Best AssemblyAI alternatives

Comparison

Tool	Price from	Free plan	Category
AssemblyAI	not listed	?	APIs & models
Deepgram	0.0048 USD/mo	trial	APIs & models
Cartesia	5 USD/mo	yes	APIs & models
LocalAI	not listed	yes	APIs & models
Hume AI	not listed	?	APIs & models
Google AI Studio	0,75 USD	?	APIs & models
OpenAI Platform	0,10 USD	?	APIs & models
Modulate	0.025 USD	?	APIs & models
Grok API	0.02 USD	?	APIs & models

Each alternative in short

1. Deepgram

Enterprise voice AI APIs (speech-to-text, text-to-speech, voice agents) for developers and companies building real-time voice applications.

There is a free trial. Pay As You Go plan with a $200 free credit, no credit card required, no expiration.

2. Cartesia

Real-time text-to-speech, speech-to-text and voice agent API for developers building fast, live voice conversations.

Yes, there is a free plan. Free plan: 20K credits per month, $1 prepaid agent dollars per month, access to Text to Speech and Speech to Text.

3. LocalAI

Open source runtime that runs LLMs, voice, vision, image, video and agent models locally on any hardware, including CPU-only machines.

Yes, there is a free plan. Open source under the MIT license; the software itself is free to install and run.

4. Hume AI

Evaluation and improvement platform for voice AI: finds failing conversations, diagnoses causes and measures expression, for AI labs and enterprises.

The vendor does not state this clearly on the homepage or pricing page.

5. Google AI Studio

Browser-based workspace for developers to prototype with Gemini and other Google AI models, then move the same work to production via the Gemini API.

The vendor does not state this clearly on the homepage or pricing page.

6. OpenAI Platform

Developer platform for building applications with the OpenAI API, aimed at software developers.

The vendor does not state this clearly on the homepage or pricing page.

7. Modulate

Audio-native voice AI API for transcription, deepfake and emotion detection, and voice moderation, used by businesses and gaming platforms.

The vendor does not state this clearly on the homepage or pricing page.

8. Grok API

Official SpaceXAI API for building apps with Grok models: text, image, video, voice, and tool calling, for developers.

The vendor does not state this clearly on the homepage or pricing page.

FAQ