# Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API

> Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) has a score of 70.6 (BB) against ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API's 69 (B). Both do speech stt. The largest gap is security & auth, 10 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-04

Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) has a score of 70.6 (BB) against ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API's 69 (B). Both do speech stt. The largest gap is security & auth, 10 points.

- Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux): grade BB, 70.6/100, rank #94 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepgram-stt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepgram-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 Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) for security & auth (+10), maintenance & community (+5).

Pick ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API for reliability (+5).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) | ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 70 | ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API +5 |
| 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) | 75 | 75 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 55 | Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) +10 |
| 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 | Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 71 | Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **70.6 · BB** | **69 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) | ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Deepgram | ElevenLabs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepgram.com/v1` | `https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio, SSE (legacy) | 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 | 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-28 |
| Popularity | 468 stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 805k PyPI/wk | 3.1k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 2.2M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux).** Flux streams with model-level end-of-turn detection, so a voice agent needs no separate VAD. Training on audio is the default and the opt-out is a per-request flag.

**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

### Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux)

1. Add `mip_opt_out=true` to every request that carries customer audio
2. Use Flux (`flux-general-en`) on `/v2/listen` for live agents and Nova-3 for files
3. Back off exponentially on 429. The concurrency limit is per project
4. Pass `callback` for long files so the request doesn't hit the 10-minute processing timeout
5. Mint keys with an expiry for short-lived jobs

### 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

## Other comparisons with Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) or ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API

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- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Google Cloud Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-google-speech-to-text.md)
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- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-soniox-stt.md)
- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)