Speech-to-text APIs · Comparison

AssemblyAI vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics

3 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

AssemblyAI vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Speechmatics: value, access facts, plan limits and bottom lines
Metric	AssemblyAI	Google Cloud Speech-to-Text	Speechmatics
What you're paying for	Compliance includedA transcription API whose BAA, training opt-out and retention controls are self-serve on paid accounts, with diarized batch audio from $0.17 an hour.	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.	Compliance includedTranscription in 55+ languages where your audio stays out of model training unless you opt in, with EU, US and Australian processing for every account.
Overall score	8.4Best	7.8	8.1
Free option	Free trial	Free plan	Free trial
Card to start	No card needed	Card required	No card needed
Getting access	Self-serve	Self-serve	Self-serve
Starter priceCheapest paid plan	$0.15/hr	$0.003/min	$0.24/hr
Pricing model	Usage-based	Usage-based	Usage-based
Pricing page	Public prices	Public prices	Public prices
Billing unit	Per second of pre-recorded audio; streaming by session time, idle included; multichannel per channel	Per second of audio, no minimum; each channel billed	Per second, from credits at hourly rates; credit price falls with packs and subscriptions
Free credit	$50 at sign-up, no card, does not expire	60 minutes a month on the V1 API; none on V2	$100 at sign-up, no card, valid 12 months
Streaming rate	Universal-Streaming $0.15/h; Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime $0.45/h	$0.016/min ($0.96/h), the same as batch	Melia 1 $0.40/h; Standard $0.45/h; Enhanced $0.80/h (list)
Diarization	Batch +$0.02/h; streaming +$0.12/h (beta in the docs)	No separate price; Chirp 3 diarization in batch only	Included; real-time speaker labels on Enhanced, Standard and Linden, not Melia 1
Languages	99 on Universal-2; 18 on Universal-3.5 Pro	Over 125 (product page)	55+ (pricing page); 56 for Melia 1
Training on your audio	By default; paid accounts opt out online, free accounts cannot	Not without your permission; V1 data logging opt-in gives a lower rate	Only if you opt in (33% off)
HIPAA BAA	Signed online at no cost on paid plans	Covered; accepted in the console per the docs	Sub-BAA through the Trust Center; plan and process not stated
EU processing	EU endpoint for batch and streaming, same price as US	Chirp 3 GA in the eu multi-region	EU, US and Australia regions for all customers
Self-hosted	Streaming only, $20,000 upfront commitment	Speech-to-Text On-Prem on GKE, through sales	On-prem containers, virtual appliance and on-device on Enterprise
SOC 2 / ISO 27001	SOC 2 Type 2; ISO 27001:2022	SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Compliance Reports Manager)	SOC 2 Type II (Trust Center, under NDA); ISO/IEC 27001:2022
Console SSO	SAML/OIDC add-on, $199/month per connection	SAML through Cloud Identity Free, no listed cost	SAML/OIDC on Enterprise, $280/month add-on
Bottom line	From its public pages, AssemblyAI combines the lowest 500-hour price here with compliance controls you switch on yourself: a BAA, a training opt-out and retention as short as an hour. A few add-on prices differ between its pages.	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.	From its public pages, Speechmatics has the strictest privacy defaults of the five: no training unless you opt in, 7-day batch retention and real-time audio not stored. Its pricing page leads with discounted rates, and redaction, SSO and on-prem are Enterprise features.

Evidence: AssemblyAI: 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; Speechmatics: 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.

When to pick each

In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.

From our AssemblyAI review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick AssemblyAI when
You want the lower 500-hour price ($85 against $120 a month, computed) and a BAA you can sign online.
Pick Speechmatics when
You want audio kept out of training by default and streaming diarization at no extra cost on Enhanced and Standard.
From our AssemblyAI review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick AssemblyAI when
You want PII redaction, a $50 credit with no card and every add-on priced per hour.
Pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when
You already use Google Cloud and want its IAM, audit logs and BAA under your existing account.
From our Google Cloud Speech-to-Text review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when
You want training off by default and Google Cloud IAM, audit logs and SSO at no listed cost.
Pick AssemblyAI when
You want PII redaction, a $50 credit with no card and a BAA signed online in a speech-only account.
From our Google Cloud Speech-to-Text review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when
You want dynamic batch pricing and a BAA within your Google Cloud account.
Pick Speechmatics when
You want a $100 sign-up credit, a stated 7-day batch retention and a delete-job API.
From our Speechmatics review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Speechmatics when
You want audio kept out of training by default and streaming speaker labels at no extra cost.
Pick AssemblyAI when
You want a BAA signed online, PII redaction as a per-hour add-on and a lower 500-hour price ($85 a month, computed).
From our Speechmatics review
Checked Oct 16, 2026
Pick Speechmatics when
You want a $100 sign-up credit, a stated 7-day batch retention and a delete-job API without a cloud account.
Pick Google Cloud Speech-to-Text when
You already run on Google Cloud and want its IAM, audit logs and a BAA under your existing account.

Entry price

Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.

AssemblyAI
Universal-2, pre-recorded
$0.15/hr
Billed per second; 99 languages
- Diarization +$0.02/h
- Keyterm prompting included (pricing page)
- PII redaction +$0.08/h
- Word timestamps and confidence included
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
V2 standard recognition
$0.016/min
First 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
Speechmatics
Pro: Melia 1, pre-recorded
$0.24/hr
Pay-as-you-go list rate; $0.16 with the model-training opt-in
- Speaker diarization included
- 56 languages, code-switching
- Word timestamps included

Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: AssemblyAI 2026-10-16, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text 2026-10-16, Speechmatics 2026-10-16.

Which one fits

If you need to start today without a sales call: AssemblyAISelf-serve sign-up, no card needed; the highest score of the 3 self-serve products here (8.4/10).
If you want to try it without entering a card: AssemblyAIFree trial, no card needed, and the highest score of the 2 that skip the card (8.4/10).
Highest overall score: AssemblyAI8.4/10 (Excellent). 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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