{"jtbdId":"production-stt","categoryId":null,"sort":"overall","minConfidence":"low","region":null,"asOf":"2026-10-19","freshness":{"scoreAsOfMin":"2026-09-14","scoreAsOfMax":"2026-10-19","contractAsOf":"2026-10-03","note":"asOf values come from each row's scores.asOf. They are not a live price or latency pull."},"rankContract":{"style":"editorial_weighted","notAnElo":true,"notComparableTo":["lmarena_elo","artificial_analysis_intelligence_index","openrouter_throughput_p50"],"sortMeans":"Higher catalog score first within this JTBD or category. Not cross-category comparable."},"priceSort":{"available":true,"param":"sort=price","direction":"ascending_cheapest_sourced_input_first","coverage":{"considered":6,"withSourcedInputTokenPrice":1,"excludedFromPriceSort":5,"label":"1 of 6 candidates have a matching speech_to_text price; 5 candidates excluded from sort=price. min sourced speech-to-text SKU among candidates; usd_per_minute only; not a chat $/1M rate; not quality-adjusted"}},"unavailableFilters":[{"name":"throughput","reason":"No measured tokens/sec in this catalog. Do not invent TTFT."},{"name":"context_length","reason":"No structured context-window field yet. See research/gaps.md."}],"scoring":{"scale":"0-10","lockInRisk":"higher = more lock-in / worse; overall uses 10-lockInRisk","formula":"JTBD reweight using production-stt weights; jtbdScores overrides win"},"results":[{"rank":1,"providerId":"deepgram","slug":"deepgram","name":"Deepgram","tagline":"Default STT and strong voice-agent platform. Standard Flux TTS / Voice Agent rates live since 2026-09-15…","status":"active","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen","cat-inference-apis"],"regions":["global","us"],"overall":8.5,"scores":{"capabilityFit":8.8,"pricePerformance":8.8,"latencyReliability":8.6,"developerDx":8.6,"privacyPosture":8.2,"lockInRisk":4,"maturity":9,"overall":8.5,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-10-19","sources":["Deepgram pricing: https://deepgram.com/pricing","Deepgram: https://deepgram.com","Deepgram docs: https://developers.deepgram.com"],"notes":"Default STT and strong voice-agent platform. Standard Flux TTS / Voice Agent rates live since 2026-09-15 (confirmed 2026-09-22). Budget Voice Agent at $0.075/min Standard. Pair ElevenLabs/Cartesia if you need premium TTS voices."},"isDepotPick":true,"isRunnerUp":false,"sourcedInputUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"priceSort":{"skuKind":"speech_to_text","unit":"usd_per_minute","amountUsd":0.0043,"skuId":"deepgram-nova-3-mono-prerecorded","sku":"Nova-3 Monolingual pre-recorded speech-to-text","comparison":"min sourced speech-to-text SKU among candidates; usd_per_minute only; not a chat $/1M rate; not quality-adjusted","usdPerMillionInputTokens":null}},{"rank":2,"providerId":"speechmatics","slug":"speechmatics","name":"Speechmatics","tagline":"Depot pick for multilingual/production STT beyond English-first stacks. Deepgram remains default $/min…","status":"active","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen","cat-inference-apis"],"regions":["global","eu","us"],"overall":8.24,"scores":{"capabilityFit":9,"pricePerformance":7.2,"latencyReliability":8.8,"developerDx":7.8,"privacyPosture":8.8,"lockInRisk":4,"maturity":9,"overall":8.24,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14","sources":["Speechmatics pricing: https://www.speechmatics.com/pricing","Speechmatics: https://www.speechmatics.com"],"notes":"Depot pick for multilingual/production STT beyond English-first stacks. Deepgram remains default $/min English agent STT; Gladia for EU code-switch API peer."},"isDepotPick":false,"isRunnerUp":true,"sourcedInputUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"priceSort":{"skuKind":"speech_to_text","unit":null,"amountUsd":null,"skuId":null,"sku":null,"comparison":"min sourced speech-to-text SKU among candidates; usd_per_minute only; not a chat $/1M rate; not quality-adjusted","usdPerMillionInputTokens":null}},{"rank":3,"providerId":"openai-media","slug":"openai-media","name":"OpenAI Media (Images/Audio)","tagline":"Convenient if you're already on OpenAI. For best image variety/cost, keep Fal in the toolkit.","status":"active","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen","cat-inference-apis"],"regions":["global","us"],"overall":8.15,"scores":{"capabilityFit":8.8,"pricePerformance":7.2,"latencyReliability":8.8,"developerDx":9.2,"privacyPosture":7.8,"lockInRisk":7,"maturity":9.6,"overall":8.15,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14","sources":["OpenAI Images: https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/images","OpenAI Audio: https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/audio"],"notes":"Convenient if you're already on OpenAI. For best image variety/cost, keep Fal in the toolkit."},"isDepotPick":false,"isRunnerUp":true,"sourcedInputUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"priceSort":{"skuKind":"speech_to_text","unit":null,"amountUsd":null,"skuId":null,"sku":null,"comparison":"min sourced speech-to-text SKU among candidates; usd_per_minute only; not a chat $/1M rate; not quality-adjusted","usdPerMillionInputTokens":null}},{"rank":4,"providerId":"assemblyai","slug":"assemblyai","name":"AssemblyAI","tagline":"Great when you need STT + audio intelligence features. Deepgram usually wins raw $/min STT.","status":"active","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen","cat-inference-apis"],"regions":["global","us"],"overall":8.11,"scores":{"capabilityFit":8.6,"pricePerformance":7.2,"latencyReliability":8.4,"developerDx":8.8,"privacyPosture":8,"lockInRisk":4.2,"maturity":8.8,"overall":8.11,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14","sources":["AssemblyAI pricing: https://www.assemblyai.com/pricing","AssemblyAI docs billing: https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/billing-and-pricing","Voice agent API comparison: https://www.assemblyai.com/blog/best-voice-agent-api"],"notes":"Great when you need STT + audio intelligence features. Deepgram usually wins raw $/min STT."},"isDepotPick":false,"isRunnerUp":true,"sourcedInputUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"priceSort":{"skuKind":"speech_to_text","unit":null,"amountUsd":null,"skuId":null,"sku":null,"comparison":"min sourced speech-to-text SKU among candidates; usd_per_minute only; not a chat $/1M rate; not quality-adjusted","usdPerMillionInputTokens":null}},{"rank":5,"providerId":"gladia","slug":"gladia","name":"Gladia","tagline":"EU multilingual STT with a now-pinned official $/hr card. Speechmatics remains Depot multilingual pick…","status":"active","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen","cat-inference-apis"],"regions":["eu","global"],"overall":7.94,"scores":{"capabilityFit":8.2,"pricePerformance":7.8,"latencyReliability":8,"developerDx":8.2,"privacyPosture":8.8,"lockInRisk":3.5,"maturity":7.2,"overall":7.94,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14","sources":["Gladia transcription pricing (help center): https://support.gladia.io/article/understanding-our-transcription-pricing-pv1atikh8y9c8sw7sudm3rcy","Gladia pricing: https://www.gladia.io/pricing","Gladia changelog (credit billing): https://www.gladia.io/changelog"],"notes":"EU multilingual STT with a now-pinned official $/hr card. Speechmatics remains Depot multilingual pick (breadth/on-prem); Deepgram English agent default; Gladia when you want EU residency + code-switch at published Starter rates."},"isDepotPick":false,"isRunnerUp":true,"sourcedInputUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"priceSort":{"skuKind":"speech_to_text","unit":null,"amountUsd":null,"skuId":null,"sku":null,"comparison":"min sourced speech-to-text SKU among candidates; usd_per_minute only; not a chat $/1M rate; not quality-adjusted","usdPerMillionInputTokens":null}},{"rank":6,"providerId":"cartesia","slug":"cartesia","name":"Cartesia","tagline":"Top pick for realtime low-latency voice agents. ElevenLabs for voice library breadth.","status":"active","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen"],"regions":["global","us"],"overall":7.81,"scores":{"capabilityFit":8.4,"pricePerformance":8,"latencyReliability":7.8,"developerDx":8.4,"privacyPosture":7.5,"lockInRisk":4.5,"maturity":7,"overall":7.81,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14","sources":["Cartesia pricing: https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing","Cartesia: https://cartesia.ai","Cartesia docs: https://docs.cartesia.ai"],"notes":"Top pick for realtime low-latency voice agents. ElevenLabs for voice library breadth."},"isDepotPick":false,"isRunnerUp":true,"sourcedInputUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"priceSort":{"skuKind":"speech_to_text","unit":null,"amountUsd":null,"skuId":null,"sku":null,"comparison":"min sourced speech-to-text SKU among candidates; usd_per_minute only; not a chat $/1M rate; not quality-adjusted","usdPerMillionInputTokens":null}}],"quote":"/api/quote?jtbd=production-stt","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","jtbd":"production-stt","jtbdAssumed":false,"assumptionNote":null,"defaultJtbd":"coding-agent","crossCategory":false,"note":"JTBD-scoped board for production-stt"}