Speaches vs whisper.cpp
Short answer
Speaches: OpenAI-compatible speech-to-text and text-to-speech server (faster-whisper, Kokoro, Piper). whisper.cpp: Fast C/C++ port of OpenAI Whisper speech recognition with a small HTTP transcription server. They sit in different categories (Speech & translation and Speech & translation) but overlap: Both run Whisper-family speech-to-text models on your own server and expose transcription over an HTTP API.
Choose whisper.cpp if you want: an actively maintained project (Speaches is stale) and larger community (54.6k vs 3.7k GitHub stars).
Speaches and whisper.cpp publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
Speaches vs whisper.cpp side by side
| Speaches | whisper.cpp | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Speech & translation | Speech & translation |
| What it is | OpenAI-compatible speech-to-text and text-to-speech server (faster-whisper, Kokoro, Piper). | Fast C/C++ port of OpenAI Whisper speech recognition with a small HTTP transcription server. |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| License type | Permissive | Permissive |
| License conditions | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed. Speech models keep their own licenses. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed. The Whisper model weights have their own license. |
| Status | Stale (no commit in 180+ days) | Active |
| GitHub stars | 3.7k | 54.6k |
| Last commit | Apr 18, 2026 | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Latest release | v0.9.0-rc.3 | v1.9.5 |
| Minimum hardware | Not published | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | 150 MiB idle, 1.4 GiB working (our test, vlatest-cpu (pyproject 0.1.0), Oct 22, 2026) | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Optional (CUDA image). A CPU image is available. | Optional. The default Docker image runs on CPU; CUDA, Vulkan and MUSA images are available. |
| Est. server cost | from €19.99/mo (based on our test, not official) | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Docker | Docker |
| Known gotchas | 1 listed | 3 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | Not documented |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not documented |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full Speaches guide → | Full whisper.cpp guide → |
Key differences
- Status: Speaches: Stale (no commit in 180+ days). whisper.cpp: Active.
- GitHub stars: Speaches: 3.7k. whisper.cpp: 54.6k.
- Last commit: Speaches: Apr 18, 2026. whisper.cpp: Oct 19, 2026.
- Latest release: Speaches: v0.9.0-rc.3 (Dec 27, 2025). whisper.cpp: v1.9.5 (Oct 6, 2026).
Same for both: Category: Speech & translation; License: MIT (Permissive); Official hardware: not published; GPU: optional / see notes; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure); Deploy: Docker · single container.
Speaches vs whisper.cpp: FAQ
Speaches or whisper.cpp: which should a small business choose?
Choose whisper.cpp if you want: an actively maintained project (Speaches is stale) and larger community (54.6k vs 3.7k GitHub stars). Speaches and whisper.cpp publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, Speaches or whisper.cpp?
Speaches: not estimated (no official RAM figure). whisper.cpp: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do Speaches and whisper.cpp need?
Speaches: not published. whisper.cpp: not published.
What is the license difference between Speaches and whisper.cpp?
Speaches: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed. Speech models keep their own licenses. whisper.cpp: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed. The Whisper model weights have their own license. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is Speaches or whisper.cpp more actively maintained?
Speaches: Stale (no commit in 180+ days), last commit Apr 18, 2026. whisper.cpp: Active, last commit Oct 19, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 22, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, Speaches or whisper.cpp?
Speaches installs via Docker (single container); whisper.cpp via Docker (single container). Speaches lists 1 known gotcha and whisper.cpp lists 3; see each app page.
Related
Sources
- Speaches GitHub repository: github.com/speaches-ai/speaches
- Speaches documentation, Speaches hardware requirements, Speaches deploy instructions: speaches.ai/installation/
- Speaches license: github.com/speaches-ai/speaches/blob/master/LICENSE
- whisper.cpp GitHub repository: github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp
- whisper.cpp documentation, whisper.cpp deploy instructions: github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp#docker
- whisper.cpp license: github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp/blob/master/LICENSE
- whisper.cpp hardware requirements: github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp#memory-usage
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.