Compare / Streaming speech to text
Streaming speech-to-text: PyAI Hear vs Deepgram
An informed choice.
Supporting evidence
Understand each streaming measurement.
Compare streaming rates and billing units
Deepgram listed Nova-3 monolingual pay-as-you-go streaming at $0.0048/min and prerecorded at $0.0043/min when checked October 28, 2026. Promotional rates and plans can change. PyAI Hear streaming and recorded-audio requests use different protocols and billing rules; compare the same audio duration and current terms.
Compare first partials in context.
Lower is better. PyAI in teal. Bands show each provider’s published range.
Hear’s first partial measured about 200 ms in-region and is revisable.stable_text follows. Deepgram publishes a 150-300 ms interim band under its own conditions; these measurements are not a controlled comparison. First-partial latency is separate from batch throughput, which Hear runs at 92-247x real-time.
Turn-taking beats raw price.
On a phone call, the win is replying the instant the caller stops - not shaving a fraction of a cent. Start with Hear for transcription (~200 ms first partial, in-region), then go end-to-end with Omni (~390 ms voice-to-voice, in-region).
We don’t grade ourselves.
For an independent streaming accuracy and latency leaderboard across providers, see Artificial Analysis.
Streaming ASR leaderboardBefore you choose
Good questions. Clear answers.
Are first partials the finished transcript?
No. A first partial is revisable as more audio arrives. Compare stable text and final events separately from first-partial latency and batch throughput.
How do I test a streaming replacement?
Replay the same audio through each native streaming protocol. Check language coverage, partial revisions, final events and your application’s turn-taking behavior before moving live traffic.
Realtime transcription that keeps up.
Start free with $50 in free credits - stream partials through Hear’s native WebSocket protocol.