Choosing the right transcription option for your business.
With the release of the standalone 3CX AI Server in V20 Update 10, partners and customers now have more choice over how call transcriptions, summaries and sentiment analysis are processed.
You can either continue using third-party cloud APIs - such as Grok, Google Cloud STT, or OpenAI Whisper - which are simple to set up and work well for lower call volumes.
Alternatively, you can deploy your own 3CX AI Server and process transcriptions locally on dedicated hardware. This can be the better option when call volumes increase, costs need to be predictable, or data must remain inside your own infrastructure.
Before choosing the best option for your business, consider these two factors:
- How many transcription minutes will you process each month?
- Are privacy, compliance, or data sovereignty requirements applicable?
Read on to learn more about which option might be right for you.
Cloud or 3CX AI Server?
Low volume? Cloud remains the simplest option. For smaller deployments, cloud transcription is usually the most practical choice. There is no hardware to buy or manage. Setup is faster, and costs stay low when the number of transcription minutes is limited.
As a guide, if you process under 25,000 minutes per month, or around 19 hours of recordings per working day, cloud transcription will usually be the most cost-effective option. This is ideal for businesses that:
- Need a quick setup
- Have lower transcription usage
- Do not want to manage dedicated AI hardware
- Do not have strict data sovereignty requirements
Higher volume or stricter privacy? Consider 3CX AI Server. As call volumes increase, cloud costs increase with every additional transcription minute. A dedicated 3CX AI Server changes this cost model. There is an upfront hardware cost, but the monthly cost is more predictable and is mainly limited to electricity, hosting, maintenance and administration.
This makes the 3CX AI Server more attractive for businesses processing 50,000+ minutes per month or for call centers handling high call volumes over time. It is also the right choice when privacy or compliance is the main requirement. With a local 3CX AI Server, call recordings, transcripts, summaries and sentiment analysis data remain inside your own infrastructure.
This can be important for organizations in sectors such as healthcare, finance, public services or any business with strict internal data policies.
Compare Cost, Capacity and Control
The decision should be based on total cost over time, not only the cost per minute. A simple way to calculate this is: 5-year TCO = hardware purchase cost + monthly running cost x 60 months.
For example, an RTX-based 3CX AI Server costing around $5,000 upfront, plus approximately $83 per month in electricity and maintenance, results in an estimated 5-year cost of around $10,000. This works out at around $167 per month, based on mid-2026 hardware prices.
Below is a simplified comparison using Grok cloud transcription and a single 3CX AI Server setup:
| Transcription Capacity | Grok | MacMini M4 24Gb** |
MacStudio M4 Max 36Gb** |
NVIDIA RTX4090 24Gb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum Monthly Capacity (minutes)* | n/a | 110k | 515k | 1700k |
| Cost for 25k | $50 | $63 | $83 | $167 |
| Cost for 50k | $100 | $63 | $83 | $167 |
| Cost for 100k | $200 | $63 | $83 | $167 |
| Cost for 250k | $500 | n/a | $83 | $167 |
| Cost for 500k | $1000 | n/a | $83 | $167 |
| Cost for 1000k | $2000 | n/a | n/a | $167 |
* Based on 10 hours use per day, 5 days per week.
For low usage, cloud APIs remain cost-effective. For higher usage, the 3CX AI Server can reduce long-term costs and give you more control over where your data is processed.
Before You Decide
- To use AI transcriptions and summaries, you need 3CX AI Edition. Recording and transcription must also be enabled.
- The standalone 3CX AI Server requires V20 Update 10 or above.
Existing users should review their current transcription usage in minutes per month, compare it against their current cloud costs and decide whether switching the option makes sense.
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