AssemblyAI vs Speechmatics on price
Speechmatics is cheaper for recorded audio at every volume from 10 to 10,000 hours a month. AssemblyAI is cheaper for live audio at every volume from 10 to 10,000 hours a month. At 100 hours a month, for recorded audio, Speechmatics' Melia 1 costs $0.12 an hour against $0.15 for AssemblyAI's Universal-2, 20% less; for live audio, AssemblyAI's Universal-Streaming costs $0.15 an hour against $0.20 for Speechmatics' Linden 1 (voice agents), 25% less.
Each side's cheapest option at each volume, at regular pay-as-you-go prices; bold marks the cheaper. Price only: accuracy, languages and latency differ.
Recorded audio (batch)
| Audio a month | AssemblyAI | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| 10 hours | $1.50 ($0.15/h) Universal-2 | $1.20 ($0.12/h) Melia 1 |
| 100 hours | $15 ($0.15/h) Universal-2 | $12 ($0.12/h) Melia 1 |
| 1,000 hours | $150 ($0.15/h) Universal-2 | $120 ($0.12/h) Melia 1 |
| 10,000 hours | $1,500 ($0.15/h) Universal-2 | $1,200 ($0.12/h) Melia 1 |
Live audio (streaming)
| Audio a month | AssemblyAI | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| 10 hours | $1.50 ($0.15/h) Universal-Streaming | $2 ($0.20/h) Linden 1 (voice agents) |
| 100 hours | $15 ($0.15/h) Universal-Streaming | $20 ($0.20/h) Linden 1 (voice agents) |
| 1,000 hours | $150 ($0.15/h) Universal-Streaming | $200 ($0.20/h) Linden 1 (voice agents) |
| 10,000 hours | $1,500 ($0.15/h) Universal-Streaming | $2,000 ($0.20/h) Linden 1 (voice agents) |
What else changes the bill
| On the bill | AssemblyAI | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier or credit | 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. | New accounts get $100 of free credit, no card required. |
| 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. | Usage is charged down to the second at the hourly rate. |
| Speaker labels, recorded audio | +$0.02 an hour. | Included. |
| Speaker labels, live audio | +$0.12 an hour. | Included. |
Promotions running now: Speechmatics Linden 1 (voice agents) (streaming) at $0.0025 a minute instead of $0.0033, no end date given. The tables use regular prices.
Every model on each side
AssemblyAI
| Model | Audio | Per minute | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universal-2 | batch | $0.0025 | $0.15 |
| Universal-3.5 Pro | batch | $0.0035 | $0.21 |
| Sync API | batch | $0.005 | $0.30 |
| Universal-Streaming | streaming | $0.0025 | $0.15 |
| Universal-Streaming Multilingual | streaming | $0.0025 | $0.15 |
| Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime | streaming | $0.0075 | $0.45 |
Speechmatics
| Model | Audio | Per minute | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melia 1 | batch | $0.002 | $0.12 |
| Standard | batch | $0.0038 | $0.23 |
| Enhanced | batch | $0.0063 | $0.38 |
| Linden 1 (voice agents) | streaming | $0.0033 | $0.20 |
| Standard | streaming | $0.0038 | $0.23 |
| Enhanced | streaming | $0.0067 | $0.40 |
Full details: AssemblyAI pricing and Speechmatics pricing. Compare every vendor in the speech-to-text cost calculator, or see the cheapest speech-to-text API.
Prices on this page were checked against the official pricing pages on .