Tables are sortable — click any column header. Green = best WER in the dataset. Red = hallucination (WER > 100% means the model generated more output than the reference). Model names link to their HuggingFace pages. Dataset titles link to their HF datasets.
Comparative speech-to-text benchmarks for English. 130 model configurations tested across 6 datasets (LibriSpeech test-clean, LibriSpeech test-other, AMI IHM test, Earnings22 test, VoxPopuli en test, Common Voice 22 — English). WER, CER, real-time speed (RTFx), latency, and GPU memory for Whisper, Parakeet, Gemma, and more.
| Model | Backend | n | WER | CER | RTFx mean | RTFx p50 | Lat mean (ms) | Lat p90 (ms) | GPU peak (MB) | Wall (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| parakeet-ctc-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 1.48% | 0.77% | 67.1 | 62.8 | 108 | 149 | 90 | 4 |
| parakeet-rnnt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 1.48% | 0.61% | 33.9 | 32.4 | 253 | 291 | 146 | 19 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2 | nemo | 30 | 1.64% | 0.61% | 39.0 | 35.2 | 243 | 382 | 164 | 8 |
| fw-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 1.64% | 0.74% | 8.6 | 8.2 | 774 | 1135 | 360 | 24 |
| parakeet-tdt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 1.64% | 0.61% | 34.3 | 36.6 | 199 | 299 | 106 | 7 |
| parakeet-rnnt-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 1.81% | 0.77% | 54.3 | 58.1 | 175 | 202 | 116 | 6 |
| whisper-large-v2 | transformers | 30 | 1.97% | 0.80% | 3.9 | 3.8 | 1739 | 3085 | 1450 | 53 |
| parakeet-ctc-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 2.13% | 0.77% | 34.5 | 33.9 | 212 | 268 | 100 | 8 |
| whisper-large-v3-turbo | transformers | 30 | 2.30% | 0.80% | 15.9 | 14.7 | 418 | 613 | 270 | 24 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | nemo | 30 | 2.46% | 0.83% | 53.3 | 54.6 | 187 | 190 | 164 | 7 |
| fw-distil-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 2.46% | 0.74% | 18.6 | 15.3 | 372 | 424 | 296 | 12 |
| fw-large-v3-turbo | faster-whisper | 30 | 2.46% | 0.70% | 17.1 | 14.5 | 399 | 467 | 328 | 13 |
| parakeet-tdt_ctc-110m | nemo | 30 | 2.63% | 0.92% | 4.4 | 3.4 | 1646 | 1701 | 674 | 51 |
| distil-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 3.28% | 0.92% | 21.0 | 19.2 | 315 | 450 | 188 | 10 |
| whisper-small.en | transformers | 30 | 3.45% | 1.04% | 12.8 | 12.7 | 594 | 1076 | 388 | 40 |
| whisper-tiny.en | transformers | 30 | 3.78% | 1.23% | 28.8 | 27.6 | 251 | 443 | 92 | 8 |
| whisper-base.en | transformers | 30 | 3.78% | 1.13% | 22.9 | 22.0 | 319 | 607 | 174 | 11 |
| whisper-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 3.94% | 1.23% | 4.0 | 3.9 | 1680 | 2863 | 1448 | 51 |
| whisper-medium.en | transformers | 30 | 4.11% | 1.29% | 6.3 | 6.1 | 1110 | 2162 | 900 | 106 |
| gemma-4-E4B-it | transformers | 30 | 4.43% | 1.72% | 0.2 | 0.2 | 39692 | 76875 | 5520 | 1212 |
| gemma-4-E2B-it | transformers | 30 | 4.93% | 1.75% | 3.4 | 3.3 | 2103 | 4113 | 54 | 65 |
| Model | Backend | n | WER | CER | RTFx mean | RTFx p50 | Lat mean (ms) | Lat p90 (ms) | GPU peak (MB) | Wall (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fw-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 0.84% | 0.34% | 6.9 | 6.6 | 738 | 941 | 288 | 23 |
| parakeet-tdt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 1.18% | 0.41% | 30.5 | 29.4 | 168 | 203 | 0 | 30 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2 | nemo | 30 | 1.35% | 0.62% | 47.5 | 45.3 | 112 | 148 | 0 | 4 |
| parakeet-rnnt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 1.52% | 0.48% | 27.2 | 25.0 | 199 | 257 | 0 | 7 |
| parakeet-ctc-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 1.69% | 0.62% | 52.0 | 45.3 | 107 | 133 | 0 | 4 |
| parakeet-rnnt-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 1.69% | 0.72% | 50.5 | 43.6 | 104 | 142 | 0 | 4 |
| parakeet-ctc-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 1.86% | 0.76% | 29.9 | 27.5 | 181 | 228 | 2 | 7 |
| fw-distil-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 2.20% | 0.96% | 14.0 | 11.7 | 374 | 420 | 224 | 12 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | nemo | 30 | 2.36% | 1.03% | 46.4 | 41.3 | 114 | 159 | 0 | 4 |
| whisper-medium.en | transformers | 30 | 2.70% | 1.17% | 4.8 | 4.7 | 1100 | 1766 | 0 | 34 |
| whisper-large-v3-turbo | transformers | 30 | 2.70% | 1.13% | 12.8 | 12.1 | 399 | 511 | 0 | 24 |
| parakeet-tdt_ctc-110m | nemo | 30 | 2.87% | 1.20% | 3.3 | 2.6 | 1650 | 1684 | 70 | 51 |
| fw-large-v3-turbo | faster-whisper | 30 | 3.04% | 1.44% | 13.4 | 11.2 | 389 | 429 | 288 | 13 |
| whisper-large-v2 | transformers | 30 | 3.21% | 1.24% | 3.1 | 3.2 | 1669 | 2436 | 0 | 51 |
| whisper-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 3.89% | 1.48% | 3.1 | 3.1 | 1655 | 2202 | 0 | 51 |
| whisper-base.en | transformers | 30 | 4.22% | 1.75% | 17.1 | 18.0 | 320 | 501 | 0 | 11 |
| whisper-small.en | transformers | 30 | 4.73% | 1.82% | 9.6 | 9.6 | 556 | 931 | 0 | 18 |
| gemma-4-E4B-it | transformers | 30 | 5.24% | 2.30% | 0.1 | 0.1 | 39396 | 67203 | 5460 | 1183 |
| distil-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 5.41% | 2.27% | 16.2 | 15.2 | 313 | 380 | 0 | 10 |
| gemma-4-E2B-it | transformers | 30 | 5.74% | 2.54% | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2037 | 3395 | 0 | 62 |
| whisper-tiny.en | transformers | 30 | 5.91% | 2.61% | 21.7 | 22.9 | 247 | 391 | 0 | 9 |
| Model | Backend | n | WER | CER | RTFx mean | RTFx p50 | Lat mean (ms) | Lat p90 (ms) | GPU peak (MB) | Wall (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | nemo | 30 | 19.20% | 15.34% | 13.7 | 10.4 | 97 | 122 | 0 | 4 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2 | nemo | 30 | 19.20% | 16.25% | 13.9 | 10.8 | 95 | 123 | 0 | 4 |
| whisper-medium.en | transformers | 30 | 23.20% | 18.77% | 2.9 | 2.3 | 1008 | 722 | 224 | 82 |
| fw-distil-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 24.00% | 19.68% | 4.0 | 3.1 | 334 | 357 | 224 | 11 |
| fw-large-v3-turbo | faster-whisper | 30 | 24.80% | 19.86% | 3.8 | 3.0 | 343 | 363 | 288 | 11 |
| whisper-large-v2 | transformers | 30 | 24.80% | 18.95% | 1.8 | 1.3 | 726 | 1008 | 0 | 23 |
| fw-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 25.60% | 21.84% | 2.6 | 2.1 | 482 | 553 | 256 | 17 |
| distil-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 25.60% | 20.22% | 6.3 | 4.8 | 204 | 242 | 0 | 88 |
| whisper-large-v3-turbo | transformers | 30 | 28.80% | 23.65% | 5.1 | 4.1 | 250 | 300 | 0 | 9 |
| parakeet-tdt_ctc-110m | nemo | 30 | 29.60% | 22.20% | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1612 | 1639 | 24 | 49 |
| parakeet-tdt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 29.60% | 19.13% | 9.9 | 7.4 | 135 | 155 | 0 | 5 |
| parakeet-ctc-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 30.40% | 20.22% | 9.0 | 5.8 | 161 | 202 | 0 | 6 |
| parakeet-rnnt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 30.40% | 20.94% | 8.5 | 6.2 | 163 | 214 | 2 | 6 |
| parakeet-ctc-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 32.00% | 20.76% | 15.5 | 9.9 | 90 | 123 | 0 | 4 |
| whisper-base.en | transformers | 30 | 32.80% | 27.26% | 9.3 | 8.6 | 134 | 209 | 0 | 5 |
| parakeet-rnnt-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 33.60% | 22.56% | 13.7 | 9.9 | 99 | 130 | 0 | 4 |
| whisper-small.en | transformers | 30 | 34.40% | 28.34% | 6.1 | 5.0 | 499 | 360 | 98 | 16 |
| whisper-tiny.en | transformers | 30 | 34.40% | 28.52% | 12.4 | 11.7 | 332 | 173 | 6 | 11 |
| gemma-4-E4B-it | transformers | 30 | 61.60% | 55.60% | 0.1 | 0.1 | 13317 | 22371 | 5396 | 401 |
| gemma-4-E2B-it | transformers | 30 | 115.20% | 126.90% | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1028 | 1977 | 0 | 32 |
| whisper-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 308.00% | 340.07% | 1.7 | 1.5 | 2397 | 1624 | 400 | 83 |
| Model | Backend | n | WER | CER | RTFx mean | RTFx p50 | Lat mean (ms) | Lat p90 (ms) | GPU peak (MB) | Wall (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fw-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 15.30% | 9.69% | 7.7 | 8.2 | 679 | 901 | 256 | 22 |
| fw-large-v3-turbo | faster-whisper | 30 | 15.93% | 10.52% | 13.5 | 13.9 | 401 | 461 | 288 | 13 |
| whisper-large-v2 | transformers | 30 | 16.14% | 10.52% | 4.0 | 4.2 | 1337 | 2033 | 0 | 42 |
| whisper-large-v3-turbo | transformers | 30 | 16.14% | 10.37% | 13.8 | 14.3 | 393 | 602 | 0 | 13 |
| distil-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 16.56% | 10.64% | 16.9 | 17.7 | 316 | 435 | 170 | 11 |
| parakeet-ctc-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 17.19% | 10.60% | 31.1 | 35.3 | 178 | 227 | 0 | 7 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | nemo | 30 | 17.40% | 10.64% | 46.2 | 42.6 | 121 | 157 | 0 | 5 |
| fw-distil-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 17.40% | 11.05% | 14.5 | 14.5 | 379 | 421 | 224 | 13 |
| whisper-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 17.82% | 10.98% | 3.9 | 4.2 | 1347 | 2011 | 0 | 64 |
| whisper-small.en | transformers | 30 | 18.03% | 11.70% | 12.1 | 12.8 | 466 | 866 | 0 | 16 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2 | nemo | 30 | 18.66% | 12.07% | 50.1 | 50.7 | 109 | 151 | 0 | 5 |
| parakeet-tdt_ctc-110m | nemo | 30 | 18.66% | 12.45% | 3.4 | 3.4 | 1664 | 1693 | 48 | 51 |
| whisper-medium.en | transformers | 30 | 19.08% | 12.34% | 6.2 | 6.6 | 860 | 1290 | 0 | 37 |
| whisper-base.en | transformers | 30 | 19.29% | 12.41% | 20.1 | 21.9 | 278 | 436 | 0 | 10 |
| parakeet-ctc-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 19.50% | 11.62% | 52.6 | 43.6 | 112 | 143 | 0 | 4 |
| parakeet-rnnt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 19.71% | 13.25% | 29.5 | 30.8 | 185 | 245 | 0 | 7 |
| gemma-4-E4B-it | transformers | 30 | 19.71% | 12.00% | 0.2 | 0.2 | 30032 | 49076 | 5440 | 903 |
| whisper-tiny.en | transformers | 30 | 20.96% | 13.63% | 24.0 | 24.2 | 237 | 446 | 0 | 9 |
| parakeet-rnnt-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 20.96% | 13.21% | 47.2 | 43.9 | 117 | 157 | 0 | 5 |
| parakeet-tdt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 21.80% | 13.44% | 30.1 | 30.5 | 177 | 255 | 0 | 7 |
| gemma-4-E2B-it | transformers | 30 | 23.48% | 13.89% | 3.3 | 3.4 | 1673 | 2616 | 0 | 52 |
| Model | Backend | n | WER | CER | RTFx mean | RTFx p50 | Lat mean (ms) | Lat p90 (ms) | GPU peak (MB) | Wall (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| parakeet-rnnt-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 5.06% | 2.77% | 75.3 | 84.2 | 114 | 170 | 0 | 17 |
| parakeet-tdt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 5.77% | 3.39% | 42.8 | 46.7 | 200 | 297 | 0 | 31 |
| parakeet-rnnt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 5.91% | 3.41% | 41.9 | 45.0 | 203 | 258 | 0 | 152 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2 | nemo | 30 | 6.05% | 3.71% | 78.4 | 86.2 | 111 | 167 | 0 | 17 |
| parakeet-ctc-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 6.05% | 3.29% | 46.9 | 51.3 | 184 | 255 | 0 | 79 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | nemo | 30 | 6.19% | 3.98% | 75.1 | 84.7 | 115 | 169 | 0 | 17 |
| parakeet-tdt_ctc-110m | nemo | 30 | 6.89% | 4.10% | 5.4 | 5.1 | 1658 | 1692 | 50 | 66 |
| parakeet-ctc-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 7.31% | 3.88% | 94.1 | 105.8 | 94 | 132 | 0 | 16 |
| whisper-medium.en | transformers | 30 | 7.45% | 4.57% | 7.3 | 7.1 | 1176 | 1781 | 0 | 59 |
| fw-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 8.44% | 5.07% | 9.9 | 9.5 | 857 | 1148 | 288 | 39 |
| whisper-large-v2 | transformers | 30 | 8.44% | 5.04% | 4.6 | 4.5 | 1840 | 2649 | 0 | 69 |
| whisper-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 8.44% | 5.12% | 4.7 | 4.5 | 1844 | 2720 | 0 | 91 |
| fw-large-v3-turbo | faster-whisper | 30 | 8.72% | 5.19% | 19.9 | 19.2 | 432 | 504 | 288 | 27 |
| whisper-small.en | transformers | 30 | 8.86% | 5.14% | 15.3 | 15.4 | 563 | 854 | 0 | 97 |
| whisper-large-v3-turbo | transformers | 30 | 9.14% | 5.59% | 19.1 | 18.8 | 445 | 595 | 0 | 48 |
| distil-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 9.56% | 5.29% | 24.7 | 23.9 | 344 | 451 | 2 | 23 |
| whisper-base.en | transformers | 30 | 9.70% | 5.29% | 27.0 | 27.8 | 320 | 485 | 0 | 23 |
| fw-distil-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 9.85% | 5.36% | 21.6 | 21.5 | 401 | 458 | 224 | 26 |
| whisper-tiny.en | transformers | 30 | 11.81% | 6.30% | 35.5 | 36.0 | 245 | 382 | 0 | 21 |
| gemma-4-E2B-it | transformers | 30 | 12.38% | 7.39% | 3.8 | 3.9 | 2287 | 3617 | 0 | 83 |
| gemma-4-E4B-it | transformers | 30 | 14.06% | 8.65% | 0.2 | 0.2 | 44566 | 71972 | 5474 | 1351 |
| Model | Backend | n | WER | CER | RTFx mean | RTFx p50 | Lat mean (ms) | Lat p90 (ms) | GPU peak (MB) | Wall (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| parakeet-rnnt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 6.27% | 4.12% | 29.3 | 30.1 | 234 | 196 | 78 | 8 |
| parakeet-tdt-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 6.67% | 3.45% | 34.4 | 35.4 | 148 | 180 | 54 | 6 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2 | nemo | 30 | 9.02% | 5.77% | 60.7 | 60.1 | 130 | 100 | 112 | 4 |
| parakeet-ctc-1.1b | nemo | 30 | 9.41% | 5.32% | 40.4 | 40.5 | 127 | 146 | 30 | 4 |
| parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 | nemo | 30 | 10.20% | 6.07% | 59.9 | 59.2 | 142 | 99 | 132 | 5 |
| whisper-medium | transformers | 30 | 11.76% | 6.30% | 9.5 | 8.9 | 566 | 781 | 854 | 18 |
| whisper-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 12.16% | 6.90% | 5.8 | 5.5 | 928 | 1391 | 1406 | 28 |
| parakeet-rnnt-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 12.16% | 6.07% | 57.6 | 56.8 | 141 | 105 | 50 | 5 |
| whisper-large-v3-turbo | transformers | 30 | 12.16% | 5.92% | 16.9 | 15.5 | 305 | 366 | 264 | 10 |
| fw-large-v3-turbo | faster-whisper | 30 | 12.16% | 5.92% | 13.9 | 14.1 | 374 | 397 | 328 | 12 |
| whisper-large-v2 | transformers | 30 | 12.94% | 7.20% | 5.3 | 5.3 | 1002 | 1437 | 1480 | 119 |
| parakeet-tdt_ctc-110m | nemo | 30 | 12.94% | 6.67% | 3.2 | 3.2 | 1629 | 1658 | 674 | 49 |
| gemma-4-E4B-it | transformers | 30 | 12.94% | 7.27% | 0.3 | 0.3 | 19701 | 32110 | 5486 | 614 |
| whisper-small | transformers | 30 | 13.33% | 6.90% | 21.2 | 19.8 | 257 | 405 | 334 | 8 |
| fw-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 13.33% | 7.50% | 8.6 | 8.1 | 595 | 717 | 298 | 18 |
| parakeet-ctc-0.6b | nemo | 30 | 13.33% | 7.50% | 71.4 | 66.7 | 73 | 79 | 28 | 3 |
| distil-large-v3 | transformers | 30 | 14.51% | 7.50% | 19.5 | 18.8 | 264 | 309 | 186 | 8 |
| whisper-small.en | transformers | 30 | 15.29% | 7.65% | 21.1 | 19.4 | 257 | 377 | 334 | 8 |
| whisper-medium.en | transformers | 30 | 15.69% | 9.07% | 8.9 | 8.4 | 604 | 870 | 852 | 19 |
| whisper-base.en | transformers | 30 | 15.69% | 9.37% | 36.5 | 33.9 | 148 | 227 | 170 | 5 |
| gemma-4-E2B-it | transformers | 30 | 15.69% | 8.62% | 5.3 | 5.2 | 1030 | 1535 | 26 | 52 |
| fw-distil-large-v3 | faster-whisper | 30 | 16.08% | 7.87% | 14.5 | 14.8 | 358 | 378 | 296 | 11 |
| whisper-base | transformers | 30 | 18.43% | 9.60% | 38.3 | 34.7 | 144 | 220 | 170 | 5 |
| whisper-tiny | transformers | 30 | 23.92% | 13.49% | 44.6 | 41.5 | 121 | 182 | 88 | 4 |
| whisper-tiny.en | transformers | 30 | 26.27% | 14.32% | 48.2 | 44.5 | 113 | 166 | 88 | 4 |