Free Speech-to-Text APIs
Seven verified free speech-to-text APIs - Deepgram, Speechmatics, AssemblyAI, Gladia, Groq Whisper and more - with credit size, card rules, and the catch.
Most free speech-to-text APIs are a one-time signup credit, not a monthly allowance: Deepgram gives $200, Speechmatics $100, AssemblyAI $50 and Gladia €50, none of them with a card. They differ on what happens next - Deepgram’s and Sarvam AI’s credits never expire, Speechmatics pauses the account at zero, and the others do not state an expiry. Groq is the exception: a standing rate-limited free plan that serves Whisper models. Speechmatics covers batch and real-time transcription in 55+ languages, Gladia quotes about 80 hours pre-recorded or 60 hours real-time, and AssemblyAI caps free streaming at 5 new streams a minute. For voice output, see the free ElevenLabs alternatives; everything audio lives in the free AI audio tools hub.
| Option | What is free | Card | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deepgram Free $200 Credit | $200 in free credits for Deepgram speech-to-text and TTS, no card | no card | Catch: Credit is tied to the Pay As You Go plan; billing switches to pay-as-you-go once the $200 credit is spent. |
| Speechmatics $100 Free Credit | $100 in Speechmatics speech-to-text and TTS credit, no card, valid 12 months | no card | Catch: The $100 sign-up credit lasts 12 months and service pauses once it reaches zero; adding a card switches the account to pay-as-you-go. |
| AssemblyAI Free Credits | $50 in free credits for speech-to-text, streaming, and voice agent APIs | no card | Catch: Free tier caps streaming at 5 new streams per minute (vs 100/min paid), and LLM Gateway usage is not covered by the credits; the credits do not expire. |
| Gladia Free Credits | One-time €50 speech-to-text credit, valid one year, up to ~312 hours | no card | Catch: One-time credit that expires one year after signup, with no monthly reset; once used you must top up or upgrade to continue. |
| Groq Free Tier | Free rate-limited Groq API access to hosted open models, no card | no card | Catch: Rate limits apply at the organization level and are tight (e.g. 30 RPM and 1K RPD on many models); the docs caution limits may change and exceptions exist. |
| Scaleway Generative APIs Free Tier | 1M free tokens and 60 minutes of transcription on Scaleway APIs | no card | Catch: Free Tier applies to your most expensive tokens first; once exceeded, per-token billing starts with a 1,000-token minimum billing unit. |
| Sarvam AI Free API Credits | ₹100 in free Sarvam AI credits across speech, translation, and LLM APIs | no card | Catch: Rate limits are enforced per account across all keys (60 req/min for most APIs on Starter), and the credits are denominated in INR. |
The 7 options, in detail
Deepgram Free $200 Credit
$200 in free credits for Deepgram speech-to-text and TTS, no card
- Applies to the Pay As You Go plan
- No expiration on the credit
- No minimums
- Moves to pay-as-you-go billing after the credit is used
Catch: Credit is tied to the Pay As You Go plan; billing switches to pay-as-you-go once the $200 credit is spent.
Speechmatics $100 Free Credit
$100 in Speechmatics speech-to-text and TTS credit, no card, valid 12 months
- $100 sign-up credit lasts 12 months
- 2 concurrent real-time sessions on the Free tier
- Service pauses when the credit balance reaches zero
- 1 credit = $1; card only needed to continue on pay-as-you-go
Catch: The $100 sign-up credit lasts 12 months and service pauses once it reaches zero; adding a card switches the account to pay-as-you-go.
AssemblyAI Free Credits
$50 in free credits for speech-to-text, streaming, and voice agent APIs
- Free-tier streaming concurrency: 5 new streams per minute
- Free-tier accounts may default to different models than paid accounts
- Credits cover Pre-recorded STT, Real-time STT, Voice Agent API, Speech Understanding and Guardrails; LLM Gateway is not included
- Credits do not expire
Catch: Free tier caps streaming at 5 new streams per minute (vs 100/min paid), and LLM Gateway usage is not covered by the credits; the credits do not expire.
Gladia Free Credits
One-time €50 speech-to-text credit, valid one year, up to ~312 hours
- One-time 50 EUR credit at signup, valid for one year, no monthly reset
- Roughly 312 h async on Solaria-3, 185 h on Solaria-1 or 73 h real-time at current rates
- 25 concurrent async and 30 concurrent real-time requests on Self-serve
- Top up or upgrade once the credit is used
Catch: One-time credit that expires one year after signup, with no monthly reset; once used you must top up or upgrade to continue.
Groq Free Tier
Free rate-limited Groq API access to hosted open models, no card
- Per-organization limits tracked as RPM, RPD, TPM, TPD
- openai/gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b: 30 RPM / 1K RPD / 8K TPM / 200K TPD
- qwen/qwen3.8-27b: 30 RPM / 1K RPD / 8K TPM / 200K TPD
- whisper-large-v3 and turbo: 20 RPM / 2K RPD, 7.2K audio sec/hour, 28.8K audio sec/day
Catch: Rate limits apply at the organization level and are tight (e.g. 30 RPM and 1K RPD on many models); the docs caution limits may change and exceptions exist.
Scaleway Generative APIs Free Tier
1M free tokens and 60 minutes of transcription on Scaleway APIs
- 1,000,000 free tokens (Serverless, token-billed models)
- 60 minutes free audio transcription
- Free quota split proportionally across projects by consumption
- Minimum billing unit of 1,000 tokens after the quota
Catch: Free Tier applies to your most expensive tokens first; once exceeded, per-token billing starts with a 1,000-token minimum billing unit.
Sarvam AI Free API Credits
₹100 in free Sarvam AI credits across speech, translation, and LLM APIs
- INR 100 one-time signup credits
- Credits never expire and work across all Sarvam APIs
- Starter: 60 req/min for speech-to-text (REST), translation and text services
- Sarvam-105B limited to 40 req/min on Starter
Catch: Rate limits are enforced per account across all keys (60 req/min for most APIs on Starter), and the credits are denominated in INR.
Free forever by self-hosting
Open-source projects that do the same job on your own hardware, with no quota.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a free Whisper API?
- We have not verified a free tier for OpenAI’s own Whisper API, so it is not listed. Groq’s free plan serves whisper-large-v3 and whisper-large-v3-turbo at 20 requests a minute and up to 28,800 audio seconds (8 hours) a day, and Scaleway’s free tier includes 60 minutes of whisper-large-v3 transcription.
- Which free speech-to-text credit is the biggest?
- Deepgram: $200 in credit for speech-to-text, text-to-speech and voice agent APIs. Speechmatics gives $100, AssemblyAI $50, and Gladia a one-time €50, which it estimates at roughly 80 hours of pre-recorded audio.
- Which free STT credit lasts longest?
- Deepgram’s $200 and Sarvam AI’s ₹100 are both stated to never expire. Speechmatics, AssemblyAI and Gladia do not state an expiration date; Speechmatics pauses service once the balance reaches zero. Groq is a rate-limited plan rather than a credit, so it does not run out.
- Do I need a credit card for these free speech-to-text APIs?
- No. None of the seven compared here requires a card to claim the free credit or plan. Deepgram moves to pay-as-you-go billing after the credit is used, and adding a card at Speechmatics switches the account to pay-as-you-go.
- Which free speech-to-text API supports real-time streaming?
- Speechmatics includes real-time transcription with 2 concurrent sessions on the free tier, AssemblyAI allows 5 new streams a minute, and Gladia’s credit covers about 60 hours of real-time transcription. Deepgram’s Flux model handles streaming.
Step-by-step guides
- How to Get a Free Groq API Key
- Free OpenAI API Access in 2026: What's Actually Free
- Free Text-to-Speech APIs in 2026
- Free Speech-to-Text APIs in 2026
- Free DeepSeek API in 2026: What Is Actually Free
- Free Hugging Face Inference: Credits, ZeroGPU and Spaces
- Free AI APIs With No Credit Card in 2026
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