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Assemblyai

AssemblyAI offers an advanced audio transcription service that uses deep learning to deliver accurate speech-to-text API results for developers.

Entry price

Free

Free plan available

Plans tracked

3 add-ons

Pricing changes

Latest Wk 35 '26

Pricing model

Usage-based

Free tier available

Pricing Change History

17 changes

202617 changes

Aug 24, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

Assemblyai adds FAQ clarifying Voice Agent API's flat $4.50/hr rate

New FAQ entry added asking what's included in the Voice Agent API's flat $4.50/hr rate. The question is newly visible in OCR; the detailed 'included features' answer text is markdown-only and not painted on screen.

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Jul 6, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

AssemblyAI renames Universal-3.5 Pro, adds 18-language diarization support

Pre-recorded model 'Universal-3 Pro' renamed to 'Universal-3.5 Pro'; description now highlights 18-language support, native code switching, and improved speaker diarization. Price unchanged at $0.21/hr.

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Jun 29, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

Assemblyai upgrades realtime STT to Universal-3.5 with 18-language support

New realtime STT model announced: a site-wide banner on the pricing page now reads "NEW - Universal-3.5 Pro Realtime is here." with a Learn more link; no such banner appeared in the prior version.

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Apr 9, 2026

Improvement

Weekly

Assemblyai unifies audio limits with expanded 333h free allowance

Free plan pre-recorded audio limit increased from 185h to 333h; separate pre-recorded and streaming limits consolidated into one unified 333h allowance for pre-recorded or streaming audio.

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Apr 1, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

Assemblyai Launches Medical Mode for Healthcare Transcription

Medical Mode add-on introduced for speech-to-text models; optimizes transcription for medical terminology in healthcare conversations.

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Apr 4, 2026

Packaging

Quarterly

Assemblyai cuts flagship STT price 22% with Universal-3 Pro rebrand

Pre-recorded STT models restructured: 'Universal' renamed to 'Universal-2' (price unchanged at $0.15/hr); 'Slam-1 Beta' renamed to 'Universal-3 Pro Default' with price reduced from $0.27/hr to $0.21/hr. Universal-3 Pro is now the flagship model. New Whisper-Streaming model added at $0.30/hr. Supports 99+ languages. Includes Keyterms Prompting add-on ($0.04/hr) and Speaker Diarization add-on ($0.12/hr).

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Mar 16, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

AssemblyAI adds Claude 4.6 Sonnet, Opus models to LLM Gateway

Added Claude 4.6 Sonnet model to LLM Gateway at $3.00/1m tokens (input), $15.00/1m tokens (output); Added Claude 4.6 Opus model to LLM Gateway at $5.00/1m tokens (input), $25.00/1m tokens (output); Added Claude 4.5 Opus model to LLM Gateway at $5.00/1m tokens (input), $25.00/1m tokens (output)

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Mar 10, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

Assemblyai launches Universal-3 Pro Streaming at $0.45/hr for voice agents

Introduced Whisper-Streaming model at $0.30/hr as open-source Whisper enhanced with AssemblyAI infrastructure supporting 99+ languages Introduced Universal-3 Pro Streaming model at $0.45/hr for voice agents with best-in-class accuracy and advanced prompting capabilities

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Apr 8, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

Assemblyai rebrands Audio Intelligence as Speech Understanding

Pay as you go plan now highlights 'Speech Understanding and LLM Gateway' instead of 'Audio Intelligence and LeMUR', reflecting updated product naming.

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Feb 9, 2026

Packaging

Weekly

Assemblyai unveils Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite model at competitive pricing

Added Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite model to LLM Gateway at $0.10/1M input tokens, $0.40/1M output tokens

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Jan 11, 2026

Packaging

Quarterly

Assemblyai Introduces Guardrails: New Product Category Consolidating Safety Features for Enhanced Transcription Security

Guardrails introduced as new product category - consolidates safety features: Profanity Filtering, PII Audio/Text Redaction, Content Moderation LLM Gateway expanded with new models: GPT-5.2, GPT-5.1, GPT-5, GPT-5-Mini, GPT-5 Nano, GPT 4.1, gpt-oss-20b, gpt-oss-120b, ChatGPT-4o, Gemini 3 Pro, Gemini 3 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Claude 4.5 Sonnet, Claude 4.5 Haiku

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Jan 11, 2026

Packaging

Quarterly

Assemblyai Reduces Streaming Speech-to-Text Pricing by 68% from $0.47/hr to $0.15/hr, Enhancing Accessibility for Users

Free tier pre-recorded audio hours decreased from 416 hours to 185 hours Pre-recorded Speech-to-Text restructured from Best/Nano tiers to Slam-1/Universal models, both now priced at $0.27/hr (Best decreased from $0.37, Nano increased from $0.12)

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Jan 11, 2026

Improvement

Quarterly

Assemblyai Expands EU Data Residency to Full Availability Across All Plans, Enhancing Compliance and Flexibility for Users

Self-hosted deployments (On-prem, VPC) announced as coming soon for Custom plan Custom plan rate limits changed from 'Higher rate limits' to 'Customize rate limits - scale to any workload'

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Jan 11, 2026

Packaging

Quarterly

Assemblyai Enhances Speech-to-Text Accuracy to Over 93%

Claude Instant LLM model removed (was sunsetting on 10/28/24) Dual Channel feature renamed to Multichannel

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Jan 11, 2026

Packaging

Quarterly

Assemblyai Restructures Pricing with Specific Claude Model Versions and Introduces $50 in Free Credits for New Users

Free tier offering changed from 'Get started at no cost' to 'Get started with $50 in free credits' LeMUR pricing restructured from generic tiers (LeMUR Default, LeMUR Claude 2.1, LeMUR Basic) to specific Claude model versions (Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, Claude 3 Haiku, Claude 3 Sonnet, Claude 2.1, Claude 2.0, Claude Instant) with explicit per-model pricing

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Jan 11, 2026

Improvement

Quarterly

Assemblyai Introduces Free Tier with Audio Intelligence Models and 100 Hours of Speech-to-Text Transcription

Audio Intelligence models (Entity Detection, Topic Detection, Key Phrases, PII Redaction, Sentiment Analysis, Content Moderation, Auto Chapters, Summarization) now available for Free in the Free tier Added concurrency starting at 200 files for Pay-as-you-go plan

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Jan 11, 2026

Price decrease

Quarterly

Assemblyai Announces Major Price Cuts: Sentiment Analysis and Key Phrases Drop by 83%, Auto Chapters by 73%, and More

Entity Detection decreased from $0.15/hour to $0.08/hour (47% decrease) Sentiment Analysis decreased from $0.12/hour to $0.02/hour (83% decrease)

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