AssemblyAI vs LiveKit — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
AssemblyAI starts at Free. LiveKit starts at $50/mo. AssemblyAI is $50/mo cheaper on the entry tier than LiveKit.
See price history: AssemblyAI · LiveKit
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- AssemblyAI (Per Usage) — AssemblyAI bills purely on usage. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
- LiveKit (Hybrid) — LiveKit is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $50/mo plus metered usage on top. Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
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.
Open-source real-time audio/video infrastructure. LiveKit powers WebRTC for voice, video, and AI agent applications. Cloud pricing: Free tier (100 max concurrent participants, 10K minutes/mo), Build $50/mo (500 participants, 150K minutes), Ship $500/mo (3K participants, 1.5M minutes), Enterprise custom. Self-hosted is fully free (Apache 2.0). LiveKit Agents framework powers voice AI at OpenAI (ChatGPT Advanced Voice), Character.ai, and many voice startups.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | AssemblyAI monthly | AssemblyAI annual | LiveKit monthly | LiveKit annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Pay-as-you-go: Universal-2 (async) / Self-hosted | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | — / Ship | — | — | $50 | $50 |
| Pro / power | — / Scale | — | — | $500 | $500 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
AssemblyAI is worth it if… 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).
LiveKit is worth it if… developers building real-time voice or video features into their products — voice AI agents, video conferencing, live streams. 0).
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — AssemblyAI is per usage, LiveKit is hybrid.
Choose AssemblyAI over LiveKit if…
Choose AssemblyAI if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, a free entry tier).
- You match the profile AssemblyAI is built for: developers processing long-form audio at scale — podcasts, recorded meetings, call recordings.
- You need a general-purpose voice agents & speech/audio option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose LiveKit if…
- You're fine with a base subscription plus metered usage on top (from $50/mo).
- You match the profile LiveKit is built for: developers building real-time voice or video features into their products — voice AI agents, video conferencing, live streams.
- You need a general-purpose voice agents & speech/audio option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| AssemblyAI | LiveKit | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Entry price | Free | $50/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Usage | Hybrid |
| Last verified | September 20, 2026 | September 20, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 20, 2026. Tracked daily.