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Soniox vs AssemblyAI
for Vietnamese speech-to-text

Higher accuracy, real-time fluency, and two-way translation for Vietnamese at lower cost.

Developers choose Soniox for real-time fluency in Vietnamese

Vietnamese is spoken by 95 million people worldwide — primarily in Vietnam, with speakers around the world. For developers, delivering accurate, real-time transcription and translation in Vietnamese is critical. Soniox provides production-ready transcription and two-way translation for Vietnamese, handling regional accents, code-switching, and messy real-world audio.

AssemblyAI is known for simple-to-use APIs, but when it comes to Vietnamese transcription, Soniox outperforms with higher accuracy in real-world audio, true real-time streaming with token-level output in milliseconds, and global coverage with built-in translation across 60+ languages (including Vietnamese) in one API.

Cleaner transcripts

Soniox delivers 5.4% WER in Vietnamese vs 12.1% for AssemblyAI, meaning more accurate Vietnamese transcripts with less cleanup.

One API for 60+ languages

Transcribe and translate Vietnamese and 60+ other languages in real time or async, without stitching multiple APIs.

Streaming that feels instant

Token-level results in milliseconds make Vietnamese conversations fast, fluid, and human.

Helping startups and enterprises ship real world voice apps

Samsung
Deliver Health
Avodah
Mobius
Scribe
Agora

See the difference for yourself

Don't just take our word for it. Run the same Vietnamese audio through Soniox and AssemblyAI in real time and compare live results, side by side.

This demo isn't pre-recorded. It makes real API calls to AssemblyAI and Soniox in real time, with each service tuned for its best performance. The framework is open source, so you can inspect or run it yourself.

SONIOX VS ASSEMBLYAI AT A GLANCE

The benchmarks back it up

In a 2025 study across 60 languages and real-world YouTube audio, Soniox reached 5.4% WER in Vietnamese vs 12.1% for AssemblyAI.

View the full benchmark report

It just gets the words right — any language, any accent, any context. That’s what accuracy is supposed to look like.

Tony Wang,
Cofounder & Chief Revenue Officer at Agora

Built for accuracy, speed, and scale

Accuracy you can trust in production.

Soniox consistently delivers top results for Vietnamese, with a 5.4% WER in Vietnamese vs 12.1% for AssemblyAI. That means cleaner transcripts, less post-editing, and apps you can actually trust in production.

AssemblyAI lags behind in accuracy, especially as audio gets more complex.

Global ready in one API.

Soniox includes transcription and two-way translation for Vietnamese and 60+ languages, plus speaker detection, timestamps, and diarization – all in one API.

AssemblyAI only handles transcription, forcing developers to chain extra services for translation or multilingual coverage.

Speech-to-text with zero delay.

Soniox streams token-by-token in milliseconds, so Vietnamese conversations feel live and human.

AssemblyAI processes in chunks, creating noticeable delays that break the flow of live apps.

Designed for messy, real-world conversations.

Soniox handles real-world speech: speaker changes, interruptions, code-switching, and multilingual shifts in Vietnamese.

AssemblyAI doesn't support real-time translation, diarization, or multilingual detection, leaving you to patch it together.

Pay up to 3x less than AssemblyAI

With Soniox, transcription, streaming, translation, diarization, timestamps, and confidence are all included in one price. AssemblyAI charges more for their flagship Universal models, while their lower-cost Nano models come with tradeoffs in accuracy.

Effective hourly cost

(typical speech)

Soniox

~$0.10/hour (async)
~$0.12/hour (streaming)

AssemblyAI

~$0.27 (universal async), ~$0.15/hr (streaming), ~$0.12/hr (nano async)

100 hours
1,000 hours
10,000 hours
Soniox (async)
~$10
~$100
~$1,000
Soniox (streaming)
~$12
~$120
~$1,200
AssemblyAI (nano)
~$12
~$120
~$1,200
AssemblyAI (universal)
~$27
~$170
~$1,700
AssemblyAI (streaming)
~$15
~$150
~$1,500

Takeaway

Soniox costs up to 3x less than AssemblyAI, while including translation and richer real-time features out of the box. AssemblyAI's cheaper models cut accuracy, while Soniox includes full accuracy and features at one flat rate.


  • Soniox bills per token, which works out to the effective hourly rates above for typical conversational speech.
  • AssemblyAI pricing varies by model. Nano is cheaper but sacrifices accuracy; Universal is higher accuracy but more expensive.
  • All comparisons use publicly listed rates as of 2025.

Fluent at any speed

Watch Soniox keep up with fast speech in any language

Chinese to English in real time with SONIOX

Chinese to English in real time with SONIOX

Very fast speaking Spanish translated in real time in English with SONIOX!

Very fast speaking Spanish translated in real time in English with SONIOX!

Real time translation from Japanese to English

Real time translation from Japanese to English

Real-Time Translation Demo | From German to English with SONIOX

Real-Time Translation Demo | From German to English with SONIOX

French speech to Text | Leslie Talks About Monster eating a Cake

French speech to Text | Leslie Talks About Monster eating a Cake

Russian to English with SONIOX

Russian to English with SONIOX

Speaking Super Fast in Italian – Soniox still translated every word into English

Speaking Super Fast in Italian – Soniox still translated every word into English

Korean to English in real time with SONIOX

Korean to English in real time with SONIOX

Real-Time from Slovenian to English with SONIOX

Real-Time from Slovenian to English with SONIOX

Valeria Juri Reads Ukrainian Poem “Мовчати” | Live English Translation by Soniox

Valeria Juri Reads Ukrainian Poem “Мовчати” | Live English Translation by Soniox

Frequently asked questions about Soniox vs AssemblyAI


1.How accurate is AssemblyAI in Vietnamese compared to Soniox?arrow_downward
In 2025 benchmarks, AssemblyAI had an 12.1% WER on Vietnamese speech, versus 5.4% for Soniox. Expect even greater gains in Vietnamese, especially with messy, real-world audio.

2.Does AssemblyAI support Vietnamese translation?arrow_downward
No. AssemblyAI only provides transcription. If you need translation, you'll have to integrate a separate service. Soniox includes two-way real-time translation across 60+ languages in the same API.

3.How fast is AssemblyAI's streaming?arrow_downward
AssemblyAI streams in chunks, which can add noticeable lag in Vietnamese conversations. Soniox streams token-by-token in milliseconds, so conversations feel natural and responsive.

4.What about multilingual or messy audio?arrow_downward
AssemblyAI is built for transcription only. It doesn't support automatic language identification, speaker diarization, or endpoint detection in real time. Soniox includes all of these by default, so it works better in real-world, multilingual conversations.

5.How does AssemblyAI pricing compare to Soniox?arrow_downward
AssemblyAI's lower-end models are roughly similar in price, but Universal costs nearly 3× more. Soniox stays flat at ~$0.10–0.12/hr with all features included.

6.Why is Soniox more cost-efficient?arrow_downward
With Soniox, all features are included by default – transcription, translation, diarization, timestamps, and confidence. AssemblyAI charges more for Universal models while still only offering transcription, meaning you'd need additional services to match Soniox's end-to-end coverage.

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