IBM Watson Speech to Text vs Soniox Speech-to-Text

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.

Soniox Speech-to-Text 75

Read on the model lines the other Soniox listings use (recency 30, dated releases 10, notice 10, support 15, issues 10, SDKs 15, health 10), where the 1 October note used the tool lines. stt-rt-v6 and stt-async-v6 released on 3 November 2026, with Python SDK 2.11.0 (agent text input on RealtimeSTTConfig) and soniox-js v2026.11.03 ("Feat/v6 support") the same day (30). Since 6 August, the releases that touch STT code are Python 2.9.0 (11 August, async STT and files), 2.10.0 (2 October, realtime STT authentication), 2.11.0, soniox-js v2026.10.12 (12 October, realtime STT authentication) and v2026.11.03, plus the v6 model entry (10). For notice, the v5 models are removed on 15 December 2026, 42 days after the notice, with requests routed to v6, and WebSocket api_key authentication ends on 15 January 2027 with a migration guide; v4 had 14 days (5). A community and support page, with no reply times read (5). SDK issues unread, github.com 403 (3). Current Python and Node SDKs (15). soniox-js runs CI (.github/workflows/ci.yml), the Python repository has tests and uv.lock but no CI workflow (7). 30+10+5+5+3+15+7 = 75.

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.

Soniox Speech-to-Text 77

Instatus page at status.soniox.com with per-region components and a paged history (20). Minor incidents only since 6 August, with 70 minutes of failed API key creation in the console on 24 August, failed new WebSocket connections to stt-rt.eu.soniox.com between 12:50 and 13:03 UTC on 25 August (existing connections unaffected), and 45 minutes of real-time overload in the Japan region on 8 September ("some customers", partial). October and November have no notices (20). Limits published with numbers, 100 requests a minute, 10 concurrent streams, a connection limit derived from them and a fixed 300-minute stream cap (15). The errors reference documents limit_exceeded as HTTP 429 on REST and the STT WebSocket with what to do for each limit, "retry with exponential backoff" for 503 service_unavailable, and resubmitting failed async jobs, which aren't auto-retried. No idempotency key, so safe-retry guidance without one (12), as soniox-tts. No SLA found (0). stt-rt-v6 and stt-async-v6 are active and the v5 models deprecated, with no preview label (10). 20+20+15+12+0+10 = 77.

IBM Watson Speech to Text 55

No public OpenAPI or other machine-readable definition was found (0). No llms.txt (0). The reference says which parameters each model family supports and the docs cover each feature (15 of 20). Typed parameters with defaults, ranges and enums (13 of 15). curl and SDK examples on every method, and errors with error, code, code_description and warnings, with invalid arguments reported as warnings (12 of 15). Versioned /v1 paths and dated release notes back to 2015 (15). Total 55.

Soniox Speech-to-Text 85

docs.soniox.com/openapi.yaml, OpenAPI 3.1.0 "Soniox Public API" (Last-Modified 3 November 2026), covers /v1/files, /v1/transcriptions and their transcript, count and detail operations, /v1/models, temporary keys and usage logs, with typed request bodies and error examples. No AsyncAPI file for the WebSocket (25). llms.txt with Markdown pages (10). Guides state purpose and say when to use the real-time or async API (15). Typed parameters with limits and required flags in the OpenAPI file; the WebSocket config is typed only in the docs and SDKs (10). Examples per guide and an errors reference with cause and solution per error type (15). Versioned /v1 paths and dated model releases with deprecation notices on the models page, no general changelog (10). 25+10+15+10+15+10 = 85.

IBM Watson Speech to Text 40

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-minute Plus prices published in the docs without a login (20). The Lite plan gives 500 free minutes a month, and no page read says a card is needed (20). A person creates an IBM Cloud account and service instance in a browser (0). Total 40.

Soniox Speech-to-Text 20

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Token prices published without a login, with Soniox's own per-hour estimates (20). No free credits for new sign-ups since 2025-10-27 (0). A person signs up in a browser (0).

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.

Soniox Speech-to-Text 87

Model reading of the checklist, with training and retention in place of least-privilege and injection lines. "Every API key in a project has a list of permissions": real-time STT, async STT and Files with Read and Write levels, model listing, usage and temporary keys, with permission_denied for anything else, and temporary keys that are restricted and expire. Keys go in the WebSocket handshake rather than the URL (30). Customer audio and transcripts are never used for training, per the 1 October check (20). Audio and transcripts aren't retained by default, and async files and transcripts auto-delete after 30 days or on a delete call, per the 1 October check (15). Per-request usage logs with request IDs, duration, tokens and cost (10). SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and the Python SDK's SECURITY.md gives a disclosure route with no acknowledgement time, as soniox-tts. No security.txt (404) and no bug bounty (12). 30+20+15+10+12 = 87.