Pricing
Conversational Speech Data: cost and pricing in India
Indicative rate bands for conversational speech data, the five specification decisions that move the number most, and how a fixed quote is put together from a written spec.
- Pricing model
- Per delivered unit, fixed against spec
- Minimum
- ~50 hours or equivalent per language
- Turnaround
- 4-7 weeks for 100-300 hours in one language.
- Quote time
- One working day
What drives the price of conversational speech
Natural two-party and multi-party conversation recorded with separate channels per speaker, covering the overlaps, interruptions and turn-taking that scripted data never produces.
- Language tier: widely spoken languages have deeper recruitment pools and cost less per unit than low-resource ones
- Demographic narrowness: a 50/50 gender split across three age bands is routine; a narrow cohort multiplies recruitment effort
- Channels — One channel per speaker, time-aligned. Moving this off the standard changes the unit cost directly.
- Duration — 15-60 minutes per conversation. Moving this off the standard changes the unit cost directly.
- Topics — Scenario cards, free topics, or your domain scripts. Moving this off the standard changes the unit cost directly.
- Overlap — Preserved and tagged, never edited out. Moving this off the standard changes the unit cost directly.
- QA threshold and rework policy: a higher accept bar means more re-collection, which is priced in rather than absorbed later
Where the cost sits in conversational speech
Pairs are recruited together where familiarity matters; stranger pairs are used when the deployment target is customer support.
Turnaround: 4-7 weeks for 100-300 hours in one language.
Indicative rate bands
| Scope | Unit | Indicative band |
|---|---|---|
| Widely spoken language, standard spec | per delivered hour | ₹3,200 – ₹6,500 |
| Regional language, standard spec | per delivered hour | ₹4,200 – ₹8,200 |
| Low-resource language or narrow cohort | per delivered hour | ₹5,500 – ₹11,000 |
| Verbatim transcription add-on | per audio hour | ₹900 – ₹2,400 |
| Pilot batch (10-20 hours) | fixed | Quoted separately, credited against the full run |
These are bands, not a price list. Two projects with the same hour count can differ by 3x on cohort design alone, which is why every number here is replaced by a fixed figure once we see your specification.
What the price includes
- Per-speaker channels plus mixed reference
- Turn-level transcripts
- Overlap and backchannel tags
- Conversation metadata
How the quote is built
- Scenario design so conversations stay on-domain without becoming scripted
- Speaker pairing by familiarity level as specified
- Multi-channel recording with per-speaker isolation
- Diarisation-ready packaging
- Verbatim transcription with speaker turns and overlap tags
Where budgets get wasted
The most expensive mistake in a data purchase is buying volume before the specification is settled. Re-collecting 200 hours because the noise profile did not match deployment costs more than the entire QA layer would have.
Conversations are checked for naturalness, not just audio quality. Sessions that drift into reading are rejected.
Best suited for
- Diarisation
- Conversational ASR
- Dialogue modelling
- Call analytics
Frequently asked
How much does conversational speech cost per hour in India?
Most programmes land between ₹3,200 and ₹11,000 per delivered unit depending on language tier, cohort narrowness, recording condition and annotation depth. A written specification converts that band into a single fixed number.
Is there a minimum order?
Around 50 hours or equivalent per language for a production run. Pilots of 10-20 hours are accepted when they lead into a larger build, since most setup cost sits in specification and recruitment.
Do you charge for rejected audio?
No. You pay for delivered units that pass the agreed QA threshold. Rejected material is re-collected at our cost.
Can the price be fixed rather than estimated?
Yes. Once the specification is signed the price is fixed against it. Changes to quotas, conditions or annotation depth are re-quoted before work continues.
Related pages
Get a fixed price for conversational speech
Send the volume, languages and quality bar you have in mind and you get a scoped price within a working day.