MAI Transcribe 2
- Missed words (FLEURS, 60 languages)
- 5.2%
- Languages
- 60, detected for you
- Who spoke
- Included
- One hour of audio
- About 10 seconds
- Trying it today
- One free file a day here
MAI Transcribe 2 vs Whisper: Which Speech-to-Text Model Wins?
You have a recording. You want text you can read, with names attached to people, without installing anything. That is the comparison this page is making.
MAI Transcribe 2 is the model you try on this site. Whisper is the open model a lot of people already run on a laptop. Both can turn speech into text. They are not the same job.
If the audio cannot leave your computer, Whisper is still the honest answer. If you want a draft this afternoon — meeting notes, captions, a voicemail you do not want to rewind — start here.
The numbers, without the jargon
Fewer missed words, across 60 languages
Word error rate is the share of words that come out wrong. Lower is better. MAI Transcribe 2 sits at 5.2%. Whisper Large v3 is about 23% on the same FLEURS test.
- Told the language
- Guessed the language
MAI Transcribe 2
5.2%
Gemini 3.1 Pro
5.3 / 5.8%
Scribe v2
6.2 / 6.5%
Gemini 3.5 Transcribe
5.9 / 8.6%
Gemini 3.6 Flash
6.9 / 9.4%
GPT-Transcribe
10.4 / 10.6%
Whisper v3 Large
22.8 / 23.5%
Average word error rate on FLEURS · Lower is better
Side by side
Whisper Large v3
- Missed words (FLEURS, 60 languages)
- 22.8%
- Languages
- Broad, you set it up
- Who spoke
- Usually extra work
- One hour of audio
- Depends on your machine
- Trying it today
- Install it yourself
Per-language word error rate
Lower is better↓
FLEURS test set, forced language · All 60 languages · The best result in each language is shown in green.
LowerHigherBest in language
Showing 15 of 60 languages · Afrikaans to English
| Model | AF | AR | HY | AS | AZ | BN | BS | BG | YUE | CA | ZH | CS | DA | NL | EN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAI-Transcribe-2 | 13.1 | 8.7 | 12.6 | 8.7 | 9.4 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 6.6 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 3.6 | 2.7 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | 11.7 | 9.8 | 6.1 | 8.7 | 6.6 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 9.2 | 3.3 | 5.3 | 3.4 | 2.6 |
| Gemini 3.5 Transcribe* | 12.7 | 8.9 | 6.9 | 10.3 | 7.4 | 5.0 | 14.1 | 5.2 | 9.9 | 3.4 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 7.5 | 3.8 | 2.8 |
| Scribe v2 | 10.6 | 9.6 | 6.1 | 11.4 | 9.1 | 6.9 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 21.2 | 2.9 | 5.6 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 3.7 | 2.6 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash* | 16.4 | 10.1 | 8.9 | 11.1 | 8.2 | 6.0 | 6.9 | 4.5 | 13.1 | 5.3 | 8.9 | 6.1 | 9.3 | 4.8 | 3.0 |
| GPT-transcribe | 18.8 | 10.3 | 11.2 | 21.5 | 10.9 | 8.9 | 53.4 | 6.7 | 7.8 | 3.8 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 8.2 | 4.0 | 3.2 |
| Whisper v3-large | 33.0 | 14.7 | 48.1 | 108.9 | 21.3 | 46.4 | 13.5 | 13.1 | 21.9 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 10.7 | 13.2 | 5.7 | 4.2 |
* Gemini 3.5 Transcribe: Urdu uses Gemini 3.1 Pro.
* Gemini 3.6 Flash: Bulgarian and Swahili use Gemini 3.1 Pro.
Hear the same kind of audio
These clips are messy on purpose: mixed language, a noisy room, a call outside. Play one, then decide if the transcript is good enough to edit.
A fast idea over room noise.
Okay, listen. I have this absolutely unhinged idea, and I need you to roll with it. Help me make an agent that will literally buy tickets for my favorite band the second they are available.
Spanish and English in the same meeting.
Bueno, ya estamos listos, ¿no? Eh, ¿podemos please checar que esté prendido my transcribe one? Sí, está. Super. Entonces, vamos a empezar. Oh, oh, someone else is joining us. Oh, hello. Please come in. Join us. We’ll switch to English, no problem. Sí, sí, sí. Bienvenido. Bienvenido.
Outside, a little wind, still readable.
Hey Megan, it’s Zach. Sorry, I’m outside right now, so there might be a little bit of background noise. I just wanted to follow up on Thursday’s meeting. 3:30 is going to be a bit of a stretch. It might be a little bit closer to 4:00. Oh yeah, before I forget, could you also send me the latest version of the deck? I want to take a look at that pricing slide one last time. All right, call me back when you get a chance. Thanks.
Same ten-minute interview
Two people, a few names, a laugh over music. MAI Transcribe 2 gives you the text, who spoke, and when. You still fix spellings. You do not spend the afternoon stitching extra tools together for a first draft.
Whisper on the same file usually gets the words. Then you add speaker labels if you need “who said that,” and extra timing if you need captions. That extra work is worth it when the file cannot leave the machine. It is extra work when you only wanted notes today.
Which one should you use?
- Captions, call notes, a draft you can quote: start with MAI Transcribe 2.
- Audio that cannot leave your computer: keep Whisper.
- Unsure? Run one short file on the homepage and read the text. The table is not the test.
Comparison questions
Is MAI Transcribe 2 more accurate than Whisper?
On the public FLEURS test across 60 languages, MAI Transcribe 2 misses about 5.2% of words. Whisper Large v3 misses about 23%. Your file can still disagree. Try a real recording before you switch everything.
Does Whisper label who spoke?
Not by itself in the same pass. Whisper writes the words. Speaker labels usually come from extra tools. MAI Transcribe 2 puts who-spoke-when in the same transcript.
Which one is cheaper?
Whisper is free if you already run it on your own machine. Hosted Whisper charges by the minute. This site lets you try MAI Transcribe 2 once a day for free. Paid plans and credit packs cover more volume.
Should I replace Whisper?
Replace it when you want a draft with speaker labels and you do not need to run the model yourself. Keep Whisper when audio must stay local. Plenty of people will use both: a first draft here, a local copy when they need one.