AssemblyAI vs Checksub Comparison 2026
Both cover transcription & show notes and captions & subtitles. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Only AssemblyAI has a free tier.
Side by side
AssemblyAI | Checksub | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not listed | From $12 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier (they differ) | Yes | No |
| Billing | Usage-based | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on | Web |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
AssemblyAI
Speech to text you call as an API
AssemblyAI is a speech to text API rather than an app: you send audio and get back a transcript, with speaker labels and summarisation available on the same call. Both pre-recorded and live streaming are covered, and the free tier is generous enough to build something real before paying anything. It is bought by people writing software, not by people who want a transcript this afternoon.
Our note
At fifteen cents an hour the price is not the thing to agonise over, so pick on accuracy for your audio and on whether you want speaker labels in the same call. Deepgram is the direct comparison and the two trade places depending on the recording.
Only on this side
- Works with Podcast
Checksub
Subtitles, dubbing and voice cloning
Checksub subtitles a video, translates the result and will dub it in a cloned voice with lip sync, which puts the whole localisation sequence behind one credit balance instead of three services. Credits are issued for the year rather than the month, so a batch of back catalogue does not need spreading across quarters. Subtitle files export as SRT and VTT for anybody who wants to burn them in elsewhere. The entry plan carries a watermark and one translation per project, which is the ceiling most people meet first.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.