Is Deepgram or AssemblyAI cheaper?
It depends on the model and the unit: Deepgram counts minutes from $0.0048, AssemblyAI counts hours at $0.15 and $0.21. Our plan is $10 a month with no minute limit, and it wins when you send hours every month.
Deepgram vs AssemblyAI
Deepgram or AssemblyAI: the same audio, two units
Deepgram counts minutes from $0.0048 and gives $200 of credit. AssemblyAI counts hours at $0.15 and $0.21 and gives 185 free hours. Our own service is $10 a month with no minute limit. Read on 24 October 2026.
3 files a day up to 30 minutes, free99+ languagesSpeaker separation and timestamps
In short
Deepgram prices by the minute, from $0.0048, and gives $200 of free credit. AssemblyAI prices by the hour, $0.15 and $0.21, and gives 185 free hours. Transcribsi charges $10 a month with no minute limit and gives 3 files a day for free.
Deepgram, AssemblyAI and Transcribsi side by side
DDeepgram
AAssemblyAI
TTranscribsiThat's us
What it is
a speech-to-text API for developers, with text-to-speech, a voice agent API and audio intelligence on the same account
a voice AI platform: pre-recorded, real-time and sync APIs, a voice agent, guardrails and an LLM gateway
a transcription service for files: a REST API, an MCP server and plugins for Claude and ChatGPT
The unit of the price
per minute: $0.0048–$0.0092 a minute depending on the model; $0.0048 a minute is about $0.29 an hour
per hour: $0.21 an hour for Universal-3.5 Pro and $0.15 an hour for Universal-2
per month: $10 a month paid yearly ($120 a year) with no minute limit, or $20 a month paid monthly
What the free part is
$200 of credit on an account with no card, then pay-as-you-go
up to 185 hours of pre-recorded transcription and 333 hours of streaming, with no card
$0: 3 files a day, up to 30 minutes per file, no card
Languages
45+ for the Nova models; the Flux models are not counted
99 for Universal-2 and 18 for Universal-3.5 Pro
99+ languages, set by you or detected
Speakers
speaker diarization as a paid add-on at $0.0020 a minute
speaker diarization and speaker identification, trained in-house
speaker labels on request, with timecodes on every segment
Live audio
REST and WebSocket streaming, up to 150 concurrent WebSocket sessions
a real-time API whose concurrency scales on its own, starting at 100 sessions a minute
not offered: we take a file that is already finished
One file
no size and no duration limit named on the pricing page
no size and no duration limit named on the pricing page
up to 30 minutes on the free plan, no minute limit on Pro
Export formats
not named on the pricing page
not named on the pricing page
6
TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT, CSV, and DOCX on Pro
Meetings and calls
no meeting assistant on the pricing page
no meeting assistant on the pricing page
no meeting assistant either: no bot in the room and no recorder of our own
What the other two have that we do not
text-to-speech, a voice agent API, audio intelligence, redaction, entity detection and keyterm prompting
a voice agent API, guardrails, an LLM gateway, a dictation API and speech understanding
none of that, and no live audio, no on-premises deployment, no add-ons and 99+ languages
The case
Minutes, hours and months
Two developer APIs, one page. The difference starts at the unit: Deepgram counts minutes and AssemblyAI counts hours, so the headline numbers look far apart while the money often lands in the same place. Our service is not in that race. It is a month, a file and a transcript.
How to compare two APIs
- 1
Convert the unit before you compare
Deepgram's Nova-3 monolingual is $0.0048 a minute, about $0.29 an hour, and AssemblyAI's Universal-2 is $0.15 an hour. The two prices are closer than they look. Ours is $10 a month with no minute limit.
- 2
Look at the free part in hours
Deepgram hands out $200 of credit and AssemblyAI gives 185 hours of pre-recorded transcription, both without a card. Ours gives 3 files a day of 30 minutes, also without a card, and the counter starts again tomorrow.
- 3
Check which languages you need
AssemblyAI's Universal-2 covers 99 languages, its most accurate model covers 18, and Deepgram names 45+ for the Nova models. We publish 99+ languages, and Russian is the one the engine was tuned for.
- 4
Decide between an API and a file
Both rivals are APIs for developers, with live audio, voice agents and add-ons around the transcription. We are the file: one upload, timecodes, speaker labels on request and six export formats.
Tips
Compare hours with hours.
A credit is not a plan.
The most accurate model is rarely the one you need.
Decide between a builder API and a finished file.
Questions this page answers
Which of the two has more languages?
AssemblyAI: 99 on Universal-2 and 18 on Universal-3.5 Pro. Deepgram names 45+ for the Nova models and does not count the Flux models on the pricing page. We publish 99+ languages.
Can either of them transcribe a live meeting?
Yes, both have streaming or real-time APIs, and Deepgram allows up to 150 concurrent WebSocket sessions. We do not: the file comes to us after the meeting, which is the part we are built for.
Do they export a transcript to a file?
Neither pricing page names export formats. We publish six: TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT and CSV on every plan, and DOCX on Pro.
Which one has the bigger free allowance?
AssemblyAI, by hours: 185 hours of pre-recorded transcription and 333 of streaming. Deepgram gives $200 of credit. Ours is 3 files a day of 30 minutes, the smallest allowance of the three and the one that renews daily.
Sources
- DDeepgram — pricingdeepgram.com · checked 24 October 2026
- AAssemblyAI — pricingassemblyai.com · checked 24 October 2026
- AAssemblyAI — supported languagesassemblyai.com · checked 24 October 2026
- TTranscribsi — pricingtranscrib.si · checked 24 October 2026
Reading: 9 minutesUpdated 
Transcribsi editorial team
Drop a recording — the text arrives in a minute
Speakers by name, a time on every line, export to TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV and Markdown.
3 files a day up to 30 minutes, free99+ languagesSpeaker separation and timestamps