Ink and Groq Speech-to-Text need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Cartesia Ink has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cartesia.ai and Groq Speech-to-Text at https://api.groq.com/openai/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call Cartesia Ink and Groq Speech-to-Text without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 89 against 58", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 68" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "cartesia-ink-stt", "watchFor": "The terms let Cartesia train models on inputs and outputs unless otherwise agreed. Opting out is a form in the Playground's data controls" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 90 against 73", "Security \u0026 auth, 79 against 52", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 85 against 67" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Suited to cheap, fast transcription of recorded files in many languages, and to agents that already hold a Groq key or use an OpenAI-compatible client.", "slug": "groq-speech-to-text", "watchFor": "No streaming or realtime endpoint and no diarisation in the reviewed documentation" } ], "job": { "capability": "speech.stt", "name": "Speech-to-text" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.json", "title": "Amazon Transcribe vs Cartesia Ink", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-cartesia-ink-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Amazon Transcribe vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Cartesia Ink", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-cartesia-ink-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.json", "title": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Cartesia Ink", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-cartesia-ink-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-deepgram-stt.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-deepgram-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-elevenlabs-scribe.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-elevenlabs-scribe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-gladia-stt.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-gladia-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-google-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-google-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs OpenAI Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-soniox-stt.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Soniox Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-soniox-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "title": "ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.json", "title": "Groq Speech-to-Text vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-openai-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Groq Speech-to-Text vs OpenAI Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-openai-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-rev-ai-stt.json", "title": "Groq Speech-to-Text vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-rev-ai-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.json", "title": "Groq Speech-to-Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-speechmatics-stt.json", "title": "Groq Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-speechmatics-stt" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 17, "cartesia-ink-stt": 73, "edge": "groq-speech-to-text", "groq-speech-to-text": 90, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 31, "cartesia-ink-stt": 89, "edge": "cartesia-ink-stt", "groq-speech-to-text": 58, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 1, "cartesia-ink-stt": 74, "edge": "groq-speech-to-text", "groq-speech-to-text": 75, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 27, "cartesia-ink-stt": 52, "edge": "groq-speech-to-text", "groq-speech-to-text": 79, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 5, "cartesia-ink-stt": 35, "edge": "groq-speech-to-text", "groq-speech-to-text": 40, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 17, "cartesia-ink-stt": 85, "edge": "cartesia-ink-stt", "groq-speech-to-text": 68, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 18, "cartesia-ink-stt": 67, "edge": "groq-speech-to-text", "groq-speech-to-text": 85, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do speech-to-text.", "verdicts": { "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.", "groq-speech-to-text": "Whisper Large v3 Turbo costs $0.04 an audio hour and Whisper Large v3 $0.111, with a no-card free plan and zero data retention as a self-serve setting. There is no streaming endpoint, no diarisation and no subtitle output, and uploads stop at 25 MB on the free plan and 100 MB on the Developer plan." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.min.md" }, "markdown": "Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do speech-to-text.\n\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- Groq Speech-to-Text: grade BB, 71.8/100, rank #117 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/groq-speech-to-text.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/groq-speech-to-text.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### 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 58\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 68\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### Groq Speech-to-Text (BB)\n\nGood for: Suited to cheap, fast transcription of recorded files in many languages, and to agents that already hold a Groq key or use an OpenAI-compatible client.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 90 against 73\n- Security \u0026 auth, 79 against 52\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 85 against 67\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No streaming or realtime endpoint and no diarisation in the reviewed documentation\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Cartesia Ink | Groq Speech-to-Text | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 73 | 90 | Groq Speech-to-Text +17 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 58 | Cartesia Ink +31 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 75 | Groq Speech-to-Text +1 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 52 | 79 | Groq Speech-to-Text +27 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Groq Speech-to-Text +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 68 | Cartesia Ink +17 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 85 | Groq Speech-to-Text +18 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **67.9 · B** | **71.8 · BB** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Cartesia Ink | Groq Speech-to-Text |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model API |\n| Vendor | Cartesia | Groq |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cartesia.ai` | `https://api.groq.com/openai/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP, websocket, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary hosted service under the Cartesia Terms of Service. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are Apache-2.0 | Proprietary hosted service under the Groq Services Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0 and the Whisper weights are published by OpenAI on Hugging Face |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-26 |\n| Terms last updated | 2024-06-14 | 2026-06-22 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-06-14 | 2025-11-12 |\n| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 134 stars | 621 stars |\n\n## Verdicts\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**Groq Speech-to-Text.** Whisper Large v3 Turbo costs $0.04 an audio hour and Whisper Large v3 $0.111, with a no-card free plan and zero data retention as a self-serve setting. There is no streaming endpoint, no diarisation and no subtitle output, and uploads stop at 25 MB on the free plan and 100 MB on the Developer plan.\n\n## Before you call either\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### Groq Speech-to-Text\n\n1. Send `whisper-large-v3-turbo` for transcription and `whisper-large-v3` for translation to English. The translations endpoint does not accept Turbo.\n2. Pass `url` instead of `file` for audio over 25 MB, and split anything over the plan's size limit into overlapping chunks before sending.\n3. Set `response_format` to `verbose_json` before asking for `timestamp_granularities[]`. Word timestamps add latency, segment timestamps do not.\n4. Every request is billed as at least 10 seconds of audio, so join very short clips where the task allows.\n5. Read `retry-after` on a 429 and back off. Audio limits count seconds an hour and a day as well as requests.\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Cartesia Ink or Groq Speech-to-Text?\n\nGroq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cartesia Ink leads on schema \u0026 documentation and maintenance \u0026 community.\n\n### Do Cartesia Ink and Groq Speech-to-Text need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Cartesia Ink and Groq Speech-to-Text without installing anything?\n\nYes. Cartesia Ink has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cartesia.ai and Groq Speech-to-Text at https://api.groq.com/openai/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"cartesia-ink-stt\", \"b\": \"groq-speech-to-text\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cartesia-ink-stt groq-speech-to-text`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/groq-speech-to-text.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Cartesia Ink or Groq Speech-to-Text\n\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Cartesia Ink](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-groq-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- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Cartesia Ink](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-cartesia-ink-stt.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- [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 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- [Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)\n- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs OpenAI Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-openai-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-rev-ai-stt.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-10", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Cartesia Ink vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "url": "" } ], "description": "Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) to Cartesia Ink's 67.9 (B) for speech-to-text. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Cartesia Ink B 67.9", "Groq Speech-to-Text BB 71.8", "scores" ], "h1": "Cartesia Ink vs Groq Speech-to-Text", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.png", "path": "/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Groq Speech-to-Text for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2850, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }