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id: "911c9c905fbb0a54365fea01fe90162b76f850f2f0f9e807c6b7f5c00e35bb84"
canonical_url: "https://aidr.today/911c9c90?lang=en"
title: "Microsoft Launches MAI-Transcribe-2 at $1.67 per 1,000 Minutes, Half the Price of Top Peers"
lang: "en"
requested_lang: "en"
available_langs: ["en","vi"]
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published_at: "2026-09-03T16:55:13.000Z"
category: "Products"
topics: ["microsoft","llm","inference"]
source_urls: ["https://huggingnews.com/ai/microsoft-launches-mai-transcribe-2-at-167-per-1000-minutes-half-the-pri-f40ffaff","https://x.com/mustafasuleyman/status/2095521337670312056","https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521214777442546","https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521217302401288","https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521219445666045","https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521221949755626"]
summary: "The latest speech transcription model from Microsoft AI achieves a 2.0% Word Error Rate and processes audio at 411x real time. Priced at $1.67 per 1,000 minutes via Microsoft Foundry, the model is less than half the cost of high-accuracy competitors like ElevenLabs Scribe v2 at $3.67 and Smallest AI Pulse Pro at $4. It ranks second overall on the Artificial Analysis accuracy leaderboard, trailing Alibaba's Fun-Realtime-ASR-preview. MAI-Transcribe-2 expands language support from 43 to 60 languages and introduces speaker diarization, word-level timestamps, and both clean and verbatim transcription styles. Mustafa Suleyman said the tool is 10x faster than GPT-Transcribe and 5x faster than Gemini 3.5. The model is currently available for use through both Microsoft Foundry and OpenRouter."
---

# Microsoft Launches MAI\-Transcribe\-2 at $1\.67 per 1,000 Minutes, Half the Price of Top Peers

> [Open the canonical story](<https://aidr.today/911c9c90?lang=en>)

**Published:** 2026-09-03T16:55:13.000Z
**Category:** Products
**Topics:** microsoft, llm, inference

## Summary

The latest speech transcription model from Microsoft AI achieves a 2\.0% Word Error Rate and processes audio at 411x real time\. Priced at $1\.67 per 1,000 minutes via Microsoft Foundry, the model is less than half the cost of high\-accuracy competitors like ElevenLabs Scribe v2 at $3\.67 and Smallest AI Pulse Pro at $4\. It ranks second overall on the Artificial Analysis accuracy leaderboard, trailing Alibaba's Fun\-Realtime\-ASR\-preview\. MAI\-Transcribe\-2 expands language support from 43 to 60 languages and introduces speaker diarization, word\-level timestamps, and both clean and verbatim transcription styles\. Mustafa Suleyman said the tool is 10x faster than GPT\-Transcribe and 5x faster than Gemini 3\.5\. The model is currently available for use through both Microsoft Foundry and OpenRouter\.

## Sources

- [Story source](<https://huggingnews.com/ai/microsoft-launches-mai-transcribe-2-at-167-per-1000-minutes-half-the-pri-f40ffaff>)
- [Story source](<https://x.com/mustafasuleyman/status/2095521337670312056>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521214777442546>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521217302401288>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521219445666045>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2095521221949755626>)