Deepgram vs ElevenLabs

Tagline

Scalable Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech & Voice Agent APIs with simple, transparent billing.

Ultra-realistic AI voice generation and cloning

Category

Pricing

Rating

Platforms

API

Open source

Description

Deepgram is a developer-first Voice AI platform offering highly accurate, scalable Speech-to-Text (STT), Text-to-Speech (TTS), and Voice Agent APIs. Built for real-time and batch workflows, Deepgram supports over 45 languages, advanced features like Speaker Diarization, Smart Formatting, and Audio Intelligence models, combined with true per-second billing and enterprise-grade security.

ElevenLabs offers state-of-the-art text-to-speech, dubbing, and voice cloning in 30+ languages.

Key features

• Speech-to-Text
• Text-to-Speech
• Voice Agent API
• Speaker Diarization
• Smart Formatting
• Keyterm Prompting
• Automatic Language Detection
• Sentiment Analysis
• Topic Detection
• Summarization
• Intent Recognition
• Redaction

• Emotion controls
• Multi-language

Pros

• Provides a generous $200 free credit to new accounts that does not expire after 12 months.
• Employs true per-second billing without rounding up to the nearest minute or 15 seconds.
• Charges the exact same low rate for both real-time streaming and pre-recorded (batch) transcription.
• SOC 2 Type 2 certified and HIPAA compliant, with BAAs available for Enterprise customers.
• Provides options to deploy on-premise or in private clouds via self-hosted containers.
• Offers a Growth plan starting at $4k/year that unlocks up to approximately 20% discount across products.
• Aura TTS Billing is done by input character, facilitating precise cost controls.
• Supports automatic multilingual transcription and code-switching via Nova's multilingual models.
• Allows refunds on unused purchased credits within 30 days of purchase.

• State-of-the-art voice quality
• 30+ languages
• Instant and Professional voice cloning
• Multilingual dubbing
• Developer API
• Sound-effect generation
• Speech-to-speech
• Free tier available

Cons

• Self-hosted container deployments are restricted to Enterprise tier and require dedicated NVIDIA GPUs.
• Promotional or free credits are completely non-transferable under all circumstances.
• Purchased credits are non-refundable once they pass the 30-day mark.
• No refunds or adjustments are provided for incorrect or faulty audio files uploaded due to user-side system/coding errors.
• Exceeding currency limits on Pay-As-You-Go plans may cause requests to be queued or rejected.
• Multichannel audio billing scales by total processed duration (e.g., 2 channels for 10 minutes equals 20 minutes of billable time).

• Voice cloning raises ethical concerns
• Character-based pricing
• Watermark on free tier
• Cloning needs quality samples
• Emotion artifacts on edge cases
• No native lip-sync tool
• Limited real-time streaming
• Advanced features gated to paid

Pricing plans

• Pay As You Go—
  • • Free $200 Credit then pay-as-you-go
  • • No minimums
  • • No expiration
  • • No credit card required
• GrowthUSD4000/year
  • • $4K+/ year
  • • With pre-paid credits for the year
  • • Credits are redeemed against actual usage
  • • Growth usage rates shown for STT, TTS, Voice Agent API, and Audio Intelligence
• Enterprise—
  • • For businesses with large volumes
  • • For data or deployment requirements
  • • For support needs
  • • Enterprise-grade trust and compliance options

• FreeUSD0/month
  • • Text to Speech
  • • Speech to Text
  • • Sound Effects
  • • Voice Design
• StarterUSD6/month
  • • Everything in Free, plus
  • • Commercial License
  • • Instant Voice Cloning
  • • Dubbing Studio
• CreatorUSD22/month
  • • Everything in Starter, plus
  • • Professional Voice Cloning
  • • Additional Credits
• ProUSD99/month
  • • Everything in Creator, plus
  • • 44.1kHz PCM audio output via API
  • • 192kbps quality audio
• ScaleUSD299/month
  • • Everything in Pro, plus
  • • 3 Workspace seats
  • • Team Collaboration
  • • 3 Professional Voice Clones
• BusinessUSD990/month
  • • Everything in Scale, plus
  • • Low-latency TTS as low as 5c/minute
  • • 10 Professional Voice Clones
  • • 10 Workspace seats
• Enterprise—
  • • Everything in Business, plus
  • • Custom terms & assurance around DPA/SLAs
  • • Custom SSO
  • • Significant discounts at scale
• Flash / Turbo—
  • • Ultra-low latency (~75ms)
  • • 32 languages supported
  • • 40,000 character limit
• Multilingual v2 / v3—
  • • Low latency (~250-300ms)
  • • High quality voice generation
  • • 32 languages supported
  • • 40,000 character limit
• Scribe v2—
  • • Over 98% transcription accuracy
  • • Keyterm prompting
  • • 90+ languages supported
  • • Dynamic audio tagging
• Scribe v2 Realtime—
  • • Low latency (~150ms)
  • • 90+ languages supported
  • • Precise word-level timestamps
  • • Realtime transcription
• Speech Engine—
  • • Add voice to your chat agent
  • • Get leading models in a single pipeline
  • • Optimized for conversations
  • • Expressive voices in 70+ languages
• Music—
  • • 5 minute duration limit
  • • Commercial use licensing on Starter+ plans
  • • 44.1kHz, 128-192kbps audio
• Voice Isolator—
  • • Removes ambient sounds, reverb, and interference
  • • WAV, MP3, FLAC, OGG and AAC audio inputs
  • • Files up to 500MB/1 hour long
• Voice Changer—
  • • Fast real-time processing
  • • 10,000+ human-like voices
  • • 70+ languages supported
• Sound Effects—
  • • Generate custom sound effects
  • • Royalty-free
  • • MP3 (44.1kHz) or WAV (48kHz) output
• Dubbing v1—
  • • Automatic speaker detection
  • • 29 languages supported
  • • MP3, MP4, WAV, and MOV formats
• CreatorUSD11/month
  • • Most popular
  • • First month 50% off
  • • Cancel anytime
• FreeUSD0/month
  • • Workflow Builder
  • • Knowledge Base
  • • Multilingual
  • • Widget
• StarterUSD6/month
  • • Everything in Free, plus
  • • Text messages
  • • Commercial License
• CreatorUSD22/month
  • • Everything in Starter, plus
  • • Additional Minutes
• ProUSD99/month
  • • Everything in Creator, plus
• ScaleUSD299/month
  • • Everything in Pro, plus
  • • 3 Workspace Seats
• BusinessUSD990/month
  • • Everything in Scale, plus
  • • 10 Workspace seats
  • • 10 Professional Voice Clones
• Enterprise—
  • • Everything in Business, plus
  • • Custom terms & assurance around DPA/SLAs
  • • Custom SSO
  • • Significant discounts at scale

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