Speechmatics vs Gladia
Agent-native side-by-side. Scores are curated estimates on a 0–10 scale. Lock-in: higher = worse. Prefer JTBD picks via /api/decide when choosing for a job.
| Dimension | Speechmatics | Gladia |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 8.2 | 7.9 |
| Capability fit | 9.0 | 8.2 |
| Price / performance | 7.2 | 7.8 |
| Latency / reliability | 8.8 | 8.0 |
| Developer & agent DX | 7.8 | 8.2 |
| Privacy / data retention | 8.8 | 8.8 |
| Lock-in risk (higher = worse) | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Maturity / track record | 9.0 | 7.2 |
| Pricing | As of 2026-09-14 (speechmatics.com/pricing): $100 free credit, no card. Pro PAYG (50 concurrent realtime, 10 file jobs/s); Enterprise volume/on-prem/custom. Enhanced vs Standard vs Melia-1 (multilingual code-switch) mode… | As of 2026-09-14 (support.gladia.io help article as fetched then): Starter PAYG async $0.61/hr, realtime $0.75/hr (30 RT / 25 async concurrent). Growth commit from $0.20/hr async / $0.25/hr realtime (up to 67% off). Diar… |
| Tagline | Depot pick for multilingual/production STT beyond English-first stacks. Deepgram remains default $/min… | EU multilingual STT with a now-pinned official $/hr card. Speechmatics remains Depot multilingual pick… |
Speechmatics
Depot pick for multilingual/production STT beyond English-first stacks. Deepgram remains default $/min English agent STT; Gladia for EU code-switch API peer. Strengths: 55+ languages + code-switching Melia; Strong accuracy reputation; On-prem/privacy deployments.
Strengths
- 55+ languages + code-switching Melia
- Strong accuracy reputation
- On-prem/privacy deployments
Weaknesses
- Full $/hr matrix less obvious than Deepgram
- Training discount trades privacy
- TTS still early (EN-first)
Gladia
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. Strengths: EU-native multilingual STT; Code-switching + diarization; Agent/audio intellige
Strengths
- EU-native multilingual STT
- Code-switching + diarization
- Agent/audio intelligence add-ons
Weaknesses
- Price card on https://www.gladia.io/pricing is in EUR only (fetched 2026-10-25, HTTP 200 to plain curl: 'Starts at 0.16€ /hour' async, 'Starts at 0.68€ /hour' real-time); no $/hr rate on the page, so Depot's USD figures stay as of 2026-09-14
- Smaller than Deepgram/Speechmatics
- Less telephony agent product
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