AssemblyAI today
Starts at
$0.15/hour
- Contract
- no contract on pay-as-you-go
- Free plan
- Free tier with no credit card: up to 185 hours of pre-recorded and 333 hours of...
Flat tiers (5)
Priced in tiers, where AssemblyAI charges by use.
| Alternative | At 1,200 minutes | Against AssemblyAI | States that AssemblyAI doesn't | Contract | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 TurboScribeTurboScribe Unlimited, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$20$20 flat, unlimited minutes | Not comparable | Export and subtitle formats | Cancel any time; access continues to end of billing period | 3 free transcripts per day, files up to 30 minutes, lower priority... |
 GoTranscriptAI Transcription Subscription 2100 min, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$35$35, includes 2,100 minutes | Not comparable | Human proofreading option, SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance, Export and subtitle formats | Not found | Not found |
 DescriptHobbyist, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$24/userHobbyist plan, starting price | Not comparable | SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance, Export and subtitle formats, SOC 2, SSO and 1 more | Not found | Free plan with 60 minutes (1 hr) of media per month and 100 one-time AI... |
 OpenAI Whisper APIBusiness Standard seat, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$25/moBusiness Standard seat plan, starting price | Not comparable | SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance, SOC 2, SSO | Paid subscription can be cancelled at any time | A free version of ChatGPT is available to everyone; its limits are not... |
 SonixCore, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$25/moCore plan, starting price | Not comparable | Zoom, Teams, Meet integrations, SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance, Export and subtitle formats, SOC 2 and 1 more | Not found | Trial: 30 minutes of free transcription, no credit card required |
Other options (3)
No computed reason to switch, listed for completeness.
| Alternative | At 1,200 minutes | Against AssemblyAI | States that AssemblyAI doesn't | Contract | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DeepgramNova-3 Monolingual (Growth), read Oct 29, 2026 |
$7.80$0.0065 per minute, 1,200 minutes | Not comparable | SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance, SOC 2 | Growth is annual prepaid credits | One-off allowance: Free $200 credit on Pay as you go, roughly 43,000 minutes of Nova-3... |
 TrintTeam, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$90$90 flat, unlimited hours of live transcription per seat per month | Not comparable | Export and subtitle formats, SSO, MCP server | Monthly or annual subscriptions | Trial: Free trial offered, length not stated |
 Speechmaticsread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.24/hourUsage price | Not comparable | SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance, SOC 2, SSO | Self-serve: standard terms of service; Enterprise: Master Services... | One-off allowance: $100 in credit with no card required; if on the free tier, API access pauses... |
No price found, or contact sales (3)
Questions
Is there a free alternative to AssemblyAI?
Yes. 3 AI transcription software have a free plan, including TurboScribe, Descript, OpenAI Whisper API.
How this page is made
Alternatives come from AssemblyAI's own category, AI transcription software. Prices come from each vendor's pricing page and are compared at the same volume where both can be computed, and by starting price where neither can. "States that AssemblyAI doesn't" lists what we found on the other vendor's site and didn't find on AssemblyAI's, which doesn't prove AssemblyAI lacks it. How prices are read.