kwindla on X: "I got a bunch of questions about the cost of the Realtime API yesterday after posting this. tldr: OpenAI has followed their usual (and much appreciated) path of cutting the pricing of the Realtime API with every release. Cost is now about $0.04/minute of speech-to-speech time, factori
Quick Answer
OpenAI has reduced the cost of its Realtime API to approximately $0.04 per minute of speech-to-speech time, factoring in token caching.
Quick Take
Users typically incur minimal charges during non-speech periods, making it cost-effective for applications like voice programming, which may only require about $0.20 per hour.
Key Points
- Realtime API costs $0.04 per minute of speech-to-speech time.
- Non-talking time is generally not charged due to voice activity detection.
- Voice programming may only cost about $0.20 per hour.
- OpenAI continues to cut pricing with each release, benefiting users.
- Voice dictation has become a crucial benchmark for programming efficiency.
📖 Reader Mode
~1 min readI got a bunch of questions about the cost of the Realtime API yesterday after posting this. tldr: OpenAI has followed their usual (and much appreciated) path of cutting the pricing of the Realtime API with every release. Cost is now about $0.04/minute of speech-to-speech time, factoring in the implicit token caching. But note: you generally do not get charged for non-talking time because the OpenAI voice activity detection filters out non-speech input. So for a use case like voice programming, you're probably only talking 5% of the time and dictation assistant output is extremely brief, so it's maybe $0.20/hour to stay connected to the Realtime API all the time while you're programming. (ymmv) Cost calculation spreadsheets below ...
Voice-only programming with the new OpenAI Realtime API ... I spend a lot of time these days pair programming with LLMs. Often I'm talking rather than typing. This "voice dictation" use case has become an important vibe benchmark for me. Being able to create text input just by
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— Originally published at x.com
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