# AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API

> ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API has a score of 69 (B) against AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal)'s 67 (B). Both do speech stt. The largest gap is transparency & trust, 7 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-04

ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API has a score of 69 (B) against AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal)'s 67 (B). Both do speech stt. The largest gap is transparency & trust, 7 points.

- AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal): grade B, 67/100, rank #148 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/assemblyai-stt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/assemblyai-stt.json
- ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API: grade B, 69/100, rank #117 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elevenlabs-scribe.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elevenlabs-scribe.json

## Which one, for what

Pick AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) for agent ergonomics (+5), maintenance & community (+5), transparency & trust (+7).

Pick ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API for security & auth (+5).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) | ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 70 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 95 | 95 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 75 | AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 50 | 55 | ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 75 | AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 71 | AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **67 · B** | **69 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) | ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | AssemblyAI | ElevenLabs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.assemblyai.com/v2` | `https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (SDKs) | MIT (SDKs) |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-28 |
| Popularity | 213 stars, 600k npm/wk, 738k PyPI/wk | 3.1k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 2.2M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal).** OpenAPI 3.1 file with typed inputs and error responses on every operation. Two outages of an hour or more in the last 90 days, on 31 July and 16 September 2026.

**ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API.** $0.22 an hour for batch with 90+ languages and diarisation to 32 speakers. Audio may be used for training unless the account opts out, and the opt-out isn't retroactive.

## Before you call either

### AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal)

1. Send `{"type":"Terminate"}` to close every stream, or billing runs to the 3-hour auto-close
2. Use `speech_models` (plural). The singular `speech_model` now returns 400 for current model names
3. Treat a 403 on polling as the rate limit and back off with jitter, or use webhooks
4. Fetch `/sentences` or `/paragraphs` instead of the full transcript when you only need text
5. Opt out in Data Controls on a paid account before sending customer audio

### ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API

1. Create a key restricted to speech-to-text with a credit quota and an expiry
2. Use `source_url` for hosted files instead of downloading and re-uploading
3. Set `webhook=true` for long files so the call doesn't block
4. Back off exponentially on any of the three 429 codes
5. Opt out under Data use before sending customer audio. It only covers later uploads

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