How to get a speech-to-text API key

An API key lets Side Whisper send your dictation to a speech-to-text provider, on your own account. Here is where each provider Side Whisper supports keeps its keys, which ones you can start with for free, and how to add yours.

#What an API key is, and why use one

An API key is a long code, a little like a password, that a provider gives you so an app can use its service on your account. In Side Whisper it does one thing: with Pro, it lets a speech-to-text provider you choose write your dictation, in place of the speech model on your PC.

You do not need a key to dictate. The speech models on your PC work offline, on Free and on Pro, and Offline voice dictation explains them. A key is for when they are not enough for you: the provider’s model runs on its own computers, so your PC runs no speech model while you dictate, and you pick the provider whose model suits your languages.

With your key, each dictation goes from your PC straight to that provider, under your account and its terms, never through Side Whisper. Side Whisper keeps the key on your PC, encrypted by Windows, and sends it only to that provider. Whatever the provider charges, it charges you directly: Side Whisper adds nothing per dictation.

#Which providers are free to start

Every provider gives you an API key for free. What differs is whether the key can transcribe before you pay. Groq, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, ElevenLabs and Mistral let a new account dictate for free, with no card. Google Cloud gives free minutes once a card is on file. OpenAI needs prepaid credit first.

These are each provider’s own offers, as its pages show them. A provider can change them, and its page has the current terms. Credit runs out as you use it, and a free plan’s limits start again after each period. Side Whisper never charges for what you send to a provider.

#OpenAI API key

OpenAI’s API has its own billing, apart from ChatGPT: a ChatGPT subscription does not pay for it. It runs on prepaid credit, so add some before you dictate. The smallest purchase is $5.

1. Sign up or log in at platform.openai.com.
2. Open Billing, add a payment method and buy credit.
3. Open API keys and choose Create new secret key. Name it Side Whisper, keep the other choices, and create it.
4. Copy the key right away. It starts with sk-.

In Side Whisper, choose OpenAI under Provider. The model starts on gpt-transcribe, the most accurate; gpt-4o-transcribe, gpt-4o-mini-transcribe and whisper-1 are in the list too. Clean up the text works with OpenAI.

Test key checks the key, not your credit: if Settings then says OpenAI is limiting this key, or the pill says Provider limit reached, add credit. To cap what you spend, set a spend limit under Limits. OpenAI’s quickstart has its own steps.

#Groq API key

Groq’s free plan needs no card. It limits how many requests and how much audio you send each minute, hour and day, with room for hours of audio a day, and its rate limits page lists the numbers. A paid plan, when you want more, asks for a payment method.

1. Sign up or log in at console.groq.com.
2. Open API Keys and choose Create API Key.
3. Give it a name, such as Side Whisper, and create it.
4. Copy the key it shows. It starts with gsk_.

In Side Whisper, choose Groq under Provider. The model starts on whisper-large-v3, the more accurate of the two; whisper-large-v3-turbo is faster. Clean up the text works with Groq.

#Deepgram API key

Every new Deepgram account gets $200 of free credit, with no card, and the credit stays until you use it, as Deepgram’s pricing says.

1. Sign up at console.deepgram.com.
2. In the Deepgram Console, with your project picked at the top left, open Settings, then API Keys, and choose Create a New API Key.
3. Name it Side Whisper, keep the permissions it offers, and choose Create Key.
4. Copy the key and choose Got it. Deepgram shows it only once. Its keys are 40 characters of 0 to 9 and a to f.

In Side Whisper, choose Deepgram under Provider. The model starts on nova-3, the most accurate; nova-2 is in the list too. Deepgram’s own steps show the same screens.

Side Whisper asks Deepgram to leave every dictation out of its model improvement program, so Deepgram does not train its models on your speech and keeps it only to answer the request. This is always on, with no setting to change. Deepgram may bill such requests at a higher rate than its listed one; its usage log shows the rate.

#ElevenLabs API key

ElevenLabs puts a new account on its free plan: 10,000 credits a month. Speech to text uses 330 credits a minute, so the free plan covers about 30 minutes of dictation a month. Its pricing lists both numbers.

1. Sign up at elevenlabs.io.
2. Choose Developers in the left sidebar, then the API Keys tab, and create a key.
3. A key reaches only the features you allow: give this one access to Speech to Text.
4. Copy the key when it appears. ElevenLabs shows it in full only once.

In Side Whisper, choose ElevenLabs under Provider. The model starts on scribe_v2, the most accurate; scribe_v1 is in the list too. Test key transcribes half a second of silence, so the key needs its Speech to Text access. ElevenLabs’ own steps show the same screens.

#AssemblyAI API key

AssemblyAI gives a new account $50 of free credit, with no card, as its pricing says.

1. Sign up at assemblyai.com.
2. In the dashboard, open API Keys, under Workspace, then Manage. Copy the key that is there, or choose Create New API Key, name it Side Whisper and choose Create. Its keys are 32 characters of 0 to 9 and a to f.

In Side Whisper, choose AssemblyAI under Provider. The model starts on universal-3-5-pro, the most accurate in its 18 languages; a dictation in another language, Romanian among them, goes to universal-2. AssemblyAI’s own steps show the same screens.

Under Region, just below Provider, choose where AssemblyAI processes and stores your audio and text: United States, AssemblyAI’s default, or European Union, at the same price. AssemblyAI keeps your account and usage data in the United States either way, as its region page says. Test key checks the key in the region you chose.

AssemblyAI keeps each dictation in your account, in that region, until Side Whisper deletes it, once the text is back. Dictate with your own API key says when one stays.

#Mistral API key

Mistral’s Studio starts in Free mode, with no card, and limits how much you use. In Free mode, Mistral says it may use what you send to train its models. To turn that off, open admin.mistral.ai, choose Privacy and turn off the switch under Anonymous improvement data.

1. Sign up or log in at console.mistral.ai.
2. Choose API Keys in the left sidebar, then Create new key.
3. Give it a name, such as Side Whisper, and an expiry date if you want one, then create it.
4. Copy the key from the dialog. Mistral shows it only once.

In Side Whisper, choose Mistral under Provider. The model is voxtral-mini-latest, Voxtral Mini Transcribe, which transcribes 13 languages: English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Korean, Italian and Dutch. Clean up the text works with Mistral. Mistral’s own steps show the same screens.

#Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API key

Google Cloud gives every account 60 minutes of Speech-to-Text a month, and a new Google Cloud customer $300 of credit to use within 90 days. Both need a billing account with a card or another payment method on file. Google bills nothing during those 90 days; when they end, it stops the project unless you upgrade to a paid account, which then pays for what goes past the free minutes. Google’s free offers has the details.

1. Sign in to the Google Cloud console with your Google account, and take the $300 offer if the console shows it.
2. Create a project, or pick one, and link a billing account when Google asks.
3. Click the search field at the top, type speech, open Cloud Speech-to-Text API and choose Enable.
4. Open the Credentials page, choose Create credentials, then API key.
5. Add a restriction under API restrictions: choose Restrict key and select Cloud Speech-to-Text API. Leave the service account box unticked, then choose Create.
6. Copy the key from the API key created dialog. It starts with AIza and is 39 characters long.

In Side Whisper, choose Google Cloud under Provider. The model starts on latest_long, made for dictation; latest_short is in the list too. Google needs a language, so choose yours under Language: Detect language sends English (United States).

Test key transcribes half a second of silence, so it fails until the API is enabled and billing is linked. Google’s own steps: turn on Speech-to-Text and create an API key.

#OpenAI-compatible server

Choose OpenAI-compatible for a speech-to-text server that takes OpenAI’s audio requests: one you run on your own PC, or a service on the web that offers that API. A server on your PC needs no account, and its key is optional. A service on the web sets its own terms and prices.

1. Find the server’s OpenAI-style address in its documentation, such as http://localhost:8000/v1 for a server on this PC.
2. In Side Whisper, choose OpenAI-compatible under Provider and type the address under Server address. It must start with https://, or with http:// for a server on this PC.
3. If the server needs a key, copy it and press Paste key. Side Whisper keeps it for that address only.
4. Press Test key to read the server’s list of models, or type the model’s name under Model name.

Clean up the text is not offered for a compatible server: its text is typed as heard.

#Add your key to Side Whisper

1. Copy the key from the provider’s page.
2. In Side Whisper, open Settings, then Voice, then Models. Your own API key is under the model cards.
3. Choose your provider under Provider. For an OpenAI-compatible server, type its address under Server address first.
4. Press Paste key. Side Whisper reads the key from the clipboard, saves it on this PC and clears the clipboard. Windows clipboard history (Win+V) keeps its own copy until you delete it there.
5. Press Test key. The line under the key says The key works, or why the provider refused it.
6. Keep the Model Settings starts on, the provider’s most accurate, and set Language to the language you speak.
7. At the top of the page, under Dictate with, choose Your API key. The notice says where your audio goes: choose Send audio to your provider to agree.
8. Dictate as usual with Alt+A.

Your API key can be chosen once a key and a model are saved. If the provider cannot answer, the voice model you chose on this PC types the text, when it is downloaded, and the pill says Inserted (local model) or Copied (local model). Dictate with your own API key lists what the provider receives and how Clean up the text works.

#If the key does not work

Settings, then Voice, then Models, says what went wrong under the key, with the provider’s own reason when it gives one. The dictation pill says it in a few words.

#Keep your key safe

• Keep it private. A key works like a password for your account with the provider: whoever has it can use your credit. Never post it, send it in a message or show it in a screenshot.
• Make one key just for Side Whisper. You can then delete it without touching your other apps.
• It stays on your PC. Side Whisper keeps the key encrypted by Windows for your Windows account. It never syncs, it is never in a backup or an export, and Settings shows only its last four characters. Only its provider receives it, with each dictation you send there.
• Clear the clipboard history. If Windows clipboard history is on, press Win+V and delete the key there.
• Remove it under Your own API key when you stop using it, and delete it at the provider too, or as soon as you think someone else has it.

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