AssemblyAI Pricing Calculator
Updated July 2026Pure usage-based — pay per hour of audio processed; add-on fees for Speech Understanding features and per-token LLM Gateway calls
AssemblyAI pricing: AssemblyAI pricing in 2026: async from $0.15/hr, streaming from $0.15/hr, a $4.50/hr Voice Agent API, Speech Understanding & Guardrails add-ons, and the LLM Gateway. Use the free calculator below to enter your usage and get an instant all-in monthly estimate — including overages — and see which plan is cheapest for your needs.
How AssemblyAI prices: Pure usage-based — pay per hour of audio processed; add-on fees for Speech Understanding features and per-token LLM Gateway calls.
How AssemblyAI prices
Pure usage-based — pay per hour of audio processed; add-on fees for Speech Understanding features and per-token LLM Gateway calls
Best fit — auto-selected: Pay-as-you-go
$78.00/mo— the cheapest plan that fits; adjust usage and it re-picks
Your usage
💡 1 hr of audio = 1 hr billed (a 1-hr stereo file bills as 2 hrs — each channel is transcribed)
💡 Billed by WebSocket session duration — idle time counts; concurrency scales free
Compare Plans at Your Usage
Monthly Estimate
Pay-as-you-go
$78.00
per month
Cost Breakdown
Annual
$936.00
Why Pay-as-you-go — $78.00/mo
- Pay-as-you-go at $78.00/mo.
- Free Tier looks like the step up at $0.00, but it includes only 185 hr/mo — it can't serve your 200.
- How we got there: 200 hr/mo (Async audio transcribed) × 0 $/hr (Async transcription model) = 30 $/mo.
- How we got there: 0 hr/mo (Real-time streaming audio) × 0 $/hr (Streaming model) = 0 $/mo.
Budget range
Plan for usage swings, not just today's estimate.
Conservative
$39.00
100 hr/mo/mo
Expected
$78.00
200 hr/mo/mo
Aggressive
$156.00
400 hr/mo/mo
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Get StartedAssemblyAI plans at a glance
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Free | Developers evaluating the API |
| Pay-as-you-go | Usage-based | Production usage, no commitment |
Prices shown are list rates as of July 2026. Enter your usage above for an all-in estimate including overages and add-ons.
About this AssemblyAI calculator
This calculator estimates your AssemblyAI cost from publicly available pricing. Actual costs may vary with your specific agreement, volume discounts, and usage patterns — always verify on the provider's official pricing page for the most current rates.
AssemblyAI pricing — frequently asked questions
How much does AssemblyAI cost per hour of audio? ▼
AssemblyAI bills async transcription by the hour: Universal-2 is $0.15/hr and the more accurate Universal-3.5 Pro is $0.21/hr. Real-time streaming ranges from $0.15/hr (Universal-Streaming) to $0.45/hr (Universal-3.5 Pro Realtime). A Voice Agent API is $4.50/hr ($0.075/min). Speech Understanding and Guardrails add-ons each carry an additional per-hour fee on top of the base rate.
Does AssemblyAI have a free tier? ▼
Yes. You can create an account and start transcribing immediately with no credit card required. The free tier includes up to 185 hours of pre-recorded transcription and up to 333 hours of streaming. There is no monthly minimum — beyond the free tier you only pay for what you process.
What is the LLM Gateway and how is it priced? ▼
The LLM Gateway is AssemblyAI's layer that lets developers run frontier LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google directly against a transcript — summarization, Q&A, custom prompts. It is billed per million input and output tokens at each model's published rate, separately from transcription costs. It is the productized evolution of LeMUR.
What is the difference between AssemblyAI's Universal-2 and Universal-3.5 Pro models? ▼
Universal-2 is the lower-cost async model at $0.15/hr, supporting 99 languages with excellent accuracy. Universal-3.5 Pro is the most accurate model at $0.21/hr, leading on multilingual word error rate. For real-time use, AssemblyAI offers Universal-Streaming and Universal-Streaming Multilingual (both $0.15/hr) and Universal-3.5 Pro Realtime ($0.45/hr).
Is this AssemblyAI pricing calculator free and accurate? ▼
Yes — it's completely free with no signup. It uses the latest publicly available AssemblyAI pricing (verified July 2026). Actual costs may vary with volume discounts or enterprise terms — always confirm on AssemblyAI's official pricing page.