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AssemblyAI vs Microsoft Azure Speech Service comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AssemblyAI
Ranking in Speech-To-Text Services
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Speech Service
Ranking in Speech-To-Text Services
2nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Text-To-Speech Services (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Speech-To-Text Services category, the mindshare of AssemblyAI is 6.4%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Speech Service is 15.0%, down from 23.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Speech-To-Text Services Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure Speech Service15.0%
AssemblyAI6.4%
Other78.6%
Speech-To-Text Services
 

Featured Reviews

Shrimanta Satpati - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Automated multilingual call transcription has transformed accuracy and reduced manual effort
The best features AssemblyAI offers are its blazing fast transcribing skills and accurate results. It also has the capability of diarization, as well as transcribing in multiple different languages, both in foreign and Indic languages. I particularly value the accurate transcription of the language that the user provides as input and getting the best output without any kind of noise or silence. Automatic silence removal and voice activity detection are the best features of AssemblyAI that I appreciate in my daily use. The outputs are really accurate. AssemblyAI already cares for the overall grammar, syntax, and the different nuances of the particular speakers. I believe the accuracy part has improved significantly from the previous versions that were available and should continue to improve further to become the best product in the market. There was a saving of about 40 to 50% in transcription of audio analytics calls because previously, it was all done by humans, which could take days of effort and cost. This has significantly reduced to a great amount. We tested with Deepgram and AWS transcription service that is already available in the market, and then we switched over to AssemblyAI.
Abhishek-Rana - PeerSpot reviewer
Student at Graphic Era Hill University
Offers ease of use and the availability of documentation is great
The simplicity impressed me the most. We just needed a single API key. The documentation was also great. I developed the AI application using Unity, a game engine that uses C#. Then, I searched online for instructions on how to use it. I found Microsoft's GitHub repository, which provided the necessary code for integrating the Speech Service into Unity with C#. The ease of use and the availability of documentation made the process smooth and impressed me the most. The documentation and boilerplate code [a template of code] was available, which I incorporated into my application with modifications. Initially, the code functioned so that when a button was clicked, the microphone would activate and recognize my speech. One of the benefits was the ability to see my spoken words visually on the screen as I spoke. For example, if I said "I am Abhishek Rana," I could see the sentence appear in real-time. When I stopped speaking, it automatically recognized the silence and ceased, sending the text for further processing. So, the real-time translation feature has helped me a lot.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The primary benefit I receive from their product is much more accurate transcription; first, it is a very affordable service, and second, the accuracy is much better compared to other services such as Deepgram or AWS transcription services, which are the main benefits."
"The best features AssemblyAI offers are transcription and real-time transcriptions, and the speed of real-time transcription stands out to me because it's 20 to 40% faster than the industry benchmark, so speed is definitely one of the pros of AssemblyAI."
"I would suggest others to go for AssemblyAI because it is the best in the market in terms of accuracy, outputs, and the different languages that it caters to and transcribes."
"After shifting to AssemblyAI, the biggest two points we experienced were that the speed of our software increased and our costing of the API reduced."
"If you are using it for English transcription and your primary goal consists of only English audios, then I recommend it because it is affordable, performs better than alternatives, and has been available for a long time, so customer support should also be good."
"The documentation and boilerplate code [a template of code] was available."
"Useful text-to-speech and speech-to-text features."
"Overall, in my opinion, the transcription service is rated as ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"However, when I try to handle Hindi plus English or Hinglish audios where there is code switching between English and Hindi, then it falls apart significantly."
"AssemblyAI should respond more quickly because when I post a ticket, they take too much time to respond to it."
"I think the documentation could be improved a bit because it is a little difficult to follow for the first-time user."
"AssemblyAI should definitely cater to multiple different languages of the world as well as in India."
"AssemblyAI could be improved because when we have different accents on the same call, it usually fails, especially when we have American, Asian, and Latin American speakers on the same call, making the transcriptions a bit noisy."
"Lacks a voice recording option."
"It can improve based on the native language."
"The product is limited when it comes to integrating with different platforms and using many other APIs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
31%
Wholesaler/Distributor
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with AssemblyAI?
AssemblyAI could be improved because when we have different accents on the same call, it usually fails, especially when we have American, Asian, and Latin American speakers on the same call, making...
What is your primary use case for AssemblyAI?
My main use case for AssemblyAI is meeting and interview transcriptions. We are a culture operating system, so we track organization culture. Our bot joins the meetings of employees, and we convert...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Speech Service?
The product is included and does not incur any additional costs. Pricing information is not available at the moment.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Speech Service?
The product is limited when it comes to integrating with different platforms and using many other APIs. The marketplace is very limited and it's difficult to implement solutions in it. Enhancing fe...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Azure Speech Service?
I use Microsoft Azure Speech Service ( /products/microsoft-azure-speech-service-reviews ) for communication between different countries. It facilitates communication via emails, documents, and temp...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure Speech Service, MS Azure Speech Service
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
KPMG
Find out what your peers are saying about AssemblyAI vs. Microsoft Azure Speech Service and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.