Best speech-to-text / transcription API (2026)
The strongest speech-to-text APIs in 2026 cluster tightly. ElevenLabs Scribe v2 tops the Artificial Analysis accuracy board at 2.2% WER; AssemblyAI Universal-3 Pro is the cheapest directly-comparable option ($3.50/1000 min) and covers the most languages (99); Deepgram Nova-3 leans on low-latency streaming. Pick by the constraint that matters most — cost, accuracy, latency or language coverage. A light estimate aggregated from public benchmarks with attribution, not a first-hand measurement.
DefaultElevenLabs Scribe v2goedkoopsteAssemblyAI Universal-3 Prohoogste nauwkeurigheidElevenLabs Scribe v2sterkste meertaligAssemblyAI Universal-3 Pro
Provider offerings
| Offering | Price ($/1000 min) | WER | Langs | Latency | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ElevenLabs Scribe v2ElevenLabs | 3.67 | 2.2% | 90 | 150 ms | diarizationtimestampsvocab |
| AssemblyAI Universal-3 ProAssemblyAI | 3.5 | 3.1% | 99 | 150 ms | diarizationtimestampsvocab |
| Deepgram Nova-3Deepgram | 4.3 | 5.2% | 50 | 300 ms | diarizationtimestampsvocab |
| Speechmatics EnhancedSpeechmatics | 6.7 | 4% | 70 | 500 ms | diarizationtimestampsvocab |
| OpenAI gpt-4o-transcribeOpenAI | 6 | 4% | — | — | — |
| Google Gemini 3 FlashGoogle | 1.92* | 2.9% | — | — | — |
* token-/credit-priced — the headline understates real per-unit cost, so it is excluded from the cheapest ranking.
Sources
- Artificial Analysis — Speech to Text2026-06-19
- Open ASR Leaderboard2026-06-19