AssemblyAI Pricing: Is it Worth It or Consider Gladia? (January 2026)

AssemblyAI and Gladia offer distinct approaches to speech-to-text and audio intelligence services, each with unique pricing structures and features that appeal to different user needs. AssemblyAI provides a granular, pay-as-you-go model that allows users to choose specific audio intelligence features as add-ons, making it ideal for those seeking cost optimization and mature LLM integrations like LeMUR. However, its pricing can become complex when multiple features are enabled, and real-time language support is limited to six languages. In contrast, Gladia's approach emphasizes transparent, inclusive pricing that bundles essential features like speaker diarization and language detection into its base rates, supporting over 100 languages with real-time code-switching. This makes Gladia appealing for users who prefer predictable costs and robust multilingual capabilities. Both platforms offer free tiers for initial testing, but Gladia's emphasis on data privacy without pricing penalties and its focus on being a speech AI infrastructure provider rather than a broader Voice AI platform differentiate it from AssemblyAI. The choice between the two depends on the user's preferences for pricing transparency, feature inclusivity, multilingual support, and data privacy.