Whisper large-v3 by OpenAI

Best open speech-to-text. Run locally (faster-whisper) for unlimited free transcription.

Access
Open-weight (self-host)
Free limits
Self-host free
Modality
audio
Credit card
Not required
Commercial use
Allowed
License
MIT
Performance tier
Strong · ~ Medium
Last verified
June 2026

Quickstart

from faster_whisper import WhisperModel
m = WhisperModel("large-v3")
segs,_ = m.transcribe("audio.mp3")

Frequently asked

Is Whisper large-v3 free?

Yes. OpenAI offers it as Open-weight (self-host) with these limits: Self-host free. No credit card is required.

Can I use Whisper large-v3 commercially?

Yes, commercial use is allowed under the MIT license. Verify the current license or terms before shipping.

How do I start using Whisper large-v3?

Best open speech-to-text. Run locally (faster-whisper) for unlimited free transcription.

Building with this model?

We wire free-tier and open-weight models into production stacks: evals against your real inputs, failover, cost caps.

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