Is Avencera cheaper than Deepgram?

Yes. Avencera transcribes from $0.06 an hour, or $0.07 with speaker labels. At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Deepgram Nova-3 costs $25.80 against $7.00 at Avencera, 3.6× as much.

Is Avencera more accurate than Deepgram?

Avencera’s speaker labels make fewer errors than Deepgram Nova-3 on all 10 recording types in pyannoteAI’s benchmark. Averaged across them, the diarization error rate is 23.5% for Avencera and 46.1% for Nova-3. Avencera transcribes words more accurately than Deepgram on the one published test that covers both. Nova-3 scores 5.2% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.

Does Deepgram charge extra for speaker labels?

Not for recorded audio with Nova-3. Deepgram charges extra for speaker labels on streaming audio.

How do I switch from Deepgram to Avencera?

Avencera uses OpenAI’s transcription API format, so any OpenAI SDK works. Send the same audio files you send Deepgram, and map its response fields to the OpenAI-style transcript.

Deepgram alternative: Avencera vs Deepgram

At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Deepgram Nova-3 costs 3.6× as much as Avencera. Avencera’s speaker labels make fewer errors on all 10 recording types in pyannoteAI’s benchmark. Avencera transcribes words more accurately than Deepgram on the one published test that covers both.

By Praveen Perera. Prices and features checked October 23, 2026.

At a glance

Deepgram is a speech-to-text API known for its Nova models and low-latency streaming. Nova-3 includes speaker labels on recorded audio, and a yearly Growth plan lowers the hourly rate in exchange for an upfront commitment.

Feature	Avencera	Deepgram
Transcript, at 100 hours a month	$0.06 an hour	Nova-3: $0.258 an hour, Pay as you go plan (4.3×)
With speaker labels, at 100 hours a month	$0.07 an hour	Nova-3: $0.258 an hour, Pay as you go plan (3.6×)
Speaker labels	Included in the speaker transcript price	Nova-3: included
Billing	Prepaid credit, no subscription	Nova-3: Pay as you go, or Growth, billed yearly from $333.33 a month
Real-time streaming	No, recorded audio only	Yes
Languages	English with Parakeet v2, 25 European languages with v3	45+ languages for Nova models
Longest file	2 hours or 100 MB per request, 24 hours as a job	2 GB per file
Self-hosting	Open models you can run yourself	Self-hosted containers on Enterprise plans
API	OpenAI-compatible	Deepgram’s own

Price with speaker labels

Audio a month	Avencera	Deepgram Nova-3
10 hours	$0.70	$2.58 3.6×
100 hours	$7.00	$25.80 3.6×
1,000 hours	$70.00	$258.00 3.6×
10,000 hours	$700.00	$2,160.00 3.0×

See every provider at any volume on the pricing page.

Accuracy

Speaker labels

Avencera’s speaker labels make fewer errors than Deepgram Nova-3 on all 10 recording types in pyannoteAI’s benchmark. Averaged across them, the diarization error rate is 23.5% for Avencera and 46.1% for Nova-3.

Diarization error rate by recording type, lower is better

Radio interviews 12 recordings, 3 or 4 speakers

Avencera by 16.4 points

Avencera community-1: 10.4%. Deepgram Nova-3: 26.8%.
Clinical interviews 51 recordings, 2 or 3 speakers

Avencera by 21.2 points

Avencera community-1: 23.5%. Deepgram Nova-3: 44.7%.
Courtroom 12 recordings, 3 to 9 speakers

Avencera by 14.2 points

Avencera community-1: 11.6%. Deepgram Nova-3: 25.8%.
Phone calls 61 recordings, 2 speakers

Avencera by 20.6 points

Avencera community-1: 12.2%. Deepgram Nova-3: 32.8%.
Task dialogues 19 recordings, 2 speakers

Avencera by 35.8 points

Avencera community-1: 10.1%. Deepgram Nova-3: 45.9%.
Meetings 11 recordings, 3 to 6 speakers

Avencera by 23.4 points

Avencera community-1: 36.4%. Deepgram Nova-3: 59.8%.
Restaurant conversations 12 recordings, 4 to 8 speakers

Avencera by 24.2 points

Avencera community-1: 51.0%. Deepgram Nova-3: 75.2%.
Field interviews 22 recordings, 2 or 3 speakers

Avencera by 17.2 points

Avencera community-1: 18.2%. Deepgram Nova-3: 35.4%.
Lab interviews 12 recordings, 2 speakers

Avencera by 17.9 points

Avencera community-1: 14.1%. Deepgram Nova-3: 32.0%.
Web video 35 recordings, 1 to 7 speakers

Avencera by 35.1 points

Avencera community-1: 47.8%. Deepgram Nova-3: 82.9%.

Words

Avencera transcribes words more accurately than Deepgram on the one published test that covers both.

Word error rate by benchmark, lower is better

Artificial Analysis Word error rate, measured on each provider’s own API

Avencera by 0.7 points

Avencera Parakeet v3: 4.5%. Deepgram Nova-3: 5.2%.

Choose Deepgram if

You need real-time streaming. Deepgram offers it; Avencera transcribes recorded audio only.
You need more languages. Deepgram lists 45+ languages for Nova models.
You want to start free. New Deepgram accounts get $200 of free credit.
You need an API today. Avencera opens soon.

Choose Avencera if

You want the lower bill. Deepgram Nova-3 costs 3.6× as much at 100 hours a month with speaker labels.
You want better speaker labels for less. In pyannoteAI’s benchmark, Avencera’s speaker labels make fewer errors than Nova-3 on all 10 recording types, 23.5% against 46.1% on average.
You want word accuracy for less. Nova-3 scores 5.2% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.
You want prepaid credit with no subscription, no minimum and no expiry.
You don’t want a yearly commitment. Deepgram’s lower Growth rate needs one; Avencera’s rate is the same from the first hour.
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. Set speaker_labels to true for a speaker on every segment.

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/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2",
        file=audio,
        extra_body={"speaker_labels": True},
    )

Questions

Is Avencera cheaper than Deepgram?: Yes. Avencera transcribes from $0.06 an hour, or $0.07 with speaker labels. At 100 hours a month with speaker labels, Deepgram Nova-3 costs $25.80 against $7.00 at Avencera, 3.6× as much.
Is Avencera more accurate than Deepgram?: Avencera’s speaker labels make fewer errors than Deepgram Nova-3 on all 10 recording types in pyannoteAI’s benchmark. Averaged across them, the diarization error rate is 23.5% for Avencera and 46.1% for Nova-3. Avencera transcribes words more accurately than Deepgram on the one published test that covers both. Nova-3 scores 5.2% on the Artificial Analysis, against 4.5% for Parakeet v3.
Does Deepgram charge extra for speaker labels?: Not for recorded audio with Nova-3. Deepgram charges extra for speaker labels on streaming audio.
How do I switch from Deepgram to Avencera?: Avencera uses OpenAI’s transcription API format, so any OpenAI SDK works. Send the same audio files you send Deepgram, and map its response fields to the OpenAI-style transcript.