AssemblyAI vs Deepgram vs Whisper API vs Speechmatics
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
AssemblyAI
Speech-to-text, speech understanding and voice-agent APIs for develope...
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Deepgram
Speech-to-text, text-to-speech and voice-agent APIs for developers
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Whisper API
OpenAI's open speech-to-text model; the hosted API retires in 2027
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Speechmatics
Speech-to-text API pitched at accents, noise and mixed-language audio
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| RECATOOLS Score | 7.8 / 10 | 8 / 10 | 8.3 / 10 | 8 / 10 |
| Capability | ||||
| Value for money | ||||
| Ease of use | ||||
| ASEAN readiness | ||||
| API quality | ||||
| Pricing | Usage_based | Usage_based | Freemium | Usage_based |
| Free tier | Trial allowance, not a lasting plan: up to 185 hours of pre-recorded or 333 hours of streaming transcription, no card | $200 one-time credit on Pay As You Go: no credit card, no expiry; promotional credits are non-transferable | The open-source Whisper model is free to run yourself under the MIT licence; the hosted API is paid | No lasting free plan: a one-off $100 starter credit (trial), no card needed, with 2 real-time sessions |
| Paid from | $0.15/hour (Universal-2 pre-recorded or Universal-Streaming, pay as you go) | Usage-based: Nova-3 batch $0.0043/min; streaming $0.0048/min promo (regular $0.0077) | $0.006 a minute for the whisper-1 API (removal scheduled 26 Feb 2027) | $0.12/hour (Melia 1 pre-recorded transcription, pay as you go) |
| Has API | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Users | — | 200,000+ developers | — | — |
| Founded | 2017 | 2015 | 2022 | 2006 |
| Maker | — | — | OpenAI | — |
| Verdict | AssemblyAI is one of the more complete speech APIs: accurate recorded and live transcription, a long list of per-hour add-ons, clear published prices from $0.15 an hour, good documentation and a free starting allowance t... |
Deepgram is one of the strongest speech APIs for developers: fast, accurate, per-second billing, and a coherent stack for building voice agents, now with an APAC headquarters in Singapore and growing Southeast Asian lang... |
The open-source Whisper model is still one of the most useful pieces of speech technology available: free, MIT-licensed, multilingual and runnable offline through projects such as whisper.cpp and faster-whisper. It does... |
Speechmatics is serious speech infrastructure for teams that will call an API: published per-hour prices by model, real-time and batch transcription, code-switching across languages and a voice-agent model built for fast... |
| Full review → | Full review → | Full review → | Full review → |
Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.