Deepgram vs AssemblyAI
Default scenario: At 1,000 audio hours / month, estimated bills are $2,520/yr for AssemblyAI and $3,096/yr for Deepgram. That’s a $576 difference before accounting for different features or operating costs.
The services may differ in features, performance, support and the work you need to do yourself. Read the notes and test what matters to your setup.
Your selected usage
1,000 audio hours / month
- Deepgram: $3,096/yr estimated
- AssemblyAI: $2,520/yr estimated
Estimated costs at different usage levels
| Usage | Deepgram | AssemblyAI |
|---|---|---|
| Default scenario1,000 audio hours / month | $3,096/yr$0.258/hour | $2,520/yr$0.21/hour |
| Podcast / media500 audio hours / month | $1,548/yr$0.258/hour | $1,260/yr$0.21/hour |
| Call center10,000 audio hours / month | $30,960/yr$0.258/hour | $25,200/yr$0.21/hour |
| Meeting-notes SaaS100,000 audio hours / month | $309,600/yr$0.258/hour | $252,000/yr$0.21/hour |
Pre-recorded audio, standard model, English. Real-time streaming, diarization and other add-ons often cost extra. Accuracy varies by language and audio quality. Try your own numbers against all speech-to-text providers.
Side by side
| Deepgram | AssemblyAI | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | US speech AI vendor with Nova-3 pre-recorded and Flux/Nova-3 streaming STT, pay-as-you-go with no minimums; EU endpoint available. | US speech AI API with Universal-3.5 Pro pre-recorded and Universal streaming models, pay-as-you-go; EU endpoint in Dublin. |
| Headquarters | 🇺🇸 United States | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Parent jurisdiction | 🇺🇸 United States | 🇺🇸 United States |
| EU self-serve plan | Available; check eligible plans and regions | Available; check eligible plans and regions |
| GDPR DPA | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | payg | payg |
| Free tier | $200 one-time sign-up credit, no card required. | One-time free credits (up to 185 hours pre-recorded), no card required. |
| Open source | No | No |
| Source last checked | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-06 |
| Pricing evidence | Published rates | Published rates |
Which should you choose?
AssemblyAI has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 100 audio hours / month to 100,000 audio hours / month.
Choose Deepgram if…
Our data shows no advantage on price, residency, jurisdiction or licensing. Compare features in the notes below.
Choose AssemblyAI if…
- it has the lower estimated bill at Podcast / media, Call center and Meeting-notes SaaS usage
Based on estimated list-price bills and the facts above. Features, performance and support aren’t scored.
Deepgram pricing
Calculated from the listed vendor rates; exclusions still apply.
| Audio hour |
|---|
| $0.258 |
Nova-3 monolingual pre-recorded $0.0043/min ($0.258/hour) pay-as-you-go; Nova-3 multilingual $0.0052/min; Whisper Large $0.0048/min. Growth plan ($4K+/year prepaid credits) lowers Nova-3 pre-recorded to $0.0036/min ($0.216/hour). Streaming: Nova-3 $0.0048/min promotional (regular $0.0077), Flux English (voice-agent model with turn detection) $0.0065/min promotional (regular $0.0077), Flux Multilingual $0.0078/min. Diarization and smart formatting included for pre-recorded; redaction $0.0020/min, keyterm prompting $0.0013/min, entity detection $0.0017/min. No minimums. EU endpoint (api.eu.deepgram.com, EU AWS regions) is generally available with the same API keys, Whisper excluded. Self-hosted deployment on enterprise contracts.
Deepgram plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
AssemblyAI pricing
Calculated from the listed vendor rates; exclusions still apply.
| Audio hour |
|---|
| $0.21 |
Universal-3.5 Pro (most accurate pre-recorded model, 18 languages) $0.21/hour; Universal-2 (99 languages) $0.15/hour. Add-ons on Universal-3.5 Pro: speaker diarization $0.02/hour, keyterms prompting $0.05/hour, prompting $0.05/hour, medical mode $0.15/hour. Streaming: Universal-Streaming (English or multilingual) $0.15/hour, Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime $0.45/hour; streaming diarization and PII redaction $0.12/hour each. Sync API (clips up to 2 minutes) $0.30/hour. Multichannel audio billed per channel. Billed monthly in arrears, no minimum commitment; volume discounts on request. EU endpoint (api.eu.assemblyai.com, AWS eu-west-1 Dublin) keeps audio and transcripts in the EU.
AssemblyAI plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
Frequently asked questions
Is Deepgram cheaper than AssemblyAI?
AssemblyAI has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 100 audio hours / month to 100,000 audio hours / month. At 1,000 audio hours / month, the estimates are $3,096/yr for Deepgram and $2,520/yr for AssemblyAI. Estimates use list prices and leave out features, support and operating costs.
Do Deepgram and AssemblyAI offer EU data residency?
Both offer EU data residency on a self-serve plan. Check which plans and regions qualify.
Do Deepgram and AssemblyAI have a free tier or trial?
Deepgram: $200 one-time sign-up credit, no card required. AssemblyAI: One-time free credits (up to 185 hours pre-recorded), no card required.
Where are Deepgram and AssemblyAI based?
Deepgram is headquartered in the United States. AssemblyAI is headquartered in the United States.