GoogleCartesiaAudio matchupSpeech to text
Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Livevs.Cartesia Ink-2
Which model is better?
Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live is slightly ahead in independent tests, but the lead is not certain.
Pick Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live for
Pick Cartesia Ink-2 for
Shared tests
Independent evaluators and leaderboards only, the newest shared snapshot per evaluator. With 95 % ranges a lead counts when they do not overlap; for hit rates, when it holds in a 95 % test. Without any uncertainty figure at most “slightly ahead”.
Coval
Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly aheadGemini 3.5 Transcribe Live is clearly ahead in 0 of 16 subtests and slightly in 8, Cartesia Ink-2 in 0 clearly and slightly in 4. 4 are level.
Coval Time to Final Segment (TTFS) maximum
lower is better, as of November 5, 2026
Coval Time to Final Segment (TTFS) mean
lower is better, as of November 5, 2026
Coval Time to Final Segment (TTFS) p50
lower is better, as of November 5, 2026
Show all 16 subtests
| Subtest | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live | Cartesia Ink-2 | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coval Time to Final Segment (TTFS) maximum (lower is better) | 5,018 ms | 31,136 ms | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval Time to Final Segment (TTFS) mean (lower is better) | 381 ms | 145 ms | Cartesia Ink-2 slightly ahead |
| Coval Time to Final Segment (TTFS) p50 (lower is better) | 325 ms | 139 ms | Cartesia Ink-2 slightly ahead |
| Coval AudioToFinal maximum (lower is better) | 18.79 s | 39.52 s | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval Time to First Token (TTFT) maximum (lower is better) | 12,993 ms | 25,200 ms | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval RTF maximum (lower is better) | 3.12 | 4.71 | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval Word Error Rate (WER) per-sample maximum (lower is better) | 100.0 % | 69.0 % | Cartesia Ink-2 slightly ahead |
| Coval Time to First Token (TTFT) p50 (lower is better) | 1,475 ms | 2,017 ms | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval Time to First Token (TTFT) mean (lower is better) | 1,533 ms | 2,033 ms | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval pooled corpus Word Error Rate (WER) (lower is better) | 2.9 % | 3.4 % | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval Word Error Rate (WER) per-sample mean (lower is better) | 3.4 % | 3.9 % | Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live slightly ahead |
| Coval RTF mean (lower is better) | 1.06 | 1.02 | Cartesia Ink-2 slightly ahead |
| Coval AudioToFinal mean (lower is better) | 8.32 s | 8.09 s | level |
| Coval AudioToFinal p50 (lower is better) | 8.67 s | 8.46 s | level |
| Coval RTF p50 (lower is better) | 1.04 | 1.02 | level |
| Coval Word Error Rate (WER) per-sample p50 (lower is better) | 0.0 % | 0.0 % | level |
Source · latest November 5, 2026
All data side by side
Prices are verbatim from the provider, because audio models bill per minute, character or token.
| Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live | Cartesia Ink-2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Task | Speech to text | Speech to text |
| Developer | Cartesia | |
| Status | Active | Active |
| Released | n/a | July 9, 2026 |
| Weights | proprietary | proprietary |
| Runs locally | no | no |
| Price | $3.50 per 1M audio tokens ($0.005 per audio minute) | 3 credits per second of audio; the dollar price and overage charges depend on the plan |
| Popularity (out of 100) | 35 | 0 |