Gladia
Gladia: Speech-to-text API with Solaria models, 100+ languages, priced per hour of audio. Skip the setup: WhipScribe transcribes it in your browser. Packs: $4 for 500 minutes, $12 for 2,000, $24 for 5,000; Workspace $19 a month. Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file. Measured turnaround: about 2 minutes per audio hour. 99 languages. Checked 25 Oct 2026.
Don’t want to wire up the Gladia API? Drop the file here.
Every recording starts with a free preview of its opening minutes. Credits never expire.
Gladia is a speech-to-text API with pre-recorded and real-time endpoints, the Solaria-1 and Solaria-3 models and 100+ languages. Prices below are as gladia.io showed them on 26 Oct 2026.
How much does the Gladia API cost?
Gladia prices in euros, per hour of audio. These are the self-serve rates on its pricing page.
The self-serve plan trains models on your data by default, with an opt-out; Enterprise has no model training by default.
Worked example: 100 hours of recordings is about €27 on Solaria-1 or €16 on Solaria-3, before the free credits. On WhipScribe the same 6,000 minutes are the $24 pack (5,000 minutes) plus the $12 pack (2,000), $36 once, or Workspace at $19 for a month up to 150 hours. Per hour, Gladia's API is the cheaper engine; WhipScribe is a finished product with a transcript page, summary, chat and exports, and needs no code.
| Plan | Price | Concurrency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-serve, async, Solaria-3 | €0.16 an hour (€0.0027 a minute) | 25 requests | Cheapest async option on the page |
| Self-serve, async, Solaria-1 | €0.27 an hour (€0.0045 a minute) | 25 requests | |
| Self-serve, real-time | From €0.68 an hour | 30 requests | No model named for real-time |
| Free credits | €50, valid one year | About 312 h async on Solaria-3, 185 h on Solaria-1, or 73 h real-time, per Gladia | |
| Enterprise | Custom, annual | Unlimited | Custom models, fine-tuning, zero data retention, SLAs |
Sources:
- gladia.io/pricing, fetched 26 Oct 2026
- whipscribe.com/pricing, fetched 26 Oct 2026
Gladia API key: where it goes
Create a key from the Get your API key link in Gladia's Developers menu, then send it as a header.
Send a pre-recorded job with your key in the x-gladia-key header and the file address in audio_url.
curl -X POST https://api.gladia.io/v2/pre-recorded \ -H 'x-gladia-key: YOUR_KEY' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d '{"audio_url": "https://example.com/interview.mp3"}'Poll the job the response points to until the transcript is ready.
Sources:
- Gladia API reference · POST /v2/pre-recorded, fetched 26 Oct 2026
- gladia.io/pricing, fetched 26 Oct 2026
Gladia is a speech-to-text API with two surfaces: POST https://api.gladia.io/v2/pre-recorded for batch jobs (send an audio_url) and a real-time endpoint for streaming, both authenticated with the x-gladia-key header. Its models are named Solaria-1 and Solaria-3; the pricing page lists 100+ languages, speaker diarization and custom vocabulary.
Self-serve pricing on gladia.io, read 26 Oct 2026: async from €0.16 an hour on Solaria-3 and €0.27 an hour on Solaria-1, real-time from €0.68 an hour. New accounts get €50 in free credits, valid for one year. Enterprise is an annual plan with custom models, zero data retention and unlimited concurrency.
What it is
Gladia wraps Whisper-class models in a developer-friendly API with diarization, 99 languages, and competitive per-minute pricing. A reasonable alternative to self-hosting faster-whisper when you want someone else to operate the GPUs. Last price check: 2026-04-20.
Watch out for: Smaller ecosystem than AssemblyAI/Deepgram; HIPAA on enterprise tiers only.
Install / use
Where Gladia fits · 6 use-cases
Gladia's strengths cluster around multilingual accuracy, low-latency partials, and an EU compliance posture that most US-headquartered APIs can't match. Pick the card closest to your build — each links to the canonical docs section.
Initiate a live session with POST /v2/live, then stream PCM over the returned WebSocket. Partials arrive in roughly 100 ms, which is the latency budget conversational agents need before turn-taking feels broken. Audio-to-LLM lets a single request return both the transcript and a structured LLM response.
Sub-300 ms final · ~100 ms partials
Batch agent + customer recordings through POST /v2/pre-recorded with diarization on, optional speaker count, PII redaction, sentiment, and summarization in one call. SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 are in scope on paid plans.
Single request returns transcript + speakers + summary
Solaria-1 covers 100+ languages under a single model id and handles mid-utterance switches without re-routing. Gladia's own benchmark calls out 42 languages that competing API vendors don't publish coverage for at all — useful when your inputs aren't English-first.
Detect + transcribe + code-switch in one pass
Send the episode URL or upload bytes, ask for diarization, paragraphs, SRT/VTT subtitles, and a summary in one POST. The audio-to-LLM feature can replace a separate summarization vendor for show-notes and chapter generation.
Publishable transcript + chapters in one call
Enterprise plans offer contractual EU-only data residency, zero retention, GDPR plus HIPAA plus SOC 2 Type II plus ISO 27001, and a no-training-on-customer-audio clause. This is the differentiator most US-headquartered APIs cannot match without a separate enterprise paper trail.
Zero retention available on request
Open the WebSocket returned from /v2/live and push PCM chunks; interim transcripts arrive with word-level timestamps for caption overlays, live-event accessibility, and broadcast workflows. A single live session is capped at three hours per the docs.
Word-level timestamps inline
Quickstart · pick a runtime
Three working ways to call Gladia. Export your key as GLADIA_API_KEY first — grab one from the Gladia console (10 free hours per month on Starter, no card required).
Two-step POST + poll against /v2/pre-recorded · transcribe any HTTPS audio URL with Solaria-1.
# pip install requests
import os, time, requests
API = "https://api.gladia.io/v2"
KEY = os.environ["GLADIA_API_KEY"]
HDR = {"x-gladia-key": KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json"}
# 1. submit
body = {
"audio_url": "https://files.gladia.io/example/audio-transcription/split_infinity.wav",
"diarization": True,
"subtitles": True,
"subtitles_config": {"formats": ["srt"]},
}
r = requests.post(f"{API}/pre-recorded", json=body, headers=HDR).json()
result_url = r["result_url"]
# 2. poll
while True:
res = requests.get(result_url, headers={"x-gladia-key": KEY}).json()
if res["status"] == "done":
print(res["result"]["transcription"]["full_transcript"])
break
if res["status"] == "error":
raise RuntimeError(res)
time.sleep(2)Plain HTTPS POST to /v2/pre-recorded · useful for shell pipelines and edge runtimes.
# submit a job
curl --request POST \
--url 'https://api.gladia.io/v2/pre-recorded' \
--header "x-gladia-key: $GLADIA_API_KEY" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"audio_url": "https://files.gladia.io/example/audio-transcription/split_infinity.wav",
"diarization": true,
"subtitles": true,
"subtitles_config": {"formats": ["srt"]}
}'
# response includes { id, result_url }
# poll until status=done
curl --request GET \
--url "$RESULT_URL" \
--header "x-gladia-key: $GLADIA_API_KEY"Init the live session with POST /v2/live, then stream PCM to the returned wss:// URL.
// npm i ws node-fetch
import fetch from "node-fetch";
import WebSocket from "ws";
const KEY = process.env.GLADIA_API_KEY;
// 1. init session
const init = await fetch("https://api.gladia.io/v2/live", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"x-gladia-key": KEY,
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
encoding: "wav/pcm",
sample_rate: 16000,
bit_depth: 16,
channels: 1,
}),
}).then((r) => r.json());
// 2. open the WebSocket
const ws = new WebSocket(init.url);
ws.on("open", () => {
// send 16 kHz / 16-bit PCM frames here
});
ws.on("message", (msg) => {
const evt = JSON.parse(msg.toString());
if (evt.type === "transcript" && evt.data?.is_final) {
console.log(evt.data.utterance.text);
}
});What people actually do with Gladia-style transcription
The tool is the means. These are the jobs — each one priced at published rates, each one wired up on its own page.
Features
| Speaker diarization | Yes |
| Word-level timestamps | Yes |
| Streaming / real-time | Yes |
| Languages supported | 99 |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
Links
- gladia.io ↗Product homepage — EU-based STT API positioning, Solaria-1 model, voice-agent and contact-center use cases.
- docs.gladia.io ↗Documentation root — quickstarts for pre-recorded, real-time, and audio-intelligence feature surfaces.
- API reference · pre-recorded ↗POST /v2/pre-recorded — request schema for diarization, subtitles, summarization, audio-to-LLM, plus the result-poll endpoint.
- API reference · live ↗POST /v2/live — init payload (encoding, sample rate, channels) and the wss URL pattern returned for the audio stream.
- Solaria-1 model page ↗Model card — 100+ language coverage, ~100 ms partials, accuracy claims on EN/ES/FR/IT benchmarks, code-switching.
- gladia.io/pricing ↗Current Starter, Growth, and Enterprise tiers — async, real-time, free-hour allowance, and zero-retention options.
- status.gladia.io ↗Live uptime for the Application, Pre-Recorded, and Real-Time components — subscribe via email or RSS.
- gladia.io/blog ↗Product blog — recent posts cover audio-to-LLM in a single POST, summarization, and Solaria-1 release notes.
Gladia vs Whipscribe
| Feature | Gladia | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Transcription APIs | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | Not verified | $4–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · free preview of the opening minutes |
| Speaker identification | Not verified | Named in the summary, key quotes and chapters |
| Word timestamps | Not verified | Yes |
| Streaming | Not verified | No |
| Languages | 99 | 99 |
| Platforms | API | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to Gladia
OpenAI's hosted speech-to-text: whisper-1 at $0.006 a minute until it is removed on 26 Feb 2027.
Universal-2 model + diarization, PII redaction, topic detection, summarization.
Nova-2 model, excellent streaming, strong at conversational audio.
Frequently asked about Gladia
How much does the Gladia API cost?
On 26 Oct 2026 gladia.io listed self-serve async transcription from €0.16 an hour on Solaria-3 and €0.27 an hour on Solaria-1, and real-time from €0.68 an hour. New accounts get €50 of free credits valid for a year.
What is Gladia Solaria-1?
Solaria-1 is one of the two speech-to-text models Gladia prices on its pricing page, at €0.27 an hour for async jobs. Solaria-3 is the cheaper async option at €0.16 an hour.
How do I use a Gladia API key?
Send it in the x-gladia-key header. For a recorded file, POST to https://api.gladia.io/v2/pre-recorded with the file's address in audio_url.
What platforms does Gladia support?
Gladia is an API — you call it from whatever you build, on any platform with an HTTP client.
How do I get started with Gladia?
Gladia is used through its API: get a key from the vendor, then call it from your own code. There is no desktop app to install.
How many languages does Gladia support?
Gladia lists 99 languages. That is the Whisper-family multilingual set, so quality varies by language — English and the large European languages are strongest.
What are the limitations of Gladia?
Smaller ecosystem than AssemblyAI/Deepgram; HIPAA on enterprise tiers only.
Who is Gladia best for?
Teams who like the Whisper model family but don't want to run GPUs.
What should I know before choosing Gladia?
Self-serve pricing on gladia.io, read 26 Oct 2026: async from €0.16 an hour on Solaria-3 and €0.27 an hour on Solaria-1, real-time from €0.68 an hour. New accounts get €50 in free credits, valid for one year. Enterprise is an annual plan with custom models, zero data retention and unlimited concurrency.
Is Gladia open source?
No. Gladia is a proprietary API. If you need source you can read and run yourself, the open-source tools in this directory are the place to look.
What kind of tool is Gladia?
In this directory Gladia is filed under commercial api as a API.
What are the alternatives to Gladia?
There is a side-by-side page at /tools/gladia-alternatives comparing Gladia with the closest tools in the same category on price, platform and features.
Are there setup recipes for Gladia?
Yes — this page carries 3 tested setups: Python · pre-recorded URL; cURL · no SDK; Node · real-time WebSocket.
How is Whipscribe different from Gladia?
Gladia is another vendor's product; Whipscribe is a per-minute transcription service. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training, and every job returns five formats plus an AI summary, quotes and topics. Every recording starts with a free preview of its opening minutes, and a pack from $4 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export.
What does transcription cost if I use Whipscribe instead of Gladia?
$0.008 a minute — about $0.48 an audio hour — bought as credits that never expire. There is no subscription and no monthly minimum: a 3-hour recording is about $1.44, a thousand-hour archive is about $480 once. Every recording starts with a free preview of its opening minutes, and a pack from $4 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export, so you can see what your recording holds before paying anything.
Whipscribe is a hosted transcription service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.
Transcribe your recordings
Using Gladia today? Send your next recording here and compare the transcript. Transcribe any language, any recording · Transcription services from $0.29 an hour · Transcribe from any meeting or recording platform · How to transcribe, step by step
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Related
- Want the response shape without an API key? Audio to JSON returns segments and word-level timestamps.
- Transcription API pricing per minute: what an hour costs on each pack.
- Need German recordings in English? Translate German audio to English.
- Building an internal tool on a transcription API? Retool transcription integration.
Have the recording already?
Skip the setup and send the file or the link: see transcribing a long MP3 or M4A, transcribing a podcast episode and the SRT file generator.
Comparing tools before you pay?
If you would rather pay a service than run software yourself: see our transcription service with prices and turnaround.