# Azure AI Speech (speech-to-text) — card for AI agents

Transcribe audio in real time, in batch or via fast transcription, with optional custom speech models.

Maker: Microsoft · category: Speech-to-text and transcription

## Price (official page)
- Free tier: Real-time Transcription: 5 audio hours free per month
- Usage price: Standard: real-time $1.00 per hour, batch $0.18 per hour, fast transcription $0.36 per hour; custom real-time $1.20 per hour (East US)
- Per minute: STT: standard real-time $1.00 per hour = about $0.0167/min (AgentGid conversion from the listed price)
- Pricing page: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cognitive-services/speech-services/ (checked 2026-10-09)
- Note: Free hours are shared between standard and custom; batch not supported on free tier. Pricing page loads prices dynamically; figures are from Microsoft's Azure Retail Prices API (prices.azure.com), East US. Commitment tiers available.

## Connect
- Official MCP server: @azure/mcp
- MCP server card (how to connect it): https://agentgid.com/mcp/servers/com-microsoft-azure/agent.md
- npm: `npm install microsoft-cognitiveservices-speech-sdk`
- PyPI: `pip install azure-cognitiveservices-speech`
- Repository: https://github.com/Microsoft/cognitive-services-speech-sdk-js

## Other APIs in this category
- Groq Speech-to-Text (Whisper): https://agentgid.com/apis/groq-speech/agent.md
- faster-whisper: https://agentgid.com/apis/faster-whisper/agent.md
- ElevenLabs: https://agentgid.com/apis/elevenlabs/agent.md
- Whisper (self-hosted): https://agentgid.com/apis/whisper/agent.md
- Deepgram: https://agentgid.com/apis/deepgram/agent.md

## Links
- AgentGid page: https://agentgid.com/apis/azure-speech-to-text/

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AgentGid's catalog is curated: every entry was checked against the maker's official pages (registry, repository, license and pricing pages) on the date shown; a license value shows the quote it stands on wherever AgentGid has one. Usage numbers come from AgentGid's own scan of public repositories set up for AI coding agents. Claims by makers are reported, not tested by AgentGid.