AssemblyAI Pricing
AssemblyAI · Voice Agents & Speech/Audio
Speech AI platform for developers — long-form audio transcription, speaker diarization, and Universal-2 speech understanding models. Usage-based pricing: Best model at $0.37/hr audio, Nano tier at $0.12/hr. Pay-as-you-go with $50 free credit. Popular with podcast platforms, meeting recorders, and companies building on top of long-form audio.
In other words, AssemblyAI is worth it for developers processing long-form audio at scale — podcasts, recorded meetings, call recordings. The per-hour pricing works out cheaper than Deepgram for batch transcription (as opposed to real-time streaming). Universal-2 model quality is competitive with Whisper Large-V3. Downside: not the fastest for real-time streaming (Deepgram wins there), and text-to-speech is not their focus.
Pricing summary
No monthly fees
Pay as you go
Depends on tier
Not applicable
Real-time voice agents? Deepgram or Vapi. Text-to-speech-first? ElevenLabs. Just need meeting summaries? Fireflies or Otter.
All plans
See a plain-English answer to “How much does AssemblyAI cost?” →
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Key limit |
|---|---|---|---|
Pay-as-you-go: Universal-2 (async) | Free | Free | $0.15/hr, $50 free credit to start |
Pay-as-you-go: Universal-3.5 Pro (async) | Free | Free | $0.21/hr |
Streaming (Universal-3.5 Pro Realtime) | Free | Free | $0.45/hr |
Sync API | Free | Free | $0.45/hr |
Voice Agent API | Free | Free | $4.50/hr flat |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom | volume pricing, dedicated support, private deployment |
Add-ons: speaker diarization +$0.02/hr async, keyterms prompting +$0.05/hr, Medical Mode +$0.15/hr | — | — | — |
Pricing under review · View source →
Price history
Price tracking is just getting started for AssemblyAI. Full history will build as we log changes. See what we have so far →
Common questions about AssemblyAI
- How much does AssemblyAI cost in 2026?
- Does AssemblyAI have a free plan?
- What are the best AssemblyAI alternatives in 2026?
- Is AssemblyAI worth it?
- AssemblyAI is worth it for developers processing long-form audio at scale — podcasts, recorded meetings, call recordings. The per-hour pricing works out cheaper than Deepgram for batch transcription (as opposed to real-time streaming).
- What are the pricing tiers of AssemblyAI?
- AssemblyAI has 7 plans: Pay-as-you-go: Universal-2 (async) (free), Pay-as-you-go: Universal-3.5 Pro (async) (free), Streaming (Universal-3.5 Pro Realtime) (free), Sync API (free), Voice Agent API (free), Enterprise (custom), Add-ons: speaker diarization +$0.02/hr async, keyterms prompting +$0.05/hr, Medical Mode +$0.15/hr (free).
- How is AssemblyAI priced — per usage or subscription?
- AssemblyAI is priced per usage. You pay for what you consume, not per seat.
Frequently asked questions
About AssemblyAI pricing.
Alternatives in Voice Agents & Speech/Audio (13)
See how AssemblyAI compares to other Voice Agents & Speech/Audio tools we track. Vendor-sourced prices; check each tool page for its verification date.
At a glance
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