# IBM Watson Speech to Text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text (slim)

> IBM Watson Speech to Text scores 54.5 (C) to MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D) for speech-to-text. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md (~4,700 tokens) · this version ~2,430 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-minimax-stt.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-minimax-stt
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

IBM Watson Speech to Text scores 54.5 (C) on agent readiness against MiniMax Speech-to-Text's 48.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. MiniMax Speech-to-Text leads on reliability and schema & documentation. Both do speech-to-text.

- IBM Watson Speech to Text: C 54.5, rank #904 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ibm-watson-stt.min.md
- MiniMax Speech-to-Text: D 48.4, rank #1114 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-stt.min.md
- IBM Watson Speech to Text, good for Enterprises on IBM Cloud needing custom acoustic models, HIPAA on Premium and many locations. Ahead on Security & auth, 68 against 33; Payments & pricing, 40 against 20; Maintenance & community, 33 against 6; Transparency & trust, 80 against 63.
- MiniMax Speech-to-Text, good for Cheap file transcription with diarisation and subtitles, strongest on Chinese and code-switched audio by the vendor's account. Ahead on Reliability, 47 against 40; Schema & documentation, 82 against 55.

| Category | IBM Watson Speech to Text | MiniMax Speech-to-Text |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 40 | 47 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 55 | 82 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 66 | 70 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 68 | 33 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 33 | 6 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 80 | 63 |

| Fact (where they differ) | IBM Watson Speech to Text | MiniMax Speech-to-Text |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | MiniMax |
| Transports | HTTP, websocket | HTTP |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-06-29 | none |
| Terms last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |

Why the edge:
- Security & auth, IBM Watson Speech to Text +35: IBM Watson Speech to Text 68 (Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. IAM API keys per instance with Reader, Writer and Manager roles and short-lived bearer tokens (30). The WebSocket interface takes the token as an `access_token` query parameter, so 10 off (20 of 30). Request and response data are logged by default to improve the service, and any account can opt out per account or per request (10 of 20). Async results expire after a week by default (`results_ttl` shortens it), a delete method exists, and `DELETE /v1/user_data` removes data by customer ID (10 of 15). Activity Tracker events record changes to the service's state (10 of 15). Valid security.txt to 6 December 2026, PSIRT and HackerOne, HIPAA readiness on Premium. Certifications weren't read (18 of 20). Total 68.); MiniMax Speech-to-Text 33 (Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. Plain API keys from the console with no scopes found, and the docs say publicly leaked keys may be disabled, as on minimax-voice-cloning (20 of 30). The terms (effective 30 March 2026), as read for minimax-voice-cloning on 4 November, let MiniMax use input and generated content to operate, maintain, develop and improve its services, with no opt-out found, and the privacy policy rules out only training to profile or target consumers (5 of 20). No retention period for uploaded audio or transcripts was found (3 of 15). Each response carries a trace ID, with no audit log found (5 of 15). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification found, as on the other MiniMax listings (0 of 20). Total 33.)
- Schema & documentation, MiniMax Speech-to-Text +27: IBM Watson Speech to Text 55 (No public OpenAPI or other machine-readable definition was found (0). No llms.txt (0). The reference says which parameters each model family supports and the docs cover each feature (15 of 20). Typed parameters with defaults, ranges and enums (13 of 15). curl and SDK examples on every method, and errors with `error`, `code`, `code_description` and `warnings`, with invalid arguments reported as warnings (12 of 15). Versioned `/v1` paths and dated release notes back to 2015 (15). Total 55.); MiniMax Speech-to-Text 82 (OpenAPI 3.1 for `/v1/speech_to_text`, with eight documented responses (25). llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every page (10). The guide says when to stream, when to use `verbose_json`, and that subtitles and diarisation can't be combined with streaming (15 of 20). Typed multipart fields with an enum for `response_format`, and file limits stated in prose (12 of 15). Python examples and an error table giving HTTP status, `error.type` and trigger for 400, 401, 402, 413, 422, 429 and 500 (15). Versioned `/v1` path, but neither release notes page mentions the ASR API, and the API notes stop at 28 October 2025 (5 of 15). Total 82.)
- Maintenance & community, IBM Watson Speech to Text +27: IBM Watson Speech to Text 33 (Read as a model. The newest release note is 29 June 2026 (`parameter_set` for large speech models), 130 days ago (10). No dated entries in the 90 days from 8 August (0). Release notes, IBM support and a public docs repository last changed 30 June 2026 (8 of 15). Official SDKs, `ibm-watson` 11.2.0 on PyPI (26 January 2026) and 12.2.0 on npm (January 2026) (10 of 15). CI not read (5 of 10). Total 33.); MiniMax Speech-to-Text 6 (Read as a model. No dated release or change of `asr-1.0` was found on the model or API release notes or the status page (0). No dated ASR entries in the last 90 days (0). Support by email and Discord, not tested (6 of 15). No official SDK, and the MCP servers have no transcription tool (0 of 15). No package to judge (0 of 10). Total 6.)
- Payments & pricing, IBM Watson Speech to Text +20: IBM Watson Speech to Text 40 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-minute Plus prices published in the docs without a login (20). The Lite plan gives 500 free minutes a month, and no page read says a card is needed (20). A person creates an IBM Cloud account and service instance in a browser (0). Total 40.); MiniMax Speech-to-Text 20 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). $0.38 an hour published without a login (20). Speech to text is for paid accounts only (0). A person signs up in a browser and funds a balance (0). Total 20.)
- Transparency & trust, IBM Watson Speech to Text +17: IBM Watson Speech to Text 80 (Closed service under the IBM Cloud terms (15). The data security page states default logging for improvement with an opt-out, async retention, GDPR deletion by customer ID and plan-level separation, and they agree with each other. The DPA wasn't read (20 of 30). Previous-generation models carried a dated deprecation of 15 March 2022 and removal on 31 July 2023, and release notes say changes are compatible unless noted (18 of 20). Ten locations are named, with sub-processors not read (12 of 20). Total 65.); MiniMax Speech-to-Text 63 (Closed API with clear terms under Singapore law naming Nanonoble Pte. Ltd., as on the other MiniMax listings (15 of 30). The terms and privacy policy agree that inputs may be used to improve services and that data sits in a United States data centre, with no retention period for audio (8 of 30). No deprecation notice or policy touches the ASR API (10 of 20, for the dated notices elsewhere on the API release notes). Data location stated as the United States and an EU representative named, with third parties only by category (10 of 20). Total 43.)
- Reliability, MiniMax Speech-to-Text +7: IBM Watson Speech to Text 40 (IBM Cloud has a status page at cloud.ibm.com/status, but it is drawn by script and showed no components or history to our reader, read as gemini-live's script-shell page was (10 of 20, and 5 for no readable history). Plus allows up to 100 concurrent transcription requests across WebSocket and HTTP (15). No 429 or backoff guidance was found in the API reference or the docs repository (0). No SLA was read for the service (0, unchecked). Next-generation and large speech models are GA, language by language (10). 10 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 40.); MiniMax Speech-to-Text 47 (Atlassian Statuspage at status.minimax.io with component history, but its components are LLM, Text-to-Speech and Video Generation, with none for speech to text (10 of 20). With no component, the history holds no record for transcription (5). Limits published with numbers, 2 concurrent connections and 30,000 audio seconds a minute (15). 429 is documented as `rate_limit_error`, and the general error code page says to retry later, with no backoff figures or Retry-After (7 of 15). No SLA in the terms or docs (0). `asr-1.0` is called the current public model with no beta label (10). 10 + 5 + 15 + 7 + 0 + 10 = 47.)

| Task | IBM Watson Speech to Text | MiniMax Speech-to-Text |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Transcribe a one-hour meeting | $0.60 to $1.20 | $0.38 |