Gladia ranks #1 of 9 in our speech-to-text apis testing. the only vendor here that makes not training on your audio the contractual default, with diarization thrown in free..
88/100
the most expensive entry rate here and the only data policy you don't have to negotiate for — which for most regulated work settles it.
why people look for an alternative
−$0.61/hr pay-as-you-go is the highest entry rate here
−the advertised $0.20/hr needs a volume commitment
−on-premise listed but detailed only via sales
−word error rate is self-reported with no named dataset
stay with Gladia if no training on your audio, contractually, by default is the thing you care about most — nothing below beats it on that.
#2 in speech-to-text apis · cheapest managed batch transcription, quoted in the right unit — with streaming billed by the clock, not the audio.
86/100
verdictthe best price-to-capability ratio here and the only vendor already quoting in dollars per hour — spoiled by a streaming meter that runs on silence.
AssemblyAI vs Gladia
Gladia
AssemblyAI
price
$0.61/hr
$0.15/hr
free tier
yes
yes
cost/hr batch
$0.61
$0.15-0.21
cost/hr realtime
$0.75
$0.45 base
diarization
included free
+$0.02 to $0.12/hr
trains on your audio
no, by default
yes, opt-out available
self-host
enterprise only
not offered
switch forhigh-volume batch transcription where cost per hour is the deciding number.
pros
+cheapest managed batch rate at $0.15/hr
+already quotes in dollars per hour
+99+ languages on streaming
+$50 free credit with no card required
cons
−streaming billed by socket-open time, not audio
−trains on your data by default; opt-out is manual
#3 in speech-to-text apis · top of the independent accuracy leaderboard at $0.22 an hour — or nine times that if you pay the wrong way.
85/100
verdictthe most accurate option here by an independent measure, at a genuinely low rate, sitting behind a billing choice that can cost you nine times more for identical output.
ElevenLabs Scribe vs Gladia
Gladia
ElevenLabs Scribe
price
$0.61/hr
$0.22/hr
free tier
yes
yes
cost/hr batch
$0.61
$0.22 payg
cost/hr realtime
$0.75
not separately published
diarization
included free
included, 32 speakers
trains on your audio
no, by default
not published
self-host
enterprise only
not offered
switch foraccuracy-critical transcription with lots of speakers — provided you set up billing correctly.
pros
+1.5% word error rate, first on an independent leaderboard
+$0.22/hr on pay-as-you-go
+diarization for up to 32 speakers
+audio-event tagging alongside transcription
cons
−subscription credits cost roughly 9x the payg rate
−training policy for scribe audio not published clearly
#4 in speech-to-text apis · the only entry whose model you can legally run yourself for free — which makes it the yardstick for everything else here.
84/100
verdictnot the most accurate and not the cheapest, but the only one where the managed price and the self-hosted price are the same model — and it doesn't train on your audio.
OpenAI Whisper API vs Gladia
Gladia
OpenAI Whisper API
price
$0.61/hr
$0.18/hr
free tier
yes
no
cost/hr batch
$0.61
$0.18-0.36
cost/hr realtime
$0.75
not published
diarization
included free
none native
trains on your audio
no, by default
no, by default
self-host
enterprise only
yes, mit weights
switch forteams who want a managed option today and the ability to walk away to their own hardware later.
pros
+mit weights, free to self-host, same model as the api
+no training on your audio by default
+gpt-4o-mini-transcribe at $0.18/hr
+99 languages
cons
−no native speaker diarization
−no free tier or trial credit
−no separately published real-time rate
−whisper large-v3 no longer leads open leaderboards
#6 in speech-to-text apis · the clearest pricing table here, for a price that assumes your recordings become their training data.
76/100
verdictexcellent, itemised, honest-looking pricing — with the most important term about it disclosed in an api parameter rather than on the pricing page.
Deepgram vs Gladia
Gladia
Deepgram
price
$0.61/hr
$0.462/hr
free tier
yes
yes
cost/hr batch
$0.61
$0.462
cost/hr realtime
$0.75
$0.288
diarization
included free
+$0.12/hr
trains on your audio
no, by default
yes — price depends on it
self-host
enterprise only
sales-gated
switch forteams whose audio isn't sensitive and who want streaming at the lowest real-time rate here.
pros
+lowest published real-time rate at $0.288/hr
+clearly itemised add-on pricing
+$200 free credit with no card
+steady multilingual expansion through 2026
cons
−headline price assumes you let deepgram train on your audio
#7 in speech-to-text apis · built for regulated on-premise deployment, with a pricing page that won't separate batch from real-time.
70/100
verdicta serious enterprise product whose self-serve pricing tells you less than any pure-play rival's — which matters less if you were always going to talk to sales.
Speechmatics vs Gladia
Gladia
Speechmatics
price
$0.61/hr
$0.129/hr
free tier
yes
yes
cost/hr batch
$0.61
from $0.129
cost/hr realtime
$0.75
~$0.24, unconfirmed
diarization
included free
likely included, unconfirmed
trains on your audio
no, by default
toggle, default unknown
self-host
enterprise only
yes, sales-gated
switch forregulated enterprises that need on-premise or on-device deployment and will go through sales anyway.
pros
+saas, on-premises and on-device deployment
+$100 free credit, no card required
+per-second billing with automatic volume discounts
+56+ languages
cons
−pricing page doesn't separate batch from real-time
#8 in speech-to-text apis · genuinely offline containers for air-gapped work, and a price even microsoft's own channels can't agree on.
64/100
verdictthe best offline story in the category attached to the worst price transparency — you cannot find out what it costs without a sales conversation or a calculator session.
Azure AI Speech vs Gladia
Gladia
Azure AI Speech
price
$0.61/hr
unverified
free tier
yes
yes
cost/hr batch
$0.61
not readable
cost/hr realtime
$0.75
not readable
diarization
included free
free on batch, paid on realtime
trains on your audio
no, by default
no, per azure policy
self-host
enterprise only
yes, offline containers
switch forair-gapped and regulated deployments where the disconnected container is the requirement.
pros
+fully offline disconnected containers for air-gapped use
every tool on this page went through the same test as Gladia — same tasks, same order, scored the same way. the comparison tables are the figures from that testing, not vendor spec sheets.