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HyperWhisper Cloud is the built-in transcription service. It needs no API key. It takes payment from a credit balance, so you pay only for what you use.
HyperWhisper does not sell a license. If you bought a “Pro license” before HyperWhisper went open source, see Going Open Source — it explains what changed and why your credits can run out even though you paid once.

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What are credits?

Credits are the currency for HyperWhisper Cloud transcription. One credit equals $0.001 USD. HyperWhisper deducts credits from your balance after each successful transcription. A transcription that fails costs no credits. The number of credits depends on the provider that you select in your mode settings. A new installation starts on ElevenLabs Scribe v2, which costs about 9.83 credits per minute of audio. Settings → HyperWhisper Cloud always shows the exact rate next to your balance. Credits belong to your account key, not to a device. The same balance applies on all your devices and platforms.
With a BYOK provider, you give your own API key for OpenAI, Groq, Deepgram, or another service. A BYOK provider does not use HyperWhisper credits.

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Get an account key

HyperWhisper Cloud needs an account key for every request. There is no trial and no anonymous usage. You do not buy the key separately. Your first credit purchase creates a key and emails it to you. This key is both your Cloud license and your credit wallet. If you already have a key, a new purchase adds credits to that key.

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Per-provider credit rates

Each HyperWhisper Cloud provider has a different cost per minute. The backend sets the rate. The credits card shows the rate next to your balance. The rates follow the current prices of the backend and can change. Settings always shows the live rate for your active provider. Streaming transcription has its own rate. With HyperWhisper Cloud as the streaming provider, the live engine is Deepgram Nova 3 at approximately 5.5 credits for each minute, or Google Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live at approximately 9.6 credits for each minute.

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What changes your rate

The rate in the table is the rate of the default model of each provider. Three things change the number of credits that a transcription costs. A different model. Each provider offers more than one model, and each model has its own rate. For example, OpenAI GPT-4o Mini Transcribe costs approximately half of OpenAI GPT-4o Transcribe. Select the model in the Model row of the mode editor. Custom vocabulary. Two providers charge more when your mode has custom vocabulary:
  • ElevenLabs Scribe v2 adds 20% to the rate.
  • AssemblyAI Universal-3.5 Pro adds approximately 0.83 credits per minute. AssemblyAI Universal-2 adds nothing.
Every other provider charges the same rate with vocabulary and without it. The Medical control. The Medical control in the mode editor applies to AssemblyAI only. It adds approximately 2.5 credits per minute. The Deepgram medical models are models and not a domain, so they cost the standard Deepgram rate.
Three providers bill on tokens and not on minutes: Google Gemini (all models), Google Gemini 3.5 Transcribe (both the pre-recorded model and the live model), and OpenAI GPT-4o Transcribe and GPT-4o Mini Transcribe. For these models, the rate in the table is an estimate for one minute of speech. The true cost follows the length of your transcript, so speech that is fast or dense costs more than the estimate, and a quiet minute costs less. The other providers bill on the length of the audio, and the rate is exact.

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See your balance

Open Settings from the menu bar icon. Then select HyperWhisper Cloud in the sidebar. The credits card shows only when an account key is active.The credits card shows:
  • The estimated minutes that remain
  • Your credit balance and its value in dollars
To get a new balance from the server, click the refresh button (circular arrow, top-right of the section header). HyperWhisper also refreshes the balance each time you open the HyperWhisper Cloud section.When less than 10 minutes remain, the card shows a warning. When no credits remain, the card shows an error.
The estimate of the minutes that remain uses a blended average rate of about 6.3 credits per minute across all providers. It does not use the rate of the provider that you select. The table of provider rates above gives a more exact estimate.

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Buy more credits

You do not need an account key to buy credits. If you do not have a key, your purchase creates one. You can select one of two preset amounts, or enter a custom amount:
Checkout adds a processing fee of 6% to the credit value. This fee is not refundable. For example, a 5purchase(5,000credits)costs5 purchase (5,000 credits) costs 5.30 in total. The checkout page shows the fee as a separate line before you pay. A 14-day money-back guarantee covers the credit value that you did not use, but it does not cover the fee. The refund policy on hyperwhisper.com gives the details.
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Open the credits purchase page

If you already have an account key, click Purchase Credits in Settings → HyperWhisper Cloud. This opens hyperwhisper.com/credits with your key filled in, and shows your dashboard. If you do not have a key, click Get Credits, or go to hyperwhisper.com/credits to buy credits as a guest.
2

Choose an amount and complete checkout

Select the 5or5 or 10 preset, or enter a custom amount in whole dollars from 5to5 to 500. If you buy as a guest, enter your email address. HyperWhisper sends your account key to that address. The next page is a Stripe Checkout page for your payment details. This page accepts promotion codes.
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Credits are added immediately

After a successful payment, HyperWhisper adds the credits immediately. For a first purchase as a guest, HyperWhisper also emails a new account key to you. To see the new amount, refresh your balance in Settings.

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Manage your billing account

When you have an active account key, a Manage Billing button shows in Settings → HyperWhisper Cloud on macOS and on Windows. This button opens your account dashboard at hyperwhisper.com/user. On the dashboard, you can:
  • See your current credit balance
  • See your purchase history
  • Buy more credits
  • Change your payment method
The Manage Billing button shows only when you have an active key. Without a key, you can sign in or buy credits at hyperwhisper.com/user.

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How credits are deducted

HyperWhisper deducts credits after a successful transcription. If a transcription fails, HyperWhisper deducts no credits. A network error, an audio problem, or a server-side validation error can cause a failure. Immediately after a transcription, the balance in Settings can be out of date. To get the latest balance from the server, click the refresh button.

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Running low or out of credits

When your balance falls below 10 minutes of estimated transcription time, the credits card shows an orange warning. When your balance reaches zero, HyperWhisper Cloud blocks all transcriptions until you buy more credits. If you run out of credits, you have two options:
  • Buy more credits on the credits page.
  • Change to a BYOK provider, such as your own OpenAI or Groq API key. A BYOK provider does not use HyperWhisper credits.
For more information about a change of provider, see Choosing a Provider.