Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover transcription & show notes. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| AssemblyAI | Sonix | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not listed | From $10 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Billing | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Transcription & Show Notes | Transcription & Show Notes, Captions & Subtitles |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
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.
Transcription you can pay for by the hour
Sonix will bill by the hour rather than by the month, which is the right shape for somebody who transcribes a batch of interviews twice a year and nothing in between. Accuracy across its 54 languages is good and the editor lines the text up against the audio. Subscribers get storage and an AI workspace that the hourly rate does not include.
Only on this side
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.