Speechmatics
Speech-to-text API with real-time and batch transcription across 56+ languages, plus text-to-speech and voice agent endpoints
Speechmatics is a Cambridge, UK speech AI vendor that sells transcription as a metered API rather than a seat subscription. New accounts start with $100 in free credits (valid 12 months, no card), which replaced the old renewing monthly allowance. Pay-as-you-go bills per transcribed hour: batch Melia 1 at $0.24, batch Enhanced at $0.75, real-time Enhanced at $0.80, and prepaid credits cut up to 25%. On-premises deployment and custom models are Enterprise-only.
What is Speechmatics?
Speechmatics is a UK speech AI company, founded in 2006 and based in Cambridge, that sells transcription and voice synthesis as metered APIs rather than as a seat-based product. The platform covers three surfaces: real-time speech-to-text that returns output in under a second, batch transcription for pre-recorded files, and a text-to-speech endpoint aimed at conversational agents. Transcription runs across 56 or more languages and dialects, with 69 supported translation pairs, and includes speaker diarization, word-level timestamps, automatic language identification, custom dictionaries, and multi-channel handling as standard rather than as paid add-ons.
Several transcription models sit behind the same API. Enhanced is the highest-accuracy option at $0.75 per hour for batch and $0.80 per hour for real-time; Standard trades some accuracy for cost and turnaround at $0.45 per hour on both paths; and Melia 1, announced in June 2026, transcribes multilingual audio including speakers who switch language mid-sentence, at $0.24 per hour for batch and $0.40 for real-time. Oak 1 Medical, tuned for clinical vocabulary, costs $0.30 per hour for batch, and Linden 1, a real-time model with turn detection for voice agents, costs $0.30 per hour. Optional speech-intelligence bolt-ons are billed separately per hour, from $0.12 for summaries and sentiment up to $0.65 for translation. Text-to-speech is charged at $0.011 per 1,000 characters and is English-only for now.
Who is it for?
Speechmatics is aimed at developers and product teams embedding transcription into their own software, not at individuals looking for a meeting-notes app. The pricing shape reflects that: there is no monthly seat fee, new accounts get $100 in free credits to evaluate with, pay-as-you-go meters hours with no commitment, and prepaid subscriptions or credit packs trade commitment for up to 25% off. The tradeoff is that everything relating to control — on-premises deployment, custom models, unlimited concurrency, audio alignment — is gated behind an Enterprise conversation.
- Developers building voice agents and real-time assistants who need sub-second streaming transcription and synthesis from one vendor, and can live with 50 concurrent real-time sessions before moving to Enterprise.
- Media and captioning teams producing subtitles at volume, where the batch Enhanced model and SRT output matter more than latency and prepaid credit discounts of up to 25% become material.
- Contact centre and compliance platforms that need diarization, sentiment, and topic detection over large recorded archives, with EU or Australia data residency.
- Products handling multilingual or heavily accented audio where a single-language model fails and Melia 1’s code-switching across 56+ languages is the differentiator.
- Regulated organisations in healthcare, legal, or finance that require on-premises or on-device processing and are prepared to negotiate an Enterprise contract to get it.
How much does Speechmatics cost?
Starting price: $0.121/hr · Free tier: yes · Model: usage-based
Price history tracked from June 2026
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | $100 in sign-up credits, valid for 12 months · One-off credits, not a renewing monthly allowance; API access pauses when they run out · First 1 million text-to-speech characters free (~20 hours) · 2 concurrent real-time sessions · 56+ languages, diarization, custom dictionary, language ID included · No credit card required to start |
| Pro | from $0.121/hr | Pay-as-you-go batch: Melia 1 $0.24/hr, Oak 1 Medical $0.30/hr, Standard $0.45/hr, Enhanced $0.75/hr · Real-time: Linden 1 (voice agents) $0.30/hr, Melia 1 $0.40/hr, Standard $0.45/hr, Enhanced $0.80/hr · Text-to-speech at $0.011 per 1,000 characters · Bolt-ons per hour: translation $0.65, chapters $0.40, topics $0.20, summaries and sentiment $0.12 · Opt-in model-training discount takes 33% off speech-to-text · Prepaid credits: annual subscriptions up to 25% off, monthly up to 15%, credit packs up to 20% · The 'from $0.121/hr' headline stacks the training discount on the top annual commitment · 50 concurrent real-time sessions, 10 batch files per second, billed to the second |
| Enterprise | Custom | Volume discounts starting from 24,000 hours per year · No rate limits; unlimited concurrency · Private cloud, container, virtual appliance, and on-device deployment · Custom acoustic models, custom voice and language development · Audio alignment and early access to new features · Dedicated Customer Success Manager and Solutions Engineer |
What are Speechmatics's key features?
- Real-time streaming transcription with output returned in under a second
- Batch transcription with three model tiers: Melia 1, Standard, and Enhanced
- Melia 1 multilingual model with code-switching across the full 56+ language set
- Speaker diarization, precise word-level timestamps, and multi-channel support
- Speech intelligence bolt-ons: translation, summaries, chapters, sentiment, and topic detection
- Text-to-speech endpoint aimed at conversational agents
- Custom dictionary, advanced punctuation and casing, numeral formatting, profanity and disfluency detection
- Multi-region cloud in the US, EU, or Australia, with on-premises and on-device options on Enterprise
- Automatic language identification, removing the need for users to pick a language
What people use Speechmatics for
- 01 Real-time captioning for live events, broadcasts, and webinars at sub-second latency
- 02 Contact centre transcription and speech analytics with speaker diarization and sentiment scoring
- 03 Batch transcription of recorded interviews, depositions, and compliance call archives
- 04 Powering voice agents that need streaming speech-to-text plus low-latency synthesis in one vendor
- 05 Multilingual transcription of code-switched audio where speakers change language mid-sentence
- 06 Subtitle generation in SRT format for media and post-production workflows
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| New accounts get $100 in free credits valid for 12 months, roughly 400 hours of batch Melia 1 at list rate, with no card required to begin | The advertised 'from $0.121/hr' headline stacks an opt-in 33% model-training discount on the top 25% annual-commitment discount; pay-as-you-go batch Melia 1 is $0.24/hr |
| Pro has no seat fee and no minimum commitment — usage is billed to the second at the per-hour rate | Text-to-speech is English-only at present, so a multilingual voice agent still needs a second synthesis vendor |
| Core accuracy features are not paywalled: diarization, custom dictionary, language identification, timestamps, and audio events are available on the Free plan | The free credits are a one-off grant rather than a renewing allowance, so open-ended free use is no longer possible |
| 56+ transcription languages and 69 translation pairs, with unusually deep accent and dialect coverage | On-premises, container, and on-device deployment, custom models, and audio alignment are all Enterprise-only with no self-serve path |
| Data residency choice across US, EU, and Australia regions, with ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, and HIPAA compliance claimed | Volume discounts now require prepaying through a subscription or credit pack; pay-as-you-go always pays the list rate |
What are the best Speechmatics alternatives?
Cartesia is the closest Speechmatics alternative in our directory: it covers the same category (AI Audio & Music), starts at $0, has a free tier.
Ranked by category overlap with Speechmatics, then free-tier availability, then lowest verified starting price — computed from our verified data, never from sponsorships.
| Alternative | What it is | Starting price | Free tier | Price verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartesia | Low-latency voice AI platform behind the Sonic text-to-speech model, built for real-time agents | $0 | yes | Oct 18, 2026 |
| Deepgram | Developer-first voice AI API for speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and real-time voice agents | $0 | yes | Jul 5, 2026 |
| AssemblyAI | Voice AI API for developers: speech-to-text, speaker diarization, audio intelligence, and LLM-over-audio with per-hour usage billing | $0.15/hr | yes | Jun 23, 2026 |
| ElevenLabs | AI voice platform for text-to-speech, voice cloning, and conversational agents in 70+ languages | $6/mo | yes | Jul 3, 2026 |
| Otter.ai | AI meeting assistant that transcribes, summarizes and extracts action items from conversations | $8.33/user/mo | yes | Aug 27, 2026 |
How people make money with Speechmatics
- Run a niche transcription service for podcasters or legal firms on the Pro plan — your cost scales per transcribed hour while you charge a flat per-file fee for the cleaned, human-checked transcript
- Sell captioning and subtitle delivery to video agencies as a per-video project fee, with the batch per-hour rate as your only variable cost and SRT output handled by the API
- Build a multilingual voice agent for contact centres and bill clients a monthly platform retainer layered on top of metered real-time transcription usage
- Offer meeting-notes tooling for a regulated vertical using the on-premises Enterprise deployment, charging an annual license that covers the underlying committed usage
Frequently asked questions
Does Speechmatics have a free tier?
Yes, in the form of credits. New accounts get $100 in free credits with no card required, valid for 12 months, plus the first 1 million text-to-speech characters free. This replaced the earlier allowance of 50 hours renewing every month. The free tier allows 2 concurrent real-time sessions, and API access pauses once the credits run out.
How much does Speechmatics cost per hour?
Pay-as-you-go list rates per hour of audio are $0.24 for batch Melia 1, $0.30 for batch Oak 1 Medical, $0.45 for Standard, $0.75 for batch Enhanced, and $0.80 for real-time Enhanced. Text-to-speech is $0.011 per 1,000 characters. The $0.121 per hour headline combines an opt-in 33% model-training discount with the top 25% annual-commitment discount.
What is the Melia 1 model?
Melia 1 is the multilingual transcription model Speechmatics announced in June 2026. It handles speakers who switch language mid-conversation without requiring you to select a language first, and covers the full set of 56+ languages while matching the Standard model on accuracy. It is now offered for both pre-recorded files, at $0.24 per hour, and live streams, at $0.40 per hour, at pay-as-you-go list rates.
Can I run Speechmatics on my own infrastructure?
Only on the Enterprise plan. Enterprise unlocks private cloud, container, virtual appliance, and on-device deployment along with GPU and CPU based models. The Free and Pro plans are SaaS-only, though both let you pick a US, EU, or Australia cloud region. Custom acoustic models and custom voice development are also Enterprise-only and require contacting sales for a quote.
Does Speechmatics offer volume discounts?
Yes, but they now come from prepaying. Annual subscriptions buy credits at up to 25% off, monthly subscriptions at up to 15% off, and one-off credit packs at up to 20% off, while pay-as-you-go pays the list rate. An opt-in model-training discount takes a further 33% off speech-to-text. Larger volumes are negotiated on Enterprise.
How many languages does Speechmatics support?
Speechmatics transcribes 56 or more languages and dialects, including Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, Welsh, Swahili, and Uyghur, and supports 69 translation pairs across roughly 30 target languages. Text-to-speech is much narrower: it is English-only today, with the company saying more languages are coming. Teams building multilingual voice agents will therefore need a separate speech synthesis provider for now.
How does Speechmatics billing work?
Self-serve customers can pay as you go with a card, buy credit packs that last 12 months, or subscribe monthly or annually for discounted credits. Usage is billed to the second in credits, with one balance covering transcription, add-ons, and text-to-speech. Subscription overages bill at the discounted rate, otherwise at the base rate. Enterprise uses invoicing and a master services agreement.
Is Speechmatics suitable for voice agents?
It targets that use case directly with Linden 1, a real-time model with built-in turn detection priced at $0.30 per hour, and the platform bundles text-to-speech alongside it. Concurrency is the practical constraint: self-serve accounts get 50 concurrent real-time sessions, or 2 on the free tier, while Enterprise concurrency adjusts dynamically to demand.