Head-to-head
AssemblyAI vs ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs uniquely has 14 features · AssemblyAI uniquely has 5 features.
The verdict
AssemblyAI or ElevenLabs?
Section 01
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
AssemblyAI
Free Tier
Free
Up to 185 hours pre-recorded transcription and 333 hours streaming transcription, no credit card required
Universal-3.5 Pro
$0.15/hr
Highly accurate STT model, 99 languages, 12.5M+ hours training data, no minimum commitment
Universal-3.5 Pro
$0.21/hr
Most accurate async STT model, 18 languages, native code-switching, best-in-class speaker diarization
Enterprise / Custom
Custom
Custom rate limits, enhanced concurrency, enterprise-grade flexibility, volume discounts, AWS Marketplace available
ElevenLabs
Free
$0/mo
10k credits/month; Text to Speech, Speech to Text, Sound Effects, Voice Design, Music, 3 Projects in Studio
Starter
$6/mo · $60/yr
30k credits/month; Commercial License, Instant Voice Cloning, 20 Projects in Studio, Music commercial use, Dubbing Studio, Image & Video
Creator
$22/mo · $219.66/yr
121k credits/month; Professional Voice Cloning, Additional Credits available
Pro
$99/mo · $990/yr
600k credits/month; 44.1kHz PCM audio output via API, 192kbps quality audio
Scale
$299/mo · $2,990/yr
1.8M credits/month; 3 Workspace seats, Team Collaboration, 3 Professional Voice Clones
Business
$990/mo · $9,900/yr
6M credits/month; Low-latency TTS as low as 5c/minute, 10 Professional Voice Clones, 10 Workspace seats
Enterprise
Custom
Custom credits and seats; HIPAA BAAs, Custom SSO, elevated concurrency, fully managed dubbing, priority support
Section 02
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
AssemblyAI
Pros
- Universal-3.5 Pro model supports native code-switching across 18 languages with an exceptionally fast real-time factor of 0.008x, making it viable for demanding production environments.
- Comprehensive API-first platform that goes well beyond transcription, including speaker diarization, sentiment analysis, topic detection, entity recognition, and PII redaction.
- Pre-recorded transcription API supports 99 languages via the Universal-2 model, offering broad global coverage.
- Includes a Voice Agent API and an LLM gateway that allows routing to models like GPT or Claude within the same pipeline.
- Medical Mode is available, indicating deliberate positioning for healthcare use cases with specialized transcription needs.
- Real-time streaming transcription is supported alongside pre-recorded audio, giving developers flexibility across different application types.
- Strong adoption among developers and engineering teams, with active discussion in forums and a reported user base of millions of developers.
Cons
- No consumer-facing dashboard — users cannot simply upload an audio file and download a transcript without developer setup.
- No text-to-speech, voice cloning, or music generation capabilities, limiting use cases strictly to speech input and understanding output.
- Limited public feedback on the Medical Mode feature makes it difficult to assess its real-world accuracy and reliability.
- The product is entirely API-first, meaning non-technical buyers or small teams without engineering resources are effectively excluded.
- Code-switching in the Universal-3.5 Pro model is limited to 18 languages, which may not cover all multilingual production needs.
- The broad surface area of the platform — transcription, voice agents, LLM gateway — may introduce integration complexity for teams building simple use cases.
ElevenLabs
Pros
- ElevenLabs offers over 10,000 voices in its library, giving users an exceptionally wide selection for any use case.
- The Eleven v3 model supports granular emotional control across 74 languages, enabling nuanced tone delivery for audiobooks and narration.
- Multiple specialized models are available including a speed-optimized Flash v2.5 with sub-75ms latency for real-time applications.
- The platform includes voice cloning, transcription, music generation, and conversational AI agents all under one roof.
- The API is highly regarded by developers and is widely considered the most capable in the AI voice space.
- A Voice Designer feature lets users generate custom voices from text prompts when the existing library doesn't meet their needs.
- The tool's raw voice realism is widely reported to sit a tier above competitors like Murf AI and PlayHT.
Cons
- The model lineup has become complex with four distinct models, which can be confusing for new users trying to choose the right one.
- The depth of features and API-first design may overwhelm non-technical users who just want a simple text-to-speech tool.
- The platform's rapid growth and frequent model releases suggest the product is still evolving, which can mean instability or shifting features.
- The web app and iOS app appear secondary to the API experience, potentially limiting usability for those without developer resources.
- Marketing claims and homepage presentation don't always align with the real-world experience, requiring deeper research to understand limitations.
Side by side
| Company | ||
| Founded | 2017 | 2022 |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | New York, USA |
| AI model | Universal-3.5 Pro (Proprietary) | Proprietary (Eleven Multilingual v2, Eleven v3, Eleven Flash v2.5, Eleven Scribe v2) |
| User base | Millions of developers | 1M+ users |
| Platforms | Web, API (all platforms via SDK) | Web, API, iOS (mobile app) |
| Languages | 99 (Universal-2), 18 (Universal-3.5 Pro) | 70+ languages |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Credit-based | Freemium |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes-unlimited (free tier, no credit card required — up to 185 hours pre-recorded, 333 hours streaming) | No |
| Starting price | $0.15/hr | $6/mo |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing with custom rate limits, enhanced concurrency, and enterprise-grade flexibility | Custom pricing |
| All plans | Free Tier — Free Universal-3.5 Pro — $0.15/hr Universal-3.5 Pro — $0.21/hr Enterprise / Custom — Custom | Free — $0/mo Starter — $6/mo Creator — $22/mo Pro — $99/mo Scale — $299/mo Business — $990/mo Enterprise — Custom |
| Positioning | ||
| Best for | Developers and enterprises building voice AI applications, transcription services, and voice agents | AI voice generation, voice cloning, and audio content creation |
| Differentiator | Native code switching and highly accurate speaker diarization; async speech-to-text trained on 12.5M+ hours of audio | Professional voice cloning starting at Creator plan ($11/mo), high-quality PCM audio output via API on Pro, HIPAA-compliant enterprise tier, low-latency TTS on Business plan |
| Competitors | Deepgram, OpenAI Whisper, Google Speech-to-Text, Amazon Transcribe, Rev.ai | Murf AI, Descript, PlayHT, Speechify, Suno, Udio, Deepgram |
| Features | ||
| Async Speech to Text | ✓ | — |
| Async Transcription | ✓ | — |
| Code Switching | ✓ | — |
| Dubbing Studio | — | ✓ |
| Multi Language Support | ✓ | — |
| Music Generation | — | ✓ |
| Professional Voice Cloning | — | ✓ |
| Sound Effects | — | ✓ |
| Speaker Diarization | ✓ | — |
| Speech to Text | — | ✓ |
| Text to Speech | — | ✓ |
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audio Enhancement | ✕ | ✓ |
| Batch Processing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commercial Rights | ✓ | ✓ |
| Languages Supported | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile App | ✕ | ✓ |
| Music Generation | ✕ | ✓ |
| Noise Removal | ✕ | ✓ |
| Podcast Editing | ✕ | ✓ |
| Text to Speech | ✕ | ✓ |
| Transcription | ✓ | ✓ |
| Voice Cloning | ✕ | ✓ |
| Voice Styles | ✕ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ||
| Adobe Audition | ✕ | — |
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Garageband | ✕ | — |
| Key Integrations | AWS Marketplace, GPT (LLM Gateway), Claude (LLM Gateway), Gemini (LLM Gateway), Community LLM Models, Python SDK, REST API, WebSocket Streaming API | Twilio, WhatsApp, phone/chat channels for Agents; Veo, Wan, Kling, Seedance for video; custom API integrations; Salesforce (enterprise partner); Cisco; Nvidia ACE |
Section 03
AssemblyAI vs ElevenLabs: common questions
Is AssemblyAI or ElevenLabs cheaper?
AssemblyAI's cheapest paid plan is $0.15/hr and ElevenLabs's is $6/mo. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
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