Acoustic monitoring

Perch

A model for acoustic monitoring of nature: it recognises about 15,000 species and provides features for your own tasks, and the license allows commercial use. A microphone on site also records people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

Developer
Google DeepMind, USA
First release
Aug 2025
Latest release
Aug 2025
Sizes
size not stated on the model card
License
Commercial use allowedApache 2.0
Ready-made builds
8-bit
Running
On your own serverAlso runs without a GPU
Industries
Science and research, Public sector, Education, Manufacturing and logistics
Deploy on your server Hugging Face GitHub

What it does

  • Monitoring the sound background of a site or water area
  • Environmental audio features for your own model
  • Selecting events from round-the-clock recordings
  • Environmental review and reporting

Where it is used

Ecology and conservation projectsPublic sector and municipal servicesEducation and scienceSupport for industrial sites

Hardware requirements

LaptopLaptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions
fits
1 GPUOne GPU with 16–80 GB — mid-size versions
no versions
ClusterServer with several GPUs — flagship versions
no versions

Versions

  1. Perch 2.0

How to run it

On your own serverWeights are downloaded from Hugging Face and served with vLLM (load and API) or llama.cpp (modest hardware). The model then runs in a closed network with no per-request fees.Hugging Face
How much hardware you needCalculate the VRAM for the model size, context length and number of concurrent requests.Open the hardware calculator

I can set this up end to end: pick the model size, deploy it on your server and connect it to your systems. Quantization compresses a model so it takes less video memory and runs on more modest hardware. Answers change slightly, so quality is checked on your own examples.

Frequently asked questions

Can Perch be used in a commercial project?

Yes. License: Apache 2.0. It allows commercial use, but it is still worth having a lawyer review the license before launch.

What hardware does Perch need?

At minimum: Laptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions. Some versions also run on an ordinary CPU, without a GPU. You can calculate the exact VRAM for your model size and context in the hardware calculator.

Does Perch support Russian?

Language does not matter for this model: it does not work with text.

Where can I download Perch and what does it cost?

The Perch weights are open and free to download. You only pay for the hardware it runs on and for the setup. Source links are at the bottom of this page.

How I deploy it for clients

  1. SelectionI pick the model size for your task and hardware and test it on your examples.
  2. DeploymentI deploy it on your server or in a closed network and provide an API.
  3. Fine-tuningI fine-tune it on your data (LoRA) or connect a knowledge base — whichever is cheaper for the task.
  4. IntegrationI connect it to your CRM, ERP, bot, website or team chat and set up monitoring.

Similar models

Acoustic monitoringBirdNETCornell Lab of Ornithology and Chemnitz University of Technology · USA and GermanyNon-commercial only

Recognition of more than 6000 bird species by voice, the baseline tool for acoustic monitoring of an area. A microphone on site also records people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

DetailsAcoustic monitoringPANNsUniversity of Surrey · UKCommercial use allowed

The classic set of convolutional networks that label sound across the 527 AudioSet categories, from machinery noise and alarms to breaking glass and screams. The system does not make a diagnosis, it gives you a reason to check the unit before it fails. A microphone can also capture people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

DetailsAcoustic monitoringDashengXiaomi · ChinaCommercial use allowed

A general-purpose audio encoder trained on 272 thousand hours of speech, music and noise: it gives features on top of which you train your own classifier of abnormal sounds. The system does not make a diagnosis, it gives you a reason to check the unit before it fails.

Details

Source: huggingface.co/cgeorgiaw/Perch. Data checked against the model card on 22 Sep 2026. Have a lawyer review the license before commercial launch.