AssemblyAI vs Speechmatics
Ai Transcription Apis pricing comparison · 2026
AssemblyAI pricing ranges from $0–$0.21/hour, while Speechmatics ranges from $0–$0.006/minute. These products use different pricing models (Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute) vs Per-seat subscription), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.
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AssemblyAI and Speechmatics both operate in the ai transcription apis category. This page compares their published pricing.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | AssemblyAI | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Free /hour | Free /minute |
| Pay-As-You-Go | Custom | Custom |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
AssemblyAI
3 scenarios$10/month ($120/year)
Podcast Transcription Startup (50 hours/month)
$7.50 for transcription (50 hrs × $0.15/hr), $1.00 for speaker diarization (50 hrs × $0.02/hr), $1.50 for summarization (50 hrs × $0.03/hr). Total per-hour cost: $0.20/hr.
$210/month ($2,520/year)
Customer Call Analytics Platform (500 hours/month)
$75 for transcription (500 hrs × $0.15/hr), $10 for speaker diarization, $40 for entity detection, $10 for sentiment analysis, $75 for topic detection. Total per-hour cost: $0.42/hr. Enterprise pricing with 30-50% volume discount would reduce this to ~$1,500-$1,800/year.
$1,250
Enterprise Meeting Intelligence (5,000 hours/month)
$1,750/month ($15,000-$21,000/year estimate) -- Enterprise volume discounts of 40-50% applied to list pricing (~$0.25-$0.35/hr vs $0.42/hr list). Includes dedicated support, custom SLA, and prepaid annual commitment. Typical Enterprise contracts start at $12,000-$24,000 minimum.
Speechmatics
3 scenarios$0/month ($0/year)
Multilingual Content Creator (300 minutes/month)
300 minutes/month is fully covered by the Free tier's 480 minutes/month limit. No charges incurred. Excess 180 minutes/month unused.
$259.20/month ($3,110.40/year)
Customer Call Analytics (1,500 hours/month)
Base cost: 1,500 hours × $0.24/hr = $360/month. Less 480 free minutes ($1.92), less 20% volume discount ($71.62 on usage above 500 hours), net cost: $259.20/month. Total per-hour cost after discounts: $0.173/hr.
$1,500
Enterprise Media Platform with On-Premises (10,000 hours/month)
$2,500/month ($18,000-$30,000/year estimate) -- Enterprise custom pricing with 30-40% volume discount reduces base Pro rate ($0.24/hr) to ~$0.144-$0.192/hr. 10,000 hrs × $0.15-$0.20/hr = $1,500-$2,000/month for transcription, plus on-premises infrastructure ($2,000-$5,000/month GPU/Kubernetes) and DevOps ($1,000-$3,000/month). Total all-in cost: $4,500-$10,500/month. Minimum Enterprise commitment typically $25,000-$50,000 annually for transcription services alone.