ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API

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.

Rev AI Speech-to-Text API

Reverb English at $0.20 an hour, foreign languages at $0.30. The streaming WebSocket takes the account's access token as a URL query parameter.

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

Rev AI Speech-to-Text API

1. Keep streaming URLs out of logs. They carry access_token
2. Send source_config: {"url": ...}, not media_url, even though the published SDKs still use media_url
3. Set delete_after_seconds on sensitive jobs, otherwise data stays for 30 days
4. Use notification_config webhooks rather than polling job status
5. Don't build on low_cost or fusion. Both are deprecated