# Groq Speech-to-Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text

> Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Soniox Speech-to-Text's 58.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do speech stt. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Soniox Speech-to-Text's 58.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do speech stt.

- Groq Speech-to-Text: grade BB, 71.8/100, rank #113 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/groq-speech-to-text.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/groq-speech-to-text.json
- Soniox Speech-to-Text: grade C, 58.2/100, rank #529 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/soniox-stt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/soniox-stt.json

## Which one, for what

### Groq Speech-to-Text (BB)

Good 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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 90 against 65
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 70
- Security & auth, 79 against 70
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 68 against 30
- Transparency & trust, 85 against 76

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No streaming or realtime endpoint and no diarisation in the reviewed documentation

### Soniox Speech-to-Text (C)

Good for: Price-led multilingual transcription and translation, live or async, and for operators who want no training and no retention.

Watch for: No free credits for new accounts since October 2025


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Groq Speech-to-Text | Soniox Speech-to-Text | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 65 | Groq Speech-to-Text +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 60 | Soniox Speech-to-Text +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 70 | Groq Speech-to-Text +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 79 | 70 | Groq Speech-to-Text +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Groq Speech-to-Text +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 30 | Groq Speech-to-Text +38 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 76 | Groq Speech-to-Text +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **71.8 · BB** | **58.2 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Groq Speech-to-Text | Soniox Speech-to-Text |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Groq | Soniox |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.groq.com/openai/v1` | `https://api.soniox.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for speech stt | not published | $0.0017 per minute of audio |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | 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 | Apache-2.0 (Python SDK) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-26 | 2026-08-11 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-22 | 2026-06-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-11-12 | 2026-06-29 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 621 stars | 12 stars, 22k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Soniox Speech-to-Text.** About $0.10 an hour async and $0.12 real time, with diarisation, language ID and translation included. No free credits for new accounts since October 2025.

## Before you call either

### Groq Speech-to-Text

1. Send `whisper-large-v3-turbo` for transcription and `whisper-large-v3` for translation to English. The translations endpoint does not accept Turbo.
2. Pass `url` instead of `file` for audio over 25 MB, and split anything over the plan's size limit into overlapping chunks before sending.
3. Set `response_format` to `verbose_json` before asking for `timestamp_granularities[]`. Word timestamps add latency, segment timestamps do not.
4. Every request is billed as at least 10 seconds of audio, so join very short clips where the task allows.
5. Read `retry-after` on a 429 and back off. Audio limits count seconds an hour and a day as well as requests.

### Soniox Speech-to-Text

1. Pass `audio_url` for public files and skip the upload step. Delete uploaded files or they count against the 10 GB quota for 30 days
2. Use the `context` field for names and domain terms
3. Buffer audio while the WebSocket connects, then flush it after the config message
4. Split anything over 300 minutes. The cap is fixed
5. Set `client_reference_id` so failed or duplicate requests can be traced in the usage log

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Groq Speech-to-Text or Soniox Speech-to-Text?

Groq Speech-to-Text scores 71.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Soniox Speech-to-Text's 58.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Groq Speech-to-Text and Soniox Speech-to-Text need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Groq Speech-to-Text and Soniox Speech-to-Text without installing anything?

Yes. Groq Speech-to-Text has a hosted endpoint at https://api.groq.com/openai/v1 and Soniox Speech-to-Text at https://api.soniox.com/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "groq-speech-to-text", "b": "soniox-stt"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare groq-speech-to-text soniox-stt`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/groq-speech-to-text.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/soniox-stt.json

## Other comparisons with Groq Speech-to-Text or Soniox Speech-to-Text

- [Amazon Transcribe vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)
- [Amazon Transcribe vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)
- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [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)
- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [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)
- [Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)
- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs Groq Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-groq-speech-to-text.md)
- [Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [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)
- [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.md)
- [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)
- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)
- [Mistral Voxtral Transcribe vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-voxtral-transcribe-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [Rev AI Speech-to-Text API vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rev-ai-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [Soniox Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/soniox-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)