Deepgram vs AssemblyAI
Pricing and features, side by side. Checked October 14, 2026.
| Deepgram | AssemblyAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Nova-3 streaming $0.0048/min ($0.29/hr); $200 free credit | Streaming from $0.15/hr; $50 free credits |
| Billing | Pay as you go, billed per second | Pay as you go, per hour (streaming billed on session time) |
| Best for | Low-latency speech-to-text for voice agents | Accurate, inexpensive transcription |
| Key features | Flux model with built-in turn detection | Streaming from $0.15/hr |
| Per-second billing, no rounding | HIPAA BAA signable without a sales call | |
| $200 free credit | $50 free credits |
Deepgram streams Nova-3 at $0.0048/min ($0.29/hr, a promotional rate) and Flux, its voice-agent model with turn detection, at $0.0065/min, with $200 in free credit. AssemblyAI's Universal-Streaming is $0.15/hr and Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime $0.45/hr, billed on session time, with $50 free. Both sell an all-in Voice Agent API from $0.075/min.
Pick Deepgram for per-second billing, a turn-detecting model built for agents, and a bigger free credit.
Pick AssemblyAI for the lowest published streaming rate and a HIPAA BAA you can sign without a sales call.
Sources: Deepgram · AssemblyAI