AssemblyAI pricing per hour and per minute
AssemblyAI charges $0.15 to $0.30 an hour for recorded audio ($0.0025 to $0.005 a minute) across 3 options, and $0.15 to $0.45 an hour for live audio ($0.0025 to $0.0075 a minute) across 3 options. Sign-up comes with $50 of free credit and no card required; AssemblyAI says that covers up to 185 hours of pre-recorded or 333 hours of streaming transcription. Pre-recorded audio is billed per hour of audio submitted; streaming is billed for the time the connection is open, idle time included. AssemblyAI doesn't state a rounding increment.
Ranked by each vendor's cheapest option at 100 hours a month, AssemblyAI comes 3rd of 12 for recorded audio and 1st of 10 for live audio.
Prices by model
| Model | Audio | Per minute | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universal-2 | batch | $0.0025 | $0.15 |
| Universal-3.5 Pro | batch | $0.0035 | $0.21 |
| Sync API Universal-3.5 Pro in one call, for clips up to 2 minutes. | batch | $0.005 | $0.30 |
| Universal-Streaming English only. Billed on connection time, not audio sent. | streaming | $0.0025 | $0.15 |
| Universal-Streaming Multilingual Billed on connection time, not audio sent. | streaming | $0.0025 | $0.15 |
| Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime Billed on connection time, not audio sent. | streaming | $0.0075 | $0.45 |
What 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 hours a month cost
| Model | 10 hours | 100 hours | 1,000 hours | 10,000 hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universal-2 batch | $1.50 $0.15/h | $15 $0.15/h | $150 $0.15/h | $1,500 $0.15/h |
| Universal-3.5 Pro batch | $2.10 $0.21/h | $21 $0.21/h | $210 $0.21/h | $2,100 $0.21/h |
| Sync API batch | $3 $0.30/h | $30 $0.30/h | $300 $0.30/h | $3,000 $0.30/h |
| Universal-Streaming streaming | $1.50 $0.15/h | $15 $0.15/h | $150 $0.15/h | $1,500 $0.15/h |
| Universal-Streaming Multilingual streaming | $1.50 $0.15/h | $15 $0.15/h | $150 $0.15/h | $1,500 $0.15/h |
| Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime streaming | $4.50 $0.45/h | $45 $0.45/h | $450 $0.45/h | $4,500 $0.45/h |
Regular prices. One-off credits and promotions aren't counted.
Free tier and credits
- Once, at sign-up: Sign-up comes with $50 of free credit and no card required; AssemblyAI says that covers up to 185 hours of pre-recorded or 333 hours of streaming transcription.
Billing
- Pre-recorded audio is billed per hour of audio submitted; streaming is billed for the time the connection is open, idle time included. AssemblyAI doesn't state a rounding increment.
- Multichannel audio is billed per channel: a one-hour stereo file counts as two hours.
- AssemblyAI's own pricing reference lists keyterms on Universal-2 at $0.05 an hour, while its pricing page says included.
Add-ons
| Feature | Audio | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Speaker diarization | batch | +$0.02 an hour |
| Speaker diarization | streaming | +$0.12 an hour |
| Keyterm prompting | batch | +$0.05 an hour Universal-3.5 Pro; the pricing page lists it as included on Universal-2. |
| Medical mode | batch, streaming | +$0.15 an hour |
| PII redaction | batch | +$0.08 an hour Redacts the transcript text; redacting the audio itself is $0.05 an hour. |
| Entity detection | batch | +$0.08 an hour |
Volume discounts and commitments
- Volume discounts are custom, through sales.
Also priced, not ranked
Specialist products and promotion-only prices, kept out of the comparisons:
- Dictation API (batch): $0.0103 a minute ($0.62 an hour). Returns cleaned-up text from clips of up to 120 seconds.
Quick answers
How much does AssemblyAI cost per hour?
$0.15 to $0.30 an hour for recorded audio, and $0.15 to $0.45 an hour for live audio, at regular pay-as-you-go prices.
What do 100 hours of audio a month cost on AssemblyAI?
$15 for recorded audio on Universal-2, or $15 for live audio on Universal-Streaming.
Does AssemblyAI have a free tier?
Sign-up comes with $50 of free credit and no card required; AssemblyAI says that covers up to 185 hours of pre-recorded or 333 hours of streaming transcription.
Does AssemblyAI bill per second?
Pre-recorded audio is billed per hour of audio submitted; streaming is billed for the time the connection is open, idle time included. AssemblyAI doesn't state a rounding increment.
Is anything cheaper than AssemblyAI for recorded audio?
Yes: at 100 hours a month, 2 of the 11 other vendors we price cost less: Groq Whisper Large V3 Turbo at $0.04 an hour and Speechmatics Melia 1 at $0.12 an hour.
Is anything cheaper than AssemblyAI for live audio?
No. At 100 hours a month, none of the 9 other vendors we price costs less.
AssemblyAI against the market: recorded audio
| # | Vendor and option | Per month | Per hour | Per minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Groq Whisper Large V3 Turbo | $4 | $0.04 | $0.0007 |
| 2 | Speechmatics Melia 1 | $12 | $0.12 | $0.002 |
| 3 | AssemblyAI Universal-2 | $15 | $0.15 | $0.0025 |
| 4 | OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-transcribe | $18 | $0.18 | $0.003 |
| 4 | Google Cloud V2 dynamic batch | $18 | $0.18 | $0.003 |
| 4 | Azure AI Speech Batch transcription | $18 | $0.18 | $0.003 |
| 7 | Rev AI Reverb (English) | $20 | $0.20 | $0.0033 |
| 8 | ElevenLabs Scribe v2 | $21.01 | $0.21 | $0.0035 |
| 9 | Deepgram Nova-3 Monolingual | $25.80 | $0.258 | $0.0043 |
| 10 | Gemini API Gemini 3.5 Transcribe | $30.60 | $0.306 | $0.0051 |
| 11 | Amazon Transcribe Standard | $36 | $0.36 | $0.006 |
| 12 | Gladia Starter (async) | $61 | $0.61 | $0.0102 |
AssemblyAI against the market: live audio
| # | Vendor and option | Per month | Per hour | Per minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AssemblyAI Universal-Streaming | $15 | $0.15 | $0.0025 |
| 2 | Speechmatics Linden 1 (voice agents) | $20 | $0.20 | $0.0033 |
| 3 | ElevenLabs Scribe v2 Realtime | $38.03 | $0.38 | $0.0063 |
| 4 | Deepgram Nova-3 Monolingual | $46.20 | $0.462 | $0.0077 |
| 5 | Gemini API Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live | $53.55 | $0.536 | $0.0089 |
| 6 | Amazon Transcribe Standard | $60 | $0.60 | $0.01 |
| 7 | Gladia Starter (real-time) | $75 | $0.75 | $0.0125 |
| 8 | Google Cloud V1 with data logging | $95.04 | $0.95 | $0.0158 |
| 9 | Azure AI Speech Real-time transcription | $100 | $1 | $0.0167 |
| 10 | OpenAI gpt-live-transcribe | $102 | $1.02 | $0.017 |
Price your own monthly hours with the speech-to-text cost calculator, or see the cheapest speech-to-text API.
Head to head: Deepgram vs AssemblyAI, AssemblyAI vs Whisper API, AssemblyAI vs ElevenLabs Scribe, AssemblyAI vs Speechmatics.
Sources
Read on 6 October 2026:
- www.assemblyai.com/pricing (plain HTTP)
- www.assemblyai.com/pricing.md (plain HTTP; AssemblyAI's own pricing reference, for billing rules)
Show the quoted text
Models Pay as you go Universal-3.5 Pro The most accurate async speech-to-text model that transcribes every conversation exactly as it's heard – works across 18 languages, with native code switching and our most accurate speaker diarization yet. $0.21 /hr Universal-2 Our highly accurate speech-to-text model trained on over 12.5 million hours of audio data. Supports 99 languages. Exceptional accuracy at a lower price. $0.15 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Add-on features Keyterms Prompting Provide up to 1000 words or phrases (maximum 6 words per phrase) to improve transcription accuracy. Universal-3.5 Pro $0.05 /hr Universal-2 Included Prompting Describe your audio in plain language to improve transcription accuracy — cover the domain, scenario, or full conversation details. Universal-3.5 Pro $0.05 /hr Universal-2 Not supported Speaker Diarization Detect multiple speakers in audio files and segment the transcript into utterances, showing what each speaker said. Universal-3.5 Pro $0.02 /hr Universal-2 $0.02 /hr Medical Mode New Optimize transcription for medical terminology and healthcare conversations with significantly improved accuracy. Universal-3.5 Pro $0.15 /hr Universal-2 $0.15 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Models Pay as you go Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime New The most accurate realtime model for high-quality voice agents with built-in context carryover and conversation memory. Supports 32 languages with self-correcting speaker labels, voice isolation, and keyterm prompting. $0.45 /hr Universal-Streaming High-quality realtime model for English only transcription. Purpose-built for production voice applications with reliable accuracy, low latency, and cost-effectiveness. $0.15 /hr Universal-Streaming Multilingual Multilingual transcription at the speed and cost of Universal-Streaming. Supports English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, and Italian. $0.15 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Speaker Diarization Detect multiple speakers in audio files and segment the transcript into utterances, showing what each speaker said. Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime $0.12 /hr Universal-Streaming $0.12 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Sync API New Universal-3.5 Pro accuracy delivered in a single call. Process up to 2 minutes per request, get results back in ~134 ms (p50). Includes per-word timing and confidence across 18 languages. $0.30 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Built on Universal-3.5 Pro across 19 languages, with clips up to 120 seconds per request. The verbatim transcript comes back alongside it. $0.62 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
PII Audio Redaction Identify and remove PII from the audio file before it is returned to you $0.05 /hr PII Text Redaction Identify and remove PII from the transcription text before it is returned to you $0.08 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Entity Detection Identify entities that are spoken, such as names or email addresses $0.08 /hr
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Yes. You can create an account and start transcribing immediately with no credit card required. The free tier includes up to 185 hours of pre-recorded transcription and up to 333 hours of streaming transcription.
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
**$50 in free credits, no credit card required.**
www.assemblyai.com/pricing.md
Yes. We offer custom pricing for customers with high-volume usage.
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
Multichannel audio is billed per channel. For example, a 1-hour stereo (2-channel) file is billed as 2 hours of transcription.
www.assemblyai.com/pricing
- **Pre-recorded** is billed per **hour of audio submitted**.
www.assemblyai.com/pricing.md
- **Streaming** is billed per **session duration** — the time the WebSocket connection is open, **not** the duration of audio sent. Idle connection time counts.
www.assemblyai.com/pricing.md
| Universal-2 (async) | +$0.05/hr | Up to 200 terms |
www.assemblyai.com/pricing.md
Prices on this page were checked against the official pricing pages on .