Gladia alternative: Avencera vs Gladia
At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Gladia Solaria-3 costs 2.0× as much as Avencera. Across 3 published results, Avencera is level on 2 and behind on 1.
At a glance
Gladia is a Paris-based speech-to-text API. Its Solaria-3 model includes speaker labels on async jobs, covers 100+ languages and bills in euros, with lower rates at higher monthly volumes.
| Feature | Avencera | Gladia |
|---|---|---|
| Transcript, at 100 hours a month | $0.06 an hour | Solaria-3: $0.168 an hour (2.7×) |
| With speaker labels, at 100 hours a month | $0.08 an hour | Solaria-3: $0.168 an hour (2.0×) |
| Speaker labels | Included in the speaker transcript price | Solaria-3: included |
| Billing | Prepaid credit, no subscription | Solaria-3: pay as you go, cheaper rate at higher monthly volumes |
| Real-time streaming | No, recorded audio only | Yes |
| Languages | English with Parakeet v2, 25 European languages with v3 | 100+ languages |
| Longest file | 24 hours of audio per request | 135 minutes per file |
| Self-hosting | Open models you can run yourself | Custom hosting on Enterprise plans |
| API | OpenAI-compatible | Gladia’s own |
Multiples in brackets compare with Avencera’s cheapest offer at the same volume.
Price with speaker labels
| Audio a month | Avencera | Gladia Solaria-3 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 hours | $0.80 | $1.79 2.2× |
| 100 hours | $8.00 | $16.79 2.0× |
| 1,000 hours | $80.00 | $156.70 1.9× |
| 10,000 hours | $800.00 | $1,343.16 1.6× |
Monthly list prices for recorded audio with speaker labels, before free credit, discounts or contracts. Each plan uses whichever of its options costs least at that volume. See every provider at any volume on the pricing page.
Accuracy
Across 3 published results, Avencera is level on 2 and behind on 1.
| Benchmark | Avencera | Gladia | Lower error |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open ASR Leaderboard, English Average word error rate over 11 English test sets | 6.02% Parakeet v2 | 5.99% Solaria-3 | Level |
| Open ASR Leaderboard, earnings calls Word error rate on the Earnings-22 set | 5.85% Parakeet v3 | 5.94% Solaria-3 | Level |
| Artificial Analysis Word error rate, measured on each provider’s own API | 4.5% Parakeet v3 | 3.2% Solaria-3 | Gladia |
Lower is better, and results within 0.1 points count as level. The Open ASR Leaderboard tests the open Parakeet weights that Avencera runs. Artificial Analysis tests Parakeet v3 as hosted by Together AI. These results don’t test the Avencera API itself, which opens soon.
Which to choose
Choose Gladia if
- Accuracy matters most. Solaria-3 scores 3.2% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.
- You need real-time streaming. Gladia offers it; Avencera transcribes recorded audio only.
- You need more languages. Gladia lists 100+ languages.
- You want to start free. Gladia gives new accounts €50 of free credit, valid for a year.
- You need an API today. Avencera opens soon.
Choose Avencera if
- You want the lower bill. Gladia Solaria-3 costs 2.0× as much at 100 hours a month with speaker labels.
- You want prepaid credit with no subscription, no minimum and no expiry.
- Your audio stays yours. Avencera deletes it once the transcript is ready and never trains on it.
Switching to Avencera
Avencera serves OpenAI’s transcription API, so the official OpenAI SDKs work with a new base URL and model name.
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.avencera.com/v1", api_key="YOUR_AVENCERA_KEY")
with open("meeting.mp3", "rb") as audio:
transcript = client.audio.transcriptions.create(
model="avencera/speaker-transcript-v2",
file=audio,
)Questions
- Is Avencera cheaper than Gladia?
- Yes. Avencera transcribes from $0.06 an hour, or $0.08 with speaker labels. At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Gladia Solaria-3 costs $16.79 against $8.00 at Avencera, 2.0× as much.
- Is Avencera more accurate than Gladia?
- Across 3 published results, Avencera is level on 2 and behind on 1. Solaria-3 scores 5.99% on the Open ASR Leaderboard, English, against 6.02% for Parakeet v2. Solaria-3 scores 5.94% on the Open ASR Leaderboard, earnings calls, against 5.85% for Parakeet v3. Solaria-3 scores 3.2% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.
- Can Gladia transcribe a recording longer than two hours?
- Not in one request on standard plans: Gladia accepts files up to 135 minutes. Avencera takes up to 24 hours of audio in one request.
- How do I switch from Gladia to Avencera?
- Avencera uses OpenAI’s transcription API format, so any OpenAI SDK works. Send the same audio files you send Gladia, and map its response fields to the OpenAI-style transcript.
Sources
- Gladia pricing
- Gladia supported formats and limits
- Hugging Face Open ASR Leaderboard
- Artificial Analysis speech-to-text
Vendor prices and features from each vendor’s own pages, checked October 23, 2026. Euro prices are converted at $1.119. Benchmark results as of October 21, 2026 for the Hugging Face Open ASR Leaderboard and October 23, 2026 for the Artificial Analysis speech-to-text.
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