Arabic Speech-to-Text Comparison

Groq Whisper Large v3 TurbovsSoniox STT RT v3

Head-to-head comparison based on real production benchmarks with Gulf Arabic callers.

Overview

Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo

Not Recommended

Fast Whisper inference on Groq hardware — poor Arabic quality with inconsistent latency.

production testedwhisper-large-v3-turbo

Soniox STT RT v3

Good

High-quality Arabic STT with 44% lower WER than Google Chirp 3.

production testedstt-rt-v3

Latency

Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo

Avg EOU Delay284ms–3388ms
Best Case284ms
Worst Case3388ms

Soniox STT RT v3

Avg EOU Delay1678ms
Best Case773ms
Worst Case2718ms
Full turn time: 6000ms–8000ms

Quality

Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo

Poor

Described as 'horrible' transcription quality for Arabic in production testing.

MSA

Soniox STT RT v3

Excellent
WER: 16.2%

Great quality transcription confirmed by user feedback. No repetitions needed. 44% more accurate than Google Chirp 3.

Gulf ArabicMSA

Features

FeatureGroq Whisper Large v3 TurboSoniox STT RT v3
Hardware-accelerated inference✓✗
Whisper model compatibility✓✗
Batch and real-time modes✓✗
Real-time streaming transcription✗✓
Language hints✗✓
Low word error rate✗✓
End-of-utterance detection✗✓

Pricing

Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo

Free tier
FreeRate-limited free tier
$0per minute

Soniox STT RT v3

Free tier
StandardReal-time streaming
$0.005per minute

Streaming & Integration

CapabilityGroq Whisper Large v3 TurboSoniox STT RT v3
Streaming support✗✓
LiveKit plugin✗✗
Self-hostable✗✗
API styleREST (OpenAI-compatible)WebSocket streaming
SDKsPython, Node.jsPython, Node.js

Verdict

Not Recommended

Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo

Groq's fast hardware can't compensate for Whisper's poor Arabic handling. Quality is unacceptable and latency is too inconsistent for voice agents.

Choose Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo if you need:

    Pros
    • +Free tier available
    • +OpenAI-compatible API
    • +Fast hardware acceleration
    Cons
    • -Horrible Arabic transcription quality
    • -Wildly inconsistent latency (0.3s–3.4s)
    • -Not suitable for real-time streaming
    Good

    Soniox STT RT v3

    Previously the best option for Arabic STT. Excellent quality with 16.2% WER, but superseded by Deepgram Nova-3 which is 75% faster with comparable quality.

    Choose Soniox STT RT v3 if you need:

    • Accuracy-critical applications
    • Arabic transcription quality
    Pros
    • +Lowest WER for Arabic (16.2%)
    • +No user repetitions needed
    • +30% faster than Google Chirp 3
    Cons
    • -Higher latency than Deepgram Nova-3 (1.7s vs 0.4s)
    • -No LiveKit plugin
    • -Limited SDK support

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Which is faster for Arabic speech-to-text, Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo or Soniox STT RT v3?

    Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo is faster with an average end-of-utterance delay of 284ms–3388ms, which is 1394ms faster than Soniox STT RT v3.

    Which has better Arabic transcription quality, Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo or Soniox STT RT v3?

    Soniox STT RT v3 has a quality rating of 5/5 (Excellent). Great quality transcription confirmed by user feedback. No repetitions needed. 44% more accurate than Google Chirp 3.

    Is Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo or Soniox STT RT v3 better for production voice agents?

    Both providers are viable options. Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo: Groq's fast hardware can't compensate for Whisper's poor Arabic handling. Quality is unacceptable and latency is too inconsistent for voice agents. Soniox STT RT v3: Previously the best option for Arabic STT. Excellent quality with 16.2% WER, but superseded by Deepgram Nova-3 which is 75% faster with comparable quality.

    How does Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo pricing compare to Soniox STT RT v3?

    Groq Whisper Large v3 Turbo starts at $0 per minute (Rate-limited free tier). Soniox STT RT v3 starts at $0.005 per minute (Real-time streaming).