Launch

AssemblyAI launches Voice Agent API and restructures pricing into six product tabs

AssemblyAI pricing

AssemblyAI added a Voice Agent API at .50/hr (/bin/bash.075/min), broke Guardrails out as a priced family, and reorganized its pricing page into six product tabs while keeping async rates flat.

Before

Pricing page grouped async (/bin/bash.15//bin/bash.21/hr), streaming (incl. Whisper-Streaming /bin/bash.30/hr) and Speech Understanding add-ons; no standalone Voice Agent product.

After

Six product tabs: Pre-recorded STT, Realtime STT, Voice Agent (.50/hr / /bin/bash.075/min), Speech Understanding, Guardrails, LLM Gateway. Realtime swaps Whisper-Streaming for Universal-Streaming Multilingual (/bin/bash.15/hr); Medical Mode and Keyterms/Prompting add-ons added; async unchanged.

AssemblyAI reorganized its pricing page into six product tabs and shipped a standalone Voice Agent API priced at .50/hr (/bin/bash.075/min) — a proprietary end-to-end voice stack built on its Realtime Speech-to-Text API.

Base async transcription rates are unchanged (Universal-2 /bin/bash.15/hr, Universal-3.5 Pro /bin/bash.21/hr). The realtime lineup dropped Whisper-Streaming and added Universal-Streaming Multilingual (/bin/bash.15/hr) alongside Universal-3.5 Pro Realtime (/bin/bash.45/hr). Guardrails is now a distinct priced family (Profanity Filtering /bin/bash.01/hr, PII Audio Redaction /bin/bash.05/hr, PII Text Redaction /bin/bash.08/hr, Content Moderation /bin/bash.15/hr), and pre-recorded add-ons gained Medical Mode (/bin/bash.15/hr) and Keyterms Prompting / Prompting (/bin/bash.05/hr). The LLM Gateway now surfaces explicit per-model token rates (e.g. GPT-5.5 /0 per 1M, Claude 4.8 Opus /5 per 1M).

From AssemblyAI's pricing timeline
Voice Agent API launched; pricing page restructured into six product tabs

Pricing page restructured into six product tabs (Pre-recorded STT, Realtime STT, Voice Agent, Speech Understanding, Guardrails, LLM Gateway). New Voice Agent API listed at $4.50/hr ($0.075/min). Async unchanged ($0.15 Universal-2, $0.21 Universal-3.5 Pro). Realtime lineup swapped Whisper-Streaming for Universal-Streaming Multilingual ($0.15/hr) alongside Universal-3.5 Pro Realtime ($0.45/hr). Guardrails broken out as a priced family (Profanity Filtering $0.01/hr → Content Moderation $0.15/hr); Medical Mode ($0.15/hr) and Keyterms/Prompting ($0.05/hr) added as pre-recorded add-ons.

About AssemblyAI
assemblyai.com ↗

AssemblyAI operates a pure usage-based pricing model billed per hour of audio: async transcription at $0.15/hr (Universal-2) or $0.21/hr (Universal-3.5 Pro), with no seat fees, no monthly minimums, and a free tier of up to 185 hours to test before committing.

Pricing model pure usage
Billing units api callstokens
Sales motion self servesales led
Free tier
Yes
Commits
None
Transparency
public

AssemblyAI pricing history

  1. Jul 2026
    Voice Agent API launched; pricing page restructured into six product tabs
  2. May 2026
    Current Pricing (May 2026)
  3. Jan 2025
    Universal-3.5 Pro and Streaming Models Released
  4. Jan 2024
    Series C ($50M) — Universal-2 Released
  5. Nov 2023
    Universal-1 Model Released
Full AssemblyAI timeline
All pricing activity