Twilio Media Streams + Partner ASR
Twilio's media-streaming primitive piped to partner ASR vendors.
Twilio's media-streaming primitive piped to partner ASR vendors.
Best for builders wanting Twilio Voice with their own choice of ASR vendor in real time. Pricing: Twilio Voice + chosen ASR vendor.
What it is
Twilio Media Streams is a TwiML primitive that streams a call's audio (mono/dual channel) over WebSocket to a developer's server, which can then pipe the audio to any ASR vendor (Deepgram, AssemblyAI, Google, etc.) for real-time transcription. Distinct from Twilio Voice Intelligence; this row covers the BYO-ASR architecture pattern. Best fit: builders wanting twilio voice with their own choice of asr vendor in real time. Caveats: you bring your own asr provider and code the relay; not turnkey. Pricing as listed: Twilio Voice + chosen ASR vendor. Feature flags from vendor docs: word-level timestamps, streaming, HIPAA-eligible under BAA. Directory tags: voice-intel, telephony. Last vendor-page check: 2026-05-12.
Watch out for: You bring your own ASR provider and code the relay; not turnkey.
Install / use
Twilio TwiML <Start><Stream> to partner endpointFeatures
| Speaker diarization | No |
| Word-level timestamps | Yes |
| Streaming / real-time | Yes |
| Languages supported | None |
| HIPAA eligible | Yes |
Twilio Media Streams + Partner ASR vs Whipscribe
| Feature | Twilio Media Streams + Partner ASR | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Products | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | Twilio Voice + chosen ASR vendor | free beta |
| Speaker diarization | — | Yes |
| Word timestamps | Yes | Yes |
| Streaming | Yes | No |
| Languages | — | 99 |
| Platforms | API | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to Twilio Media Streams + Partner ASR
Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX 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.