Speech-to-text APIs · Comparison
Deepgram vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Deepgram | Google Cloud Speech-to-Text |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceSpeaker-labelled transcripts of pre-recorded audio at $0.0043 a minute with nothing extra to add, plus regional endpoints and a self-hosting path for later. | Built-in reachSpeech recognition inside your Google Cloud account, with IAM, audit logs, a BAA and EU processing, and dynamic batch at $0.003 a minute. |
| Overall score | 6.6 | 7.8Best |
| Free option | Free trial | Free plan |
| Card to start | No card needed | Card required |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $0.0043/min | $0.003/min |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per second of audio; multichannel billed per channel | Per second of audio, no minimum; each channel billed |
| Free credit | $200 at sign-up, no card | 60 minutes a month on the V1 API; none on V2 |
| Streaming rate | Nova-3 Monolingual $0.0077/min regular; $0.0048/min limited-time promotional | $0.016/min ($0.96/h), the same as batch |
| Diarization | Included on pre-recorded audio; streaming +$0.0020/min | No separate price; Chirp 3 diarization in batch only |
| Languages | 45+ (pricing page) | Over 125 (product page) |
| Training on your audio | By default; opt out per request (mip_opt_out=true) | Not without your permission; V1 data logging opt-in gives a lower rate |
| Retention | Kept for model improvement by default; zero retention with the opt-out | Sync and streaming not stored; async transcripts about 5 days (V1) |
| HIPAA BAA | Enterprise, through sales | Covered; accepted in the console per the docs |
| EU processing | EU endpoint with existing keys, no plan limit stated; also Australia and India | Chirp 3 GA in the eu multi-region |
| Self-hosted | Enterprise containers; Amazon SageMaker route with an AWS account | Speech-to-Text On-Prem on GKE, through sales |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II (report on request); ISO 27001 not stated | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Compliance Reports Manager) |
| Console SSO | Not documented | SAML through Cloud Identity Free, no listed cost |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Deepgram pairs low batch rates, diarization included, with a $200 credit and self-hosting. Model improvement is on unless each request opts out, the BAA is Enterprise only, and streaming runs on promotional rates. | From its public pages, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text suits teams inside Google Cloud: no training without permission, a BAA, EU processing and dynamic batch at $0.003 a minute. Features need checking per model, and there is no PII redaction. |
Evidence: Deepgram: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Google Cloud Speech-to-Text: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- DeepgramNova-3 Monolingual, pre-recorded$0.0043/min$0.26/h; Growth $0.0036/min; billed per second
- Speaker diarization and smart formatting included
- Word timestamps and confidence
- Keyterm prompting +$0.0013/min
- Redaction +$0.0020/min
- Google Cloud Speech-to-TextV2 standard recognition$0.016/minFirst 500,000 min a month; then $0.01, $0.008 and $0.004
- Batch, sync and streaming at one price
- Chirp 3 priced at $0.016 on the product page
- Diarization and speech adaptation with no separate price
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Deepgram 2026-10-16, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Google Cloud Speech-to-TextSelf-serve sign-up, card required; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (7.8/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- DeepgramFree trial, no card needed; scored 6.6/10.
- Highest overall score
- Google Cloud Speech-to-Text7.8/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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