Head-to-head comparison based on real production benchmarks with Gulf Arabic callers.
High-quality Arabic STT with 44% lower WER than Google Chirp 3.
Mistral's speech model — completely non-functional for Arabic.
Great quality transcription confirmed by user feedback. No repetitions needed. 44% more accurate than Google Chirp 3.
Produced zero transcriptions for Arabic audio. Tested with and without explicit language parameter.
| Feature | Soniox STT RT v3 | Mistral Voxtral Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time streaming transcription | ✓ | ✗ |
| Language hints | ✓ | ✗ |
| Low word error rate | ✓ | ✗ |
| End-of-utterance detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multilingual speech recognition (claimed) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Audio understanding | ✗ | ✓ |
| Capability | Soniox STT RT v3 | Mistral Voxtral Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Streaming support | ✓ | ✗ |
| LiveKit plugin | ✗ | ✗ |
| Self-hostable | ✗ | ✗ |
| API style | WebSocket streaming | REST |
| SDKs | Python, Node.js | Python, Node.js |
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 Excellent quality with 16.2% WER, but superseded by Deepgram Nova-3 which is 75% faster with comparable quality.
Does not work for Arabic at all. Zero transcriptions produced in testing despite claiming multilingual support.
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.
Both providers are viable options. 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 Excellent quality with 16.2% WER, but superseded by Deepgram Nova-3 which is 75% faster with comparable quality. Mistral Voxtral Mini: Does not work for Arabic at all. Zero transcriptions produced in testing despite claiming multilingual support.
Soniox STT RT v3 starts at $0.005 per minute (Real-time streaming). Mistral Voxtral Mini starts at Usage-based per request (Mistral API pricing).