Does ElevenLabs Do Speech-to-Text?

ElevenLabs offers a speech-to-text service called Scribe, which functions within their voice synthesis platform and shares resources with other services like text-to-speech (TTS). Scribe provides two main products: Scribe v2 for batch processing with diarization and Scribe v2 Realtime for streaming without it, prioritizing low latency over speaker labeling. The shared credit system means that heavy TTS usage can impact STT capacity, making concurrency and compliance key concerns, especially for enterprises needing HIPAA compliance, which requires a sales-negotiated Business Associate Agreement. While Scribe is advantageous for those already utilizing ElevenLabs' ecosystem, dedicated STT providers like Deepgram may be preferable for applications where transcription is central, as they offer clearer scalability and pricing structures. Evaluating ElevenLabs' STT involves considering its performance under realistic conditions, shared capacity issues, and compliance requirements, with potential trade-offs depending on how integrated your needs are with ElevenLabs' other services.