{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "ibm-watson-stt", "name": "IBM Watson Speech to Text", "vendor": "IBM", "vendorUrl": "https://www.ibm.com/products/speech-to-text", "kind": "model", "category": "speech-to-text", "summary": "IBM Watson Speech to Text transcribes audio over synchronous and asynchronous HTTP and a WebSocket interface on IBM Cloud, with large speech models, next-generation models, custom language and acoustic models, speaker labels and language identification.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ibm-watson-stt", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ibm-watson-stt.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ibm-watson-stt.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ibm-watson-stt.json", "dns": "ibm-watson-stt.grade.anchorterminal.com", "transports": [ "http", "websocket" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "ibm-watson" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "ibm-watson" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "An IBM Cloud IAM API key per service instance, exchanged for a bearer token or sent with Basic auth as `apikey:\u003ckey\u003e`. Service credentials carry IAM roles. The WebSocket interface takes the IAM token as an `access_token` query parameter.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Lite plan free for 500 minutes a month, deleted after 30 days of inactivity. Plus plan $0.02 a minute up to 999,999 minutes a month and $0.01 above, with up to 100 concurrent requests. Premium by quote.", "priceSummary": "Freemium", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or API reference (checked 2026-11-06). Billing runs through an IBM Cloud account.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 0, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/speech-to-text", "capabilities": [ "speech.stt", "speech.streaming", "speech.batch", "speech.diarisation", "speech.languages" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "closed-source", "python", "typescript", "enterprise", "streaming", "batch", "async-jobs", "webhooks" ], "lastRelease": "2026-06-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 54.5, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 904, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 18, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 66, "maintenance": 33, "payments": 40, "reliability": 40, "schema": 55, "security": 68, "transparency": 80 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Watson STT covers sync, async and WebSocket transcription in ten locations, with custom models, $0.02 a minute on Plus and 500 free minutes. There is no machine-readable spec or readable status history, requests are logged for improvement unless opted out, the WebSocket token goes in the URL, and the last release note is from June 2026.", "bestFor": "Enterprises on IBM Cloud needing custom acoustic models, HIPAA on Premium and many locations.", "strengths": [ "Sync, async with callbacks and WebSocket streaming on one service", "500 free minutes a month on Lite and $0.02 a minute on Plus", "Custom language and acoustic models on paid plans", "Dated deprecation of previous-generation models with over a year of notice", "`DELETE /v1/user_data` removes data by customer ID" ], "weaknesses": [ "No public OpenAPI file or llms.txt", "The WebSocket interface takes the IAM token as a URL query parameter", "Requests are logged by default to improve the service unless the account or request opts out", "The status page is drawn by script and no SLA was read", "No release note since 29 June 2026" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `X-Watson-Learning-Opt-Out: true` or opt out at account level before sending sensitive audio", "Use the async `/v1/recognitions` interface with a callback for files over 100 MB, up to 1 GB", "Pass a large speech or next-generation model name in `model`, since previous-generation models were removed", "Tag requests with `X-Watson-Metadata: customer_id=...` so the data can be deleted later", "Keep within 100 concurrent requests on Plus across HTTP and WebSocket" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 54.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 66, "maintenance": 33, "payments": 40, "reliability": 40, "schema": 55, "security": 68, "transparency": 65 }, "provenanceScore": 94, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install ibm-watson" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/speech.stt", "tool": "https://letme.dev/ibm-watson-stt" }, "sameCompany": [ "granite-embedding-small-english-r2", "granite-guardian", "granite-switch", "granite-4-2-3b" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Plus plan, first 999,999 minutes a month", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.02 }, { "item": "Plus plan, from 1,000,000 minutes a month", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.01 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "International Business Machines Corporation", "domain": "ibm.com", "domainRegistered": "1986-03-19", "domainNote": "The endpoints are on watson.cloud.ibm.com, under ibm.com.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/overview?topic=overview-terms", "privacy": "https://www.ibm.com/privacy", "statusPage": "https://cloud.ibm.com/status", "changelog": "https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/speech-to-text?topic=speech-to-text-release-notes", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "cloud.ibm.com/robots.txt disallows only /docs/search?q= and sets Content-Signal ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes.", "www.ibm.com/.well-known/security.txt names IBM PSIRT, HackerOne and psirt@us.ibm.com and expires on 6 December 2026.", "cloud.ibm.com/status returns a page drawn by script, so its incident history wasn't read.", "The IBM Cloud terms page was found but its text wasn't read, so no clause is quoted.", "RDAP gives ibm.com a registration date of 19 March 1986." ], "score": 94 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ibm-watson-stt.json", "live": { "slug": "ibm-watson-stt", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://cloud.ibm.com/status", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:47:55.897466786Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "ibm-watson", "version": "12.2.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:34:06.712780272Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "ibm-watson", "version": "11.2.0", "released": "2026-01-26", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:34:06.544738844Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 12367, "pypiWeekly": 10209, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://ibm.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2026-12-07T00:00:00+00:00", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:08.596796331Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/speech-to-text?topic=speech-to-text-release-notes", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:01:17.694727718Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "8dcf87213e78" }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:30:01.132495816Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "cf480cd7bcca" }, { "url": "https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/overview?topic=overview-terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:01:13.338724324Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a0514cb0ed80" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:08.596796331Z" } }, "answer": "Inworld STT and IBM Watson Speech to Text score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 54.7 (C) and 54.5 (C). IBM Watson Speech to Text leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "inworld-stt", "name": "Inworld STT", "vendor": "Inworld AI", "vendorUrl": "https://inworld.ai", "kind": "model", "category": "speech-to-text", "summary": "Inworld's speech-to-text API runs its `inworld/inworld-stt-1` model in 30 languages over synchronous HTTP, bidirectional WebSocket streaming and asynchronous jobs, returning Voice Profile signals (age, emotion, pitch, accent) and turn detection alongside the transcript.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inworld-stt", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inworld-stt.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inworld-stt.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/inworld-stt.json", "dns": "inworld-stt.grade.anchorterminal.com", "transports": [ "http", "websocket" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@inworld/cli" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Every call sends `Authorization: Basic` with the Base64 `key_id:secret` credential from the Portal or the CLI. Keys belong to a workspace and are deleted to revoke. Browsers pass a one-time token in the `bearer_` WebSocket subprotocol rather than the URL.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "$0.15 an hour of audio on the free On-Demand plan and $0.10 on the paid plans ($25 to $1,500 a month), billed per second. On-Demand includes up to 400 minutes free. Diarisation and Voice Profile are separate per-second add-ons. Asynchronous jobs need a payment method.", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, llms.txt or pricing page (checked 2026-11-06). Plans and credits are bought in the Portal.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 0, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.inworld.ai/stt/overview", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.inworld.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "speech.stt", "speech.streaming", "speech.batch", "speech.diarisation", "speech.languages" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage", "free-tier", "no-card", "closed-source", "llms-txt", "streaming", "batch", "mcp", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 54.7, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 895, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 16, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 56, "maintenance": 41, "payments": 40, "reliability": 60, "schema": 54, "security": 63, "transparency": 60 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Inworld STT costs $0.10 to $0.15 an hour with 400 free minutes, and covers files, live streams and async jobs in 30 languages with Voice Profile signals. There is no machine-readable spec, no public STT changelog and no readable status history, and diarisation is still experimental.", "bestFor": "Low-cost live transcription for voice agents, with speaker traits.", "strengths": [ "$0.15 an hour on the free plan and $0.10 on paid plans, billed per second, with 400 free minutes", "Sync, WebSocket streaming and async jobs on one model, with turn detection and Voice Profile signals", "Browser tokens travel in a WebSocket subprotocol, not the URL", "Zero data retention keeps audio and transcripts in memory, and the docs include it from the Developer plan", "llms.txt, Markdown twins and a docs MCP server" ], "weaknesses": [ "No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract", "The STT release notes path asks for a login, so changes to the model aren't publicly dated", "Status history couldn't be read, and an SLA exists only for Enterprise", "Speaker diarisation is experimental and async jobs run on a `v1alpha` operations route", "Docs and the STT product page disagree on which plans include zero data retention" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send the Base64 credential as-is in `Authorization: Basic`; don't encode it again", "Wrap the first WebSocket message in `transcribeConfig`, because a malformed first frame closes the socket with 1005 and no error", "Use `POST /stt/v1/transcribe:async` for files over about 16 MB and collect the transcript within 7 days", "Retry 429 or gRPC code 8 with exponential backoff and jitter, and stay within the plan's streaming concurrency", "Stop sending audio when nobody speaks, since streams are billed for every second sent" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 54.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 56, "maintenance": 41, "payments": 40, "reliability": 60, "schema": 54, "security": 63, "transparency": 45 }, "provenanceScore": 75, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "npm install -g @inworld/cli", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add inworld -- inworld mcp" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/speech.stt", "tool": "https://letme.dev/inworld-stt" }, "sameCompany": [ "inworld-tts", "inworld-realtime", "inworld-voice-cloning" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "STT-1, On-Demand", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.0025, "note": "$0.15 an hour" }, { "item": "STT-1, paid plans", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.00167, "note": "$0.10 an hour on Creator to Growth" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Theai, Inc. dba Inworld AI", "domain": "inworld.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://inworld.ai/terms", "privacy": "https://inworld.ai/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.inworld.ai", "changelog": "https://docs.inworld.ai/release-notes/realtime", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "The Terms of Service (effective 11 June 2025) are an agreement with Theai, Inc. dba Inworld AI under California law, with courts in Santa Clara. The Privacy Notice (last updated 18 January 2026) names Theai, Inc.", "inworld.ai/.well-known/security.txt returns 404. The security page links a vulnerability report form.", "status.inworld.ai runs the open-source issue-status app, which draws incidents from GitHub issues in inworld-ai/inworld-issue-status. Its history wasn't read, because GitHub's robots.txt couldn't be read from our environment.", "inworld.ai's robots.txt allows Claude agents on the paths read and sets `Content-Signal: ai-train=no, search=yes, ai-input=no`. docs.inworld.ai has no such signal.", "The domain's registration date wasn't established, because the RDAP lookup failed.", "firstReleased is left empty. No dated STT launch was found, and the STT release notes path asks for a Portal login." ], "score": 75 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inworld-stt.json", "live": { "slug": "inworld-stt", "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@inworld/cli", "version": "1.5.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:35:05.474861108Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 290, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://inworld.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:11.794771951Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.inworld.ai/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:32:47.741512787Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:11.794771951Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 20, "category": "reliability", "leads": "inworld-stt", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "IBM Cloud has a status page at cloud.ibm.com/status, but it is drawn by script and showed no components or history to our reader, read as gemini-live's script-shell page was (10 of 20, and 5 for no readable history). Plus allows up to 100 concurrent transcription requests across WebSocket and HTTP (15). No 429 or backoff guidance was found in the API reference or the docs repository (0). No SLA was read for the service (0, unchecked). Next-generation and large speech models are GA, language by language (10). 10 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 40.", "b": "Hosted reading of the checklist. status.inworld.ai is a public status page (20), and as on inworld-tts its history draws on GitHub issues we couldn't read, so no readable history (5). Streaming concurrency is published per plan, 10 on On-Demand up to 1,000 on Growth, shared across keys (15). 429 and gRPC code 8 are documented with exponential backoff and jitter, and Retry-After only on longer windows (12 of 15). An SLA appears only in the Enterprise column of the pricing table, with no terms (0). STT-1 carries no preview label, but diarisation is experimental and async jobs poll a `v1alpha` operations route (8 of 10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 8 = 60." }, "scores": { "a": 40, "b": 60 } }, { "by": 20, "category": "transparency", "leads": "ibm-watson-stt", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "Closed service under the IBM Cloud terms (15). The data security page states default logging for improvement with an opt-out, async retention, GDPR deletion by customer ID and plan-level separation, and they agree with each other. The DPA wasn't read (20 of 30). Previous-generation models carried a dated deprecation of 15 March 2022 and removal on 31 July 2023, and release notes say changes are compatible unless noted (18 of 20). Ten locations are named, with sub-processors not read (12 of 20). Total 65.", "b": "Closed service with clear terms naming Theai, Inc. dba Inworld AI (15). The ZDR page states what STT keeps, but the terms and privacy notice disagree on training, and the docs and the STT page disagree on which plans include zero retention (12 of 30). No dated STT deprecation or change notices are public (8 of 20). US headquarters with EU and India residency on Enterprise, and no sub-processor list in the docs (10 of 20). Total 45." }, "scores": { "a": 80, "b": 60 } }, { "by": 10, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "ibm-watson-stt", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "API reading of the checklist. Timestamps, word confidence, alternatives and speaker labels are opt-in (15 of 25). Async jobs and custom models list, and async results can go to a callback URL (12 of 20). Structured errors and warnings an agent can act on (15 of 20). Async jobs take a `user_token`, results have a TTL, and jobs can be deleted, with no idempotency key (12 of 20). Most parameters are optional. Official SDKs including Python, Node and Swift, though the Python and Node SDKs last released in January 2026 (12 of 15). Total 66.", "b": "API reading of the checklist. Voice Profile, word timestamps and diarisation are opt-in, and responses carry a `usage` block (18 of 25). No lists to page. Async jobs return an operation to poll (8 of 20). Errors carry a numeric gRPC code and message on both endpoints, but a malformed first message closes the socket with 1005 and no frame (12 of 20). Sync calls are stateless and async calls return an operation, with no idempotency key, and empty transcripts and add-ons are billed (10 of 20). A call needs a model, an encoding and the audio. No STT SDK was found, only the CLI and its MCP server and REST examples (8 of 15). Total 56." }, "scores": { "a": 66, "b": 56 } }, { "by": 8, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "inworld-stt", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "Read as a model. The newest release note is 29 June 2026 (`parameter_set` for large speech models), 130 days ago (10). No dated entries in the 90 days from 8 August (0). Release notes, IBM support and a public docs repository last changed 30 June 2026 (8 of 15). Official SDKs, `ibm-watson` 11.2.0 on PyPI (26 January 2026) and 12.2.0 on npm (January 2026) (10 of 15). CI not read (5 of 10). Total 33.", "b": "Read as a model. No public STT changelog. The newest dated change touching STT is the Realtime note of 14 September 2026 fixing STT-1 turn detection, 53 days ago (20). The CLI, which carries the STT command and MCP tool, shipped 1.4.0 to 1.5.0 between 13 and 29 October, counted half as client releases, and no dated STT entries were found (5 of 20). Discord and support@inworld.ai, with no evidence of answers read (6 of 15). No official STT SDK; the CLI is current (5 of 15). CLI on npm under MIT, current, CI not read (5 of 10). Total 41." }, "scores": { "a": 33, "b": 41 } }, { "by": 5, "category": "security", "leads": "ibm-watson-stt", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. IAM API keys per instance with Reader, Writer and Manager roles and short-lived bearer tokens (30). The WebSocket interface takes the token as an `access_token` query parameter, so 10 off (20 of 30). Request and response data are logged by default to improve the service, and any account can opt out per account or per request (10 of 20). Async results expire after a week by default (`results_ttl` shortens it), a delete method exists, and `DELETE /v1/user_data` removes data by customer ID (10 of 15). Activity Tracker events record changes to the service's state (10 of 15). Valid security.txt to 6 December 2026, PSIRT and HackerOne, HIPAA readiness on Premium. Certifications weren't read (18 of 20). Total 68.", "b": "Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. Workspace API keys sent as Basic credentials, deleted to revoke, with separate keys per environment advised. The CLI mints read-only keys unless `--write` is given, but write toggles cover only the Voice and Router APIs, so no key is limited to one product. Browsers use short-lived tokens minted server side, via the `bearer_` WebSocket subprotocol, not the URL (25 of 30). The Terms (11 June 2025) say Inworld won't train generally available models on customers' non-public Materials, except feedback and flagged content, while the Privacy Notice (18 January 2026) lists training AI models among its uses, per the inworld-tts check of 4 November (12 of 20). Zero data retention keeps STT audio and transcripts in memory and out of logs, included on Developer ($300 a month) and above per the docs, while the STT page says Enterprise or a Growth add-on. Async results and audio go after 7 days, and no default period is given for logs (8 of 15). Usage is attributed per key and a Performance page shows errors and throttling (8 of 15). SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA claimed and a vulnerability report form, with no security.txt or bug bounty, per the 4 November reading (10 of 20). Total 63." }, "scores": { "a": 68, "b": 63 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Model API", "b": "Model API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "IBM", "b": "Inworld AI", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, websocket", "b": "HTTP, websocket", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "not published", "b": "$0.0017 per minute of audio", "name": "Price for speech-to-text" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "0", "b": "0", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-06-29", "b": "2026-10-29", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "2025-06-11", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-08-25", "b": "2026-01-18", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Inworld STT and IBM Watson Speech to Text score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 54.7 (C) and 54.5 (C). IBM Watson Speech to Text leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, IBM Watson Speech to Text or Inworld STT?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do IBM Watson Speech to Text and Inworld STT need an API key?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for IBM Watson Speech to Text. No hosted endpoint is listed for Inworld STT.", "question": "Can an agent call IBM Watson Speech to Text and Inworld STT without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 66 against 56", "Security \u0026 auth, 68 against 63", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 80 against 60" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Enterprises on IBM Cloud needing custom acoustic models, HIPAA on Premium and many locations.", "slug": "ibm-watson-stt", "watchFor": "No public OpenAPI file or llms.txt" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 60 against 40", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 41 against 33" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Low-cost live transcription for voice agents, with speaker traits.", "slug": "inworld-stt", "watchFor": "No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract" } ], "history": null, "job": { "capability": "speech.stt", "name": "Speech-to-text" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Amazon Transcribe vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Amazon Transcribe vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Cartesia Ink vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/giggy-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Giggy Speech to Text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/giggy-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/giggy-stt-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Giggy Speech to Text vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/giggy-stt-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt.json", "title": "Groq Speech-to-Text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt.json", "title": "Groq Speech-to-Text vs Inworld STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-minimax-stt.json", "title": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-minimax-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.json", "title": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text.json", "title": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs OpenAI Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.json", "title": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-smallest-pulse-stt.json", "title": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Smallest.ai Pulse STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-smallest-pulse-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-soniox-stt.json", "title": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-soniox-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.json", "title": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-minimax-stt.json", "title": "Inworld STT vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-minimax-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.json", "title": "Inworld STT vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text.json", "title": "Inworld STT vs OpenAI Speech to Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.json", "title": "Inworld STT vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-smallest-pulse-stt.json", "title": "Inworld STT vs Smallest.ai Pulse STT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-smallest-pulse-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-soniox-stt.json", "title": "Inworld STT vs Soniox Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-soniox-stt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.json", "title": "Inworld STT vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 20, "edge": "inworld-stt", "ibm-watson-stt": 40, "inworld-stt": 60, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "ibm-watson-stt", "ibm-watson-stt": 55, "inworld-stt": 54, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "ibm-watson-stt", "ibm-watson-stt": 66, "inworld-stt": 56, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "ibm-watson-stt", "ibm-watson-stt": 68, "inworld-stt": 63, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "ibm-watson-stt": 40, "inworld-stt": 40, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 8, "edge": "inworld-stt", "ibm-watson-stt": 33, "inworld-stt": 41, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "ibm-watson-stt", "ibm-watson-stt": 80, "inworld-stt": 60, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Inworld STT and IBM Watson Speech to Text score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 54.7 (C) and 54.5 (C). IBM Watson Speech to Text leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do speech-to-text.", "tasks": [ { "a": "$0.60 to $1.20", "b": "$0.10 to $0.15", "cheaper": "inworld-stt", "task": "Transcribe a one-hour meeting", "what": "60 minutes of recorded audio" } ], "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "ibm-watson-stt": "Watson STT covers sync, async and WebSocket transcription in ten locations, with custom models, $0.02 a minute on Plus and 500 free minutes. There is no machine-readable spec or readable status history, requests are logged for improvement unless opted out, the WebSocket token goes in the URL, and the last release note is from June 2026.", "inworld-stt": "Inworld STT costs $0.10 to $0.15 an hour with 400 free minutes, and covers files, live streams and async jobs in 30 languages with Voice Profile signals. There is no machine-readable spec, no public STT changelog and no readable status history, and diarisation is still experimental." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-inworld-stt", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-inworld-stt.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-inworld-stt.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-inworld-stt.min.md" }, "markdown": "Inworld STT and IBM Watson Speech to Text score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 54.7 (C) and 54.5 (C). IBM Watson Speech to Text leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do speech-to-text.\n\n- IBM Watson Speech to Text: grade C, 54.5/100, rank #904 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ibm-watson-stt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ibm-watson-stt.json\n- Inworld STT: grade C, 54.7/100, rank #895 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inworld-stt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/inworld-stt.json\n- Best speech-to-text APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/speech-to-text/index.md\n- All 320 stt comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/speech-to-text/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### IBM Watson Speech to Text (C)\n\nGood for: Enterprises on IBM Cloud needing custom acoustic models, HIPAA on Premium and many locations.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 66 against 56\n- Security \u0026 auth, 68 against 63\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 80 against 60\n\nWatch for: No public OpenAPI file or llms.txt\n\n### Inworld STT (C)\n\nGood for: Low-cost live transcription for voice agents, with speaker traits.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 60 against 40\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 41 against 33\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Reliability: Inworld STT +20\n\n- IBM Watson Speech to Text (40): IBM Cloud has a status page at cloud.ibm.com/status, but it is drawn by script and showed no components or history to our reader, read as gemini-live's script-shell page was (10 of 20, and 5 for no readable history). Plus allows up to 100 concurrent transcription requests across WebSocket and HTTP (15). No 429 or backoff guidance was found in the API reference or the docs repository (0). No SLA was read for the service (0, unchecked). Next-generation and large speech models are GA, language by language (10). 10 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 40.\n- Inworld STT (60): Hosted reading of the checklist. status.inworld.ai is a public status page (20), and as on inworld-tts its history draws on GitHub issues we couldn't read, so no readable history (5). Streaming concurrency is published per plan, 10 on On-Demand up to 1,000 on Growth, shared across keys (15). 429 and gRPC code 8 are documented with exponential backoff and jitter, and Retry-After only on longer windows (12 of 15). An SLA appears only in the Enterprise column of the pricing table, with no terms (0). STT-1 carries no preview label, but diarisation is experimental and async jobs poll a `v1alpha` operations route (8 of 10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 8 = 60.\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: IBM Watson Speech to Text +20\n\n- IBM Watson Speech to Text (80): Closed service under the IBM Cloud terms (15). The data security page states default logging for improvement with an opt-out, async retention, GDPR deletion by customer ID and plan-level separation, and they agree with each other. The DPA wasn't read (20 of 30). Previous-generation models carried a dated deprecation of 15 March 2022 and removal on 31 July 2023, and release notes say changes are compatible unless noted (18 of 20). Ten locations are named, with sub-processors not read (12 of 20). Total 65.\n- Inworld STT (60): Closed service with clear terms naming Theai, Inc. dba Inworld AI (15). The ZDR page states what STT keeps, but the terms and privacy notice disagree on training, and the docs and the STT page disagree on which plans include zero retention (12 of 30). No dated STT deprecation or change notices are public (8 of 20). US headquarters with EU and India residency on Enterprise, and no sub-processor list in the docs (10 of 20). Total 45.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: IBM Watson Speech to Text +10\n\n- IBM Watson Speech to Text (66): API reading of the checklist. Timestamps, word confidence, alternatives and speaker labels are opt-in (15 of 25). Async jobs and custom models list, and async results can go to a callback URL (12 of 20). Structured errors and warnings an agent can act on (15 of 20). Async jobs take a `user_token`, results have a TTL, and jobs can be deleted, with no idempotency key (12 of 20). Most parameters are optional. Official SDKs including Python, Node and Swift, though the Python and Node SDKs last released in January 2026 (12 of 15). Total 66.\n- Inworld STT (56): API reading of the checklist. Voice Profile, word timestamps and diarisation are opt-in, and responses carry a `usage` block (18 of 25). No lists to page. Async jobs return an operation to poll (8 of 20). Errors carry a numeric gRPC code and message on both endpoints, but a malformed first message closes the socket with 1005 and no frame (12 of 20). Sync calls are stateless and async calls return an operation, with no idempotency key, and empty transcripts and add-ons are billed (10 of 20). A call needs a model, an encoding and the audio. No STT SDK was found, only the CLI and its MCP server and REST examples (8 of 15). Total 56.\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Inworld STT +8\n\n- IBM Watson Speech to Text (33): Read as a model. The newest release note is 29 June 2026 (`parameter_set` for large speech models), 130 days ago (10). No dated entries in the 90 days from 8 August (0). Release notes, IBM support and a public docs repository last changed 30 June 2026 (8 of 15). Official SDKs, `ibm-watson` 11.2.0 on PyPI (26 January 2026) and 12.2.0 on npm (January 2026) (10 of 15). CI not read (5 of 10). Total 33.\n- Inworld STT (41): Read as a model. No public STT changelog. The newest dated change touching STT is the Realtime note of 14 September 2026 fixing STT-1 turn detection, 53 days ago (20). The CLI, which carries the STT command and MCP tool, shipped 1.4.0 to 1.5.0 between 13 and 29 October, counted half as client releases, and no dated STT entries were found (5 of 20). Discord and support@inworld.ai, with no evidence of answers read (6 of 15). No official STT SDK; the CLI is current (5 of 15). CLI on npm under MIT, current, CI not read (5 of 10). Total 41.\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: IBM Watson Speech to Text +5\n\n- IBM Watson Speech to Text (68): Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. IAM API keys per instance with Reader, Writer and Manager roles and short-lived bearer tokens (30). The WebSocket interface takes the token as an `access_token` query parameter, so 10 off (20 of 30). Request and response data are logged by default to improve the service, and any account can opt out per account or per request (10 of 20). Async results expire after a week by default (`results_ttl` shortens it), a delete method exists, and `DELETE /v1/user_data` removes data by customer ID (10 of 15). Activity Tracker events record changes to the service's state (10 of 15). Valid security.txt to 6 December 2026, PSIRT and HackerOne, HIPAA readiness on Premium. Certifications weren't read (18 of 20). Total 68.\n- Inworld STT (63): Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of the least-privilege and injection lines. Workspace API keys sent as Basic credentials, deleted to revoke, with separate keys per environment advised. The CLI mints read-only keys unless `--write` is given, but write toggles cover only the Voice and Router APIs, so no key is limited to one product. Browsers use short-lived tokens minted server side, via the `bearer_` WebSocket subprotocol, not the URL (25 of 30). The Terms (11 June 2025) say Inworld won't train generally available models on customers' non-public Materials, except feedback and flagged content, while the Privacy Notice (18 January 2026) lists training AI models among its uses, per the inworld-tts check of 4 November (12 of 20). Zero data retention keeps STT audio and transcripts in memory and out of logs, included on Developer ($300 a month) and above per the docs, while the STT page says Enterprise or a Growth add-on. Async results and audio go after 7 days, and no default period is given for logs (8 of 15). Usage is attributed per key and a Performance page shows errors and throttling (8 of 15). SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA claimed and a vulnerability report form, with no security.txt or bug bounty, per the 4 November reading (10 of 20). Total 63.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | IBM Watson Speech to Text | Inworld STT | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 60 | Inworld STT +20 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 54 | IBM Watson Speech to Text +1 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 56 | IBM Watson Speech to Text +10 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 63 | IBM Watson Speech to Text +5 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 33 | 41 | Inworld STT +8 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 60 | IBM Watson Speech to Text +20 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **54.5 · C** | **54.7 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | IBM Watson Speech to Text | Inworld STT |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model API |\n| Vendor | IBM | Inworld AI |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP, websocket | HTTP, websocket |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |\n| Price for speech-to-text | not published | $0.0017 per minute of audio |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Tools exposed | 0 | 0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-06-29 | 2026-10-29 |\n| Terms last updated | no date given | 2025-06-11 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | 2026-01-18 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n\n## What the same task costs\n\n| Task | IBM Watson Speech to Text | Inworld STT |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Transcribe a one-hour meeting | $0.60 to $1.20 | $0.10 to $0.15 |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**IBM Watson Speech to Text.** Watson STT covers sync, async and WebSocket transcription in ten locations, with custom models, $0.02 a minute on Plus and 500 free minutes. There is no machine-readable spec or readable status history, requests are logged for improvement unless opted out, the WebSocket token goes in the URL, and the last release note is from June 2026.\n\n**Inworld STT.** Inworld STT costs $0.10 to $0.15 an hour with 400 free minutes, and covers files, live streams and async jobs in 30 languages with Voice Profile signals. There is no machine-readable spec, no public STT changelog and no readable status history, and diarisation is still experimental.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### IBM Watson Speech to Text\n\n1. Send `X-Watson-Learning-Opt-Out: true` or opt out at account level before sending sensitive audio\n2. Use the async `/v1/recognitions` interface with a callback for files over 100 MB, up to 1 GB\n3. Pass a large speech or next-generation model name in `model`, since previous-generation models were removed\n4. Tag requests with `X-Watson-Metadata: customer_id=...` so the data can be deleted later\n5. Keep within 100 concurrent requests on Plus across HTTP and WebSocket\n\n### Inworld STT\n\n1. Send the Base64 credential as-is in `Authorization: Basic`; don't encode it again\n2. Wrap the first WebSocket message in `transcribeConfig`, because a malformed first frame closes the socket with 1005 and no error\n3. Use `POST /stt/v1/transcribe:async` for files over about 16 MB and collect the transcript within 7 days\n4. Retry 429 or gRPC code 8 with exponential backoff and jitter, and stay within the plan's streaming concurrency\n5. Stop sending audio when nobody speaks, since streams are billed for every second sent\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, IBM Watson Speech to Text or Inworld STT?\n\nInworld STT and IBM Watson Speech to Text score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 54.7 (C) and 54.5 (C). IBM Watson Speech to Text leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Do IBM Watson Speech to Text and Inworld STT need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call IBM Watson Speech to Text and Inworld STT without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for IBM Watson Speech to Text. No hosted endpoint is listed for Inworld STT.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-inworld-stt.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-inworld-stt.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"ibm-watson-stt\", \"b\": \"inworld-stt\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare ibm-watson-stt inworld-stt`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ibm-watson-stt.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/inworld-stt.json\n\n## Other comparisons with IBM Watson Speech to Text or Inworld STT\n\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Amazon Transcribe vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-transcribe-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Speech-to-Text (Universal) vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-stt-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Azure AI Speech speech-to-text vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Cartesia Ink vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-ink-stt-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Deepgram Speech-to-Text (Nova-3, Flux) vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-stt-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [ElevenLabs Scribe Speech to Text API vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-scribe-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [Giggy Speech to Text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/giggy-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Giggy Speech to Text vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/giggy-stt-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Gladia Speech-to-Text API + MCP vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladia-stt-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs IBM Watson Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-ibm-watson-stt.md)\n- [Groq Speech-to-Text vs Inworld STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-speech-to-text-vs-inworld-stt.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs OpenAI Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Smallest.ai Pulse STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-smallest-pulse-stt.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)\n- [IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ibm-watson-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs MiniMax Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-minimax-stt.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs Mistral Voxtral Transcribe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-mistral-voxtral-transcribe.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs OpenAI Speech to Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-openai-speech-to-text.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs Rev AI Speech-to-Text API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-rev-ai-stt.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs Smallest.ai Pulse STT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-smallest-pulse-stt.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs Soniox Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-soniox-stt.md)\n- [Inworld STT vs Speechmatics Speech-to-Text](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-stt-vs-speechmatics-stt.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Inworld STT", "url": "" } ], "description": "Inworld STT and IBM Watson Speech to Text score within a point of each other for speech-to-text, 54.7 and 54.5 out of 100. 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