Gladia vs AssemblyAI
Gladia is a European alternative to AssemblyAI: same ai & machine learning use case, headquartered in France and governed by EU GDPR, while AssemblyAI is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Speech-to-text API with sub-300ms real-time latency, 100+ languages, code-switching and built-in audio intelligence for voice products.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
Developers pick this speech-to-text API for the accuracy of its Universal models and docs that get transcription working in an afternoon. You pay per use, from roughly 15 cents per hour of audio, with 50 dollars of one-time credit rather than a recurring free tier. AssemblyAI, Inc. is based in San Francisco, so every uploaded recording sits under US law.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Gladia vs AssemblyAI at a glance
| Gladia | AssemblyAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | France | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need ai & machine learning built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the AssemblyAI ecosystem |
Choose Gladia if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You want to start free and scale up later
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with AssemblyAI if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the AssemblyAI ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Gladia
Gladia is a French speech-to-text API built for product teams, transcribing audio in 100+ languages with real-time latency under 300 milliseconds. Its Solaria model family delivers word error rates competitive with the best US engines, with code-switching support for conversations that jump between languages mid-sentence, a real condition in European markets.
Beyond raw transcription, the API enriches audio into structured data: speaker diarization, sentiment analysis and entity recognition ship built in. Native integrations with LiveKit, Pipecat, Twilio and Retell make it a drop-in speech layer for voice agents, meeting assistants and call platforms, in batch or streaming mode.
Key benefits:
- Real-time transcription with latency under 300ms for live voice products
- 100+ languages with code-switching for multilingual conversations
- Audio intelligence including diarization, sentiment and entity recognition
- Voice-agent ready with LiveKit, Pipecat, Twilio and Retell integrations
- Free tier of 10 hours of audio per month, no credit card required
- EU data residency options for compliance-sensitive workloads
Gladia is a French SAS registered near Rennes, France, and publishes GDPR, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA compliance on its site, with explicit EU data residency. European voice products get US-grade accuracy without routing customer audio through US infrastructure.
Ideal for developers building meeting tools, voice agents and call analytics who need multilingual accuracy under EU jurisdiction.
Why choose Gladia over AssemblyAI?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. AssemblyAI is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Gladia removes that overhead. As a France-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.