Whisper or GigaAM: which to choose for business
Both models are MIT, allow commercial use and run on a CPU. Whisper recognizes 99 languages including Russian, is described in the catalog as the de facto standard for transcribing calls and meetings, and ranges from 39M to 1.5B. Sber's GigaAM is built for Russian speech, described in the catalog as one of the most accurate for Russian; it ranges from 220M to 600M, runs on a regular computer, detects emotions and has a multilingual version (Russian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek). GigaAM was updated more recently (2026-07 vs 2025-03).
Comparison based on catalog data
| Parameter | Whisper | GigaAM |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Speech to text | Speech to text |
| Developer | OpenAI, USA | Sber, Russia |
| Releases | Sep 2022 – Mar 2025 | Apr 2024 – Jul 2026 |
| Sizes | 39M – 1,5B | 220M – 600M |
| Hardware | Laptop, 1 GPU | Laptop |
| Commercial use | Commercial use allowed | Commercial use allowed |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Russian | Supported | Supported |
| Ollama | No | No |
| Without GPU | Yes | Yes |
| Tasks |
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Choose Whisper if
- You transcribe recordings in many languages, not only Russian
- You need video subtitles for media and creators
- You need the smallest model: Whisper starts at 39M
Choose GigaAM if
- Your calls are mainly in Russian, or in Kazakh, Kyrgyz or Uzbek
- You need emotion analysis in conversations
- You are a call center, bank or public body, where the catalog lists GigaAM
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