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AssemblyAI speech APIs - verified

AssemblyAI speech API pricing and models

AssemblyAI: 7 speech-to-text models and 1 realtime voice model, read from the provider's own pages on October 18, 2026. Its lowest speech-to-text rate converts to $0.15 an hour (Universal-2 (pre-recorded)). No model here has a scheduled shutdown date.

Read from assemblyai.com. Compare every speech API

Speech-to-text
7
Text-to-speech
0
Realtime voice
1
Retiring
0

Speech-to-text

Compare every speech-to-text provider

Universal-3.5 Pro (pre-recorded)

Speech-to-text - Universal-3.5 Pro

Price (provider's unit)

$0.21/hr

“works across 18 languages, with native code switching and our most accurate speaker diarization yet. $0.21 /hr”
assemblyai.com
Converted $/hour (our arithmetic)
  • $0.21stated per hour, no conversion
Languages

18 languages

“Universal-3.5 Pro supports 18 languages, for anything outside that set, the system automatically falls back to Universal-2”
assemblyai.com
Streaming

No

“Pre-recorded Speech-to-Text API”
assemblyai.com
Max audio
Not stated
Status
Not stated

Features

  • speaker diarization add-on

    “showing what each speaker said. Universal-3.5 Pro $0.02 /hr Universal-2 $0.02 /hr”
    assemblyai.com

  • word-level timestamps

    “language detection, formatting, filler words, keyterms prompting, custom spelling, word-level timestamps, and more.”
    assemblyai.com

Keyterms prompting and prompting add-ons: $0.05/hr each.

Universal-2 (pre-recorded)

Speech-to-text - Universal-2

Price (provider's unit)

$0.15/hr

“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”
assemblyai.com
Converted $/hour (our arithmetic)
  • $0.15stated per hour, no conversion
Languages

99 languages

“Supports 99 languages.”
assemblyai.com
Streaming

No

“Pre-recorded Speech-to-Text API”
assemblyai.com
Max audio
Not stated
Status
Not stated

Features

  • speaker diarization add-on

    “showing what each speaker said. Universal-3.5 Pro $0.02 /hr Universal-2 $0.02 /hr”
    assemblyai.com

Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime

Speech-to-text - Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime

Current
Price (provider's unit)

$0.45/hr

“Supports 32 languages with self-correcting speaker labels, voice isolation, and keyterm prompting. $0.45 /hr”
assemblyai.com
Converted $/hour (our arithmetic)
  • $0.45stated per hour, no conversion
Languages

32 languages

“Supports 32 languages”
assemblyai.com
Streaming

Yes

“Realtime Speech-to-Text API”
assemblyai.com
Max audio
Not stated
Status

new

“Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime New”
assemblyai.com

Features

  • speaker diarization add-on

    “showing what each speaker said. Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime $0.12 /hr”
    assemblyai.com

The docs models page instead lists 'Universal-3.5 Pro Streaming ... 18 languages with native code switching'.

Universal-Streaming (English)

Speech-to-text - Universal-Streaming

Price (provider's unit)

$0.15/hr

“Purpose-built for production voice applications with reliable accuracy, low latency, and cost-effectiveness. $0.15 /hr”
assemblyai.com
Converted $/hour (our arithmetic)
  • $0.15stated per hour, no conversion
Languages

English only

“High-quality realtime model for English only transcription.”
assemblyai.com
Streaming

Yes

“Realtime Speech-to-Text API”
assemblyai.com
Max audio
Not stated
Status
Not stated

Universal-Streaming Multilingual

Speech-to-text - Universal-Streaming Multilingual

Price (provider's unit)

$0.15/hr

“Supports English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, and Italian. $0.15 /hr”
assemblyai.com
Converted $/hour (our arithmetic)
  • $0.15stated per hour, no conversion
Languages

6 languages

“6 languages: en, es, pt, de, fr, it”
assemblyai.com
Streaming

Yes

“Realtime Speech-to-Text API”
assemblyai.com
Max audio
Not stated
Status
Not stated

Sync Speech-to-Text API

Speech-to-text - Sync API

Current
Price (provider's unit)

$0.30/hr

“Includes per-word timing and confidence across 18 languages. $0.30 /hr”
assemblyai.com
Converted $/hour (our arithmetic)
  • $0.30stated per hour, no conversion
Languages

18 languages

“across 18 languages”
assemblyai.com
Streaming

No

“Finished transcripts in a single API call. POST a short clip and read the transcript off the response”
assemblyai.com
Max audio

2 minutes per request

“Process up to 2 minutes per request”
assemblyai.com
Status

new

“Sync API New”
assemblyai.com

Features

  • per-word timing

    “Includes per-word timing and confidence”
    assemblyai.com

Dictation API

Speech-to-text - Dictation API

Current
Price (provider's unit)

$0.62/hr

“with clips up to 120 seconds per request. The verbatim transcript comes back alongside it. $0.62 /hr”
assemblyai.com
Converted $/hour (our arithmetic)
  • $0.62stated per hour, no conversion
Languages

19 languages

“across 19 languages”
assemblyai.com
Streaming
Not stated
Max audio

120 seconds per request

“with clips up to 120 seconds per request”
assemblyai.com
Status

new

“Dictation API New”
assemblyai.com

Realtime voice

Compare every realtime voice provider

Voice Agent API

Realtime voice - Voice Agent API

Price (provider's unit)

$4.50/hr ($0.075/min)

“Low latency, reliable at scale, and priced for production volume. $4.50/hr ($0.075/min)”
assemblyai.com
Languages

32 languages (STT layer)

“The most accurate realtime model for high-quality voice agents with built-in context carryover and conversation memory. Supports 32 languages. Included”
assemblyai.com
Streaming

Yes

“the infrastructure hosting that runs it all over a single WebSocket”
assemblyai.com
Limits
Not stated
Status
Not stated

Features

  • includes STT, LLM and TTS

    “Speech-to-text on Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime with prompting and Voice Focus, advanced turn detection, interruption detection, our Voice Agent LLM, our text-to-speech voices, and the infrastructure hosting that runs it all over a single WebSocket.”
    assemblyai.com

Billed per second on connected conversation time. AssemblyAI's standalone Text-to-Speech API is marked 'coming soon'.

FAQ

How much does AssemblyAI speech-to-text cost?

Universal-3.5 Pro (pre-recorded): $0.21/hr. Universal-2 (pre-recorded): $0.15/hr. Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime: $0.45/hr. Universal-Streaming (English): $0.15/hr. Universal-Streaming Multilingual: $0.15/hr. Sync Speech-to-Text API: $0.30/hr. Dictation API: $0.62/hr. Prices are in AssemblyAI's own units as of October 18, 2026.

How much does AssemblyAI realtime voice cost?

Voice Agent API: $4.50/hr ($0.075/min). Prices are in AssemblyAI's own units as of October 18, 2026.

Sources

Verified from each provider's own pricing pages and model docs; every quote was string-matched against the page that day. Prices are shown in the provider's own unit. Values marked derived were counted by us or taken from Azure's Retail Prices API, not from a pricing page. Prices change without notice; check the linked source before you commit a budget to one.

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