ElevenLabs vs. AssemblyAI

Learn why teams choose AssemblyAI over ElevenLabs Scribe v2 for production transcription:

Natural language prompting up to 1,500 words
Unlimited multichannel with simultaneous diarization
PII redaction in both text and audio
Usage-based pricing with no contracts or minimums

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Universal-3.5 Pro

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At a glance: ElevenLabs vs. AssemblyAI

Model

AssemblyAI Universal-3.5 Pro

ElevenLabs Scribe v2

Word Accuracy Rate (English)

94.1%

93.5%

Word Error Rate (English)

5.9%

6.5%

Base Transcription Price

$0.21/hr

$0.22/hr

Natural Language Prompting

Up to 1,500 words

Keyterms only (100 max)

Speaker Diarization

Up to 100 speakers

Up to 48 speakers

Multichannel Support

Unlimited channels + diarization simultaneously

Up to 5 channels, cannot combine with diarization

PII Audio Redaction

—

Concurrency Model

Separate pools per product

Shared account-wide

Keyterm Prompting Price

+$0.05/hr

+$0.07/hr

Go beyond ElevenLabs' limits with AssemblyAI's full transcription infrastructure

Unlimited Multichannel + Diarization

Process unlimited audio channels with simultaneous speaker diarization—no artificial caps or trade-offs between features.

Natural Language Prompting

Guide transcription behavior with up to 1,500 words of natural language prompts and 1,000 keyterms, including multi-word phrases.

PII Text & Audio Redaction

Redact sensitive information from both the transcript and the audio file itself, with redacted MP3/WAV output. Sign a BAA for PHI workflows.

Isolated Concurrency Pools

Separate concurrency pools per product mean your transcription workloads never compete with other services—predictable scale at production volume.

Usage-Based Pricing

Pay only for what you use with transparent per-second billing. No minimum commitments, annual contracts, or surprise infrastructure costs.

Up to 100 Speakers

Detect and label up to 100 unique speakers per file—more than double ElevenLabs Scribe v2's 48-speaker limit.

99+ Language Support

Transcribe over 99 languages with automatic language detection, including Global English and all of its accents.

Proven Reliability and Security

Deploy with confidence on infrastructure that processes millions of hours daily. Built for production scale with 99.9% uptime and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance.

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Get your free API key and ship your first transcript in minutes—no commitments or minimums.

Ready to outgrow ElevenLabs Scribe?

Switch to better prompting control, unlimited multichannel, and usage-based pricing—with no contracts or spend minimums.

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Playground

We're not playing around—but you can

Test our best-in-class speech-to-text and voice agent models in our no-code playground.

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Frequently asked questions

: AssemblyAI Universal-3.5 Pro offers more advanced transcription control than ElevenLabs Scribe v2—including natural language prompting up to 1,500 words, support for up to 100 speakers, unlimited multichannel processing with simultaneous diarization, and PII audio redaction. AssemblyAI also uses separate concurrency pools per product so transcription workloads never compete with other services.
: Yes. AssemblyAI supports up to 100 speakers per file for diarization, compared to ElevenLabs Scribe v2's limit of 48 speakers. AssemblyAI also lets you combine multichannel processing and diarization simultaneously, which Scribe v2 does not support.
: AssemblyAI supports up to 1,500 words of natural language prompting plus 1,000 keyterms (including multi-word phrases), giving you fine-grained control over transcription behavior. ElevenLabs Scribe v2 supports only up to 100 keyterms with no natural language prompts.
: Yes. AssemblyAI redacts PII from both the transcript text and the audio file itself, outputting a redacted MP3 or WAV. ElevenLabs Scribe v2 only supports text redaction.
: AssemblyAI Universal-3.5 Pro starts at $0.21/hr for base transcription versus $0.22/hr for Scribe v2. Add-on pricing is also competitive: keyterm prompting is $0.05/hr vs. $0.07/hr. AssemblyAI uses usage-based billing with no contracts or spend minimums.