Speechmatics · Tools

Speechmatics

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At a glance

Price
Pricing on request
Vendor
Speechmatics

Specifications & properties

Key decision factors

Pricing model
Freemium 1
Audio functions
  • Speech-to-text
  • Text-to-speech
1
Supported languages
56 languages 1

Pricing

Free tier
Yes 1
Free monthly quota
3,000 min/month 1

Integration

Streaming API
Yes 1

Compliance

SOC 2
Yes 1
Report data / suggest a correction

Metrics vs. the category

Supported languages
56 languages Category max 100 languages (12 with data)
Latency (real-time audio)
n/a
Free monthly quota
3,000 min/month Category max 3,000 min/month (7 with data)

Speech-to-text platform with batch and real-time transcription in 56+ languages, plus text to speech. Usage-based pricing (Pro from $0.129/hr) instead of monthly plans; the free tier includes 3,000 transcription minutes per month.

Profile

Speechmatics is a speech-to-text and text-to-speech API built for developers who need automatic transcription across many languages inside their own products — call centers, media platforms, meeting tools and voice AI agents. It runs on a usage-based model: a genuinely free tier covering 3,000 minutes of speech-to-text and 1 million characters of text-to-speech per month, a Pro tier billed from roughly $0.129/hour with volume discounts, and custom Enterprise pricing for unlimited scale.

Who builds it

Speechmatics is built by Speechmatics Ltd, a UK-based speech-AI company. Developers integrate its REST/streaming API into their applications to convert audio to text (or text to speech) in real time or via batch file jobs, choosing between its Enhanced, Standard and Melia 1 models depending on accuracy, latency and language needs.

Core features

  • Automatic speech recognition covering 56+ languages, with real-time (streaming) and batch (file-based) transcription modes
  • Text-to-speech covering roughly 20 hours of audio per 1 million characters processed
  • Three selectable models — Enhanced, Standard and Melia 1 — trading off accuracy, latency and cost, with Melia 1 adding 69 language pairs for translation and multilingual transcription
  • Concurrent real-time session limits that scale by tier: 2 on Free, 50 on Pro, unlimited on Enterprise
  • File-job throughput up to 10 jobs/second on Pro, with no rate limits on Enterprise
  • Enterprise options for private/on-premises deployment, custom model and voice development, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager

Pricing

  • Free: $0, no credit card required — 3,000 minutes (50 hours) of speech-to-text per month, 1 million characters (~20 hours) of text-to-speech per month, 2 concurrent real-time sessions
  • Pro: from roughly $0.129/hour with a 20% discount option, keeping the same 3,000 free minutes and 1M free TTS characters monthly before pay-as-you-go rates apply; usage is capped at 6,000 hours/month; volume discounts apply automatically above 500 hours/month
  • Enterprise: custom pricing — unlimited scale and concurrent sessions, no rate limits, private deployment options, custom models
  • Check speechmatics.com/pricing for current per-hour rates, since usage-based API pricing can change

Who it's for

Individual developers and small projects prototyping speech features can run comfortably on the free 3,000-minutes/month tier. Growing products with real-time transcription needs — call centers, meeting apps, media monitoring — fit the Pro tier once they exceed the free allowance. Organizations needing guaranteed uptime, private/on-premises deployment, custom voice models, or usage well beyond 6,000 hours/month should talk to Speechmatics about Enterprise pricing.

Frequently asked questions

What does Speechmatics cost?

Speechmatics is usage-based: the Free tier is $0/month for 3,000 minutes of speech-to-text and 1 million characters of text-to-speech, the Pro tier starts from roughly $0.129/hour with volume discounts above 500 hours/month (capped at 6,000 hours/month), and Enterprise is custom-priced for unlimited scale. Check speechmatics.com/pricing directly, since per-hour API rates can change.

Is Speechmatics free?

Yes, Speechmatics has a genuine $0 Free tier with no credit card required, covering 3,000 minutes (50 hours) of speech-to-text and 1 million characters (~20 hours) of text-to-speech every month, plus 2 concurrent real-time sessions. This is generous enough for prototyping and small projects, but higher-volume or higher-concurrency production use requires upgrading to Pro or Enterprise.

What languages does Speechmatics support?

Speechmatics supports automatic speech recognition in 56+ languages, including Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin and Tamil, available across every tier. Its Melia 1 model additionally supports 69 language pairs for translation and multilingual transcription, layered on top of the base 56+ language transcription coverage.

Can I use Speechmatics commercially?

Yes — Speechmatics is sold explicitly as a commercial speech-to-text and text-to-speech API for building into products such as call centers, media platforms and voice AI agents, so commercial use is the intended purpose of every paid tier. The Enterprise tier adds private/on-premises deployment options for organizations with stricter data-handling or compliance requirements around commercial deployments.

Does Speechmatics have an API?

Yes — Speechmatics is fundamentally an API product; there is no separate consumer app. Developers call its REST/streaming endpoints for real-time or batch speech-to-text and text-to-speech, choosing between the Enhanced, Standard and Melia 1 models. File-job throughput scales up to 10 jobs/second on Pro, with no rate limits on Enterprise.

Speechmatics vs Rev AI — what's the difference?

Both are developer-facing speech-to-text APIs, but Speechmatics leads with broader out-of-the-box language coverage (56+ languages on every tier, including a Free tier with 3,000 minutes/month) and adds a text-to-speech endpoint alongside transcription. Rev AI's Reverb models are priced lower per hour for English (from $0.10/hour) and add access to Rev's human-transcription marketplace at $1.99/minute for accuracy-critical work, but its foreign-language model is a separate, pricier tier ($0.30/hour) rather than uniform multilingual coverage. Teams needing wide multilingual STT plus TTS in one API tend to prefer Speechmatics; teams wanting the cheapest English transcription with an option to add human review tend to prefer Rev AI.