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Velma Transcribe
‍by Modulate vs. Deepgram

A head-to-head comparison between Velma Transcribe, Modulate’s speech to text API, and Deepgram’s speech recognition API.

Get Started with Free Credits

Why Teams Choose Velma Transcribe Over Deepgram

Accuracy Without Multi-Week Tuning

Gets accuracy right from the start. No need for weeks of tuning to get reliable results. Built on 500 million+ hours of real-world conversations, it just works.

Costs 90% Less with Simple Pricing

Save up to 90% over competitors. Simple usage-based pricing and 1,500 hours+ in free credits. You’ll know exactly what you’re paying for – no tricky conversions or unexpected fees.

Clean Output for Downstream AI

Engineered to provide better output for your downstream AI tools. By focusing on natural speech and not just clean text, you can expect better summaries, analytics, and more.

Stable Performance Across Long Conversations

Handles long conversations like meetings or conversations with multiple speakers without compromising accuracy.

Transcription Benchmark (Accuracy vs. Price)
Average Word Error Rate (WER) across Earnings-22 and VoxPopuli datasets
Lowest WER, lowest cost
Cost per 1000 minutes of audio
Avg. Word Error Rate
modulate-velma-2
scribe-v2
gemini-2.5-pro
universal
speechmatics-enhanced
solaria-1
gpt-4o-transcribe
chirp-2
speechmatics-standard
whisper-large-v3
nova-3
8
9
10
11
12 %
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
$9
0

Velma Transcribe by
Modulate vs. Deepgram:
The Breakdown

Features
Velma Transcribe by Modulate
Deepgram
Winner
Core Focus
Conversation optimized speech to text
Speech recognition API
Velma Transcribe
Target Market
Contact centers, CX, voice agents, meetings, gaming voice, delivery & logistics
Contact centers, healthcare, voice agents
Tie
Primary Use Cases
Real world conversation transcription, noisy audio, multi speaker meetings
General STT, domain tuned transcription
Velma Transcribe
Pricing
Costs 90% less than Deepgram. Starts at 2.5¢ per hour, with flat usage rates and cost optimized for scale
Credit-based system
Velma Transcribe
Free Credits
1,500+ hours in free credits
$200 in credits
Velma Transcribe
Deployment Model
Cloud API
Cloud, VPC, on-premises options
Deepgram
Out-of-the-Box Performance
Immediate API integration, no tuning cycles
May require domain tuning, model configuration, and keyterm prompting
Velma Transcribe
Real-Time Streaming
Yes
Yes
Tie
Batch Transcription
Yes
Yes
Tie
Training Data Focus
500 million+ hours of real-world conversational audio
General ASR + domain tuning
Velma Transcribe
Word-Error Rate on AMI Meeting Corpus Benchmark
14.9% WER
About 28% WER (Nova-2 model)
Velma Transcribe
Cross-Talk and Interruptions Handling
Optimized for multi-speaker overlap
Strong but optimized for cleaner segmentation
Velma Transcribe
Diarization
Yes
Yes
Tie
Supported Transcription Languages
50+
45+
Velma Transcribe
Custom Vocabulary
No
Weight adjustment towards specified keywords
Deepgram
Language Translation
No
No native translation
Tie
Confidence Scores
Yes
Yes
Tie
Latency Optimization
Sub-second streaming
Sub-200 ms streaming
Tie
Accuracy on Long Recordings (1+ hour calls)
Stable accuracy across long sessions
Performance may require tuning or segmentation
Velma Transcribe
Downstream AI Error Sensitivity
Designed to minimize nuance loss in transcripts
Text-based post-processing
Velma Transcribe
Data Encryption
Enterprise-grade encryption at rest and in transit
AES 256 at rest, TLS in transit
Tie
Access Controls
ISO 27001-aligned controls
RBAC with 2FA
Velma Transcribe

10x Lower Cost Than the Competition

Explore Cost Comparison Tool

Here’s What This
Means for You

Better accuracy where it counts

Accuracy is essential for transcription, which is why Velma gets context right with a 14.9% word error rate on the AMI Meeting Corpus, which contains real-world multi-speaker meeting data. Trained on over500 million hours of real-world conversations, Velma easily handles complex scenarios like side conversations, interruptions, raised voices, and much more. Velma still delivers clean results, even on low-quality audio.

Fewer hoops, less waiting.

Forget lengthy initialization processes and complex fine-tuning. Start transcribing your audio with the Velma Transcribe API right away, with no need for custom prompts or fine-tuning for improved accuracy. Not having to wait around for transcription results allows your team to stay focused on what matters.

90% less cost at scale.

Costs 90% less than Deepgram. With Velma’s transparent pay-as-you-go pricing model, you can easily track your per-hour transcription costs and budget accordingly. Forget about estimating vague pricing tiers or converting credits. All you need to worry about is transcribing more audio.

Consistent accuracy for lengthy conversations.

Velma maintains high accuracy over lengthy conversations, making it perfect for contact center speech or meeting transcripts you may need for compliance. Better yet, having accurate transcripts creates a reliable base for summaries, insights, and compliance verification. You’ll know your insights are dependable starting on step one.‍

Clean transcripts = clean insights.

Clean transcripts are essential for anything you want to do after the fact. Whether you’re looking to create conversation summaries, run analytics, or search for compliance, poor transcriptions can derail your efforts. Velma picks up on every detail to improve your transcripts and downstream results.

Make Your Voice Stack Smarter at the Source

Upgrade your voice stack with Velma Transcribe today without having to overhaul your entire system. Make an API call, upload your audio file, and Velma will send you neatly formatted transcripts with timestamps, a conversation layout, and confidence scores. Integrates easily with your existing stack to help you power up your transcripts and the insights you can gather from them.

Try Velma Transcribe Free
Explore the Velma Intelligence Engine

Features Built for
Production Voice Systems

If your team needs accurate voice data on a daily basis, Velma Transcribe is the tool for contact centers, risk and operations, and engineering teams who need accurate transcripts that just work.

Live & Batch Transcription Available

Enjoy live transcription as well as the ability to transcribe previously recorded audio files (aka batch transcription). Streaming concerts? Batch processing an extensive library of audio files? Velma’s got you covered. Send audio to Velma and receive lightning fast streaming as well as reliable batch output via one API.

Accuracy That Sounds Natural

Transcripts that match how people actually talk. Velma understands natural conversation because it’s been trained on over 500 million hours of it. Speak quickly, interrupt each other, talk over someone or have background noise– Velma can handle it.

Accuracy That Lasts

Ever get worried when transcribing long calls that accuracy will degrade over time? Velma’s designed to deliver consistent accuracy regardless of call length. Say goodbye to error propagation.

High-Quality Output

Velma’s output includes timestamps, formatting and confidence scores at the word level. Velma’s built-in quality gives your transcripts structure that can easily integrate into your QA/compliance workflows.

Easy to Start

Integration starts with just one API call. Upload your audio and immediately start receiving structured transcripts without modifying your current workflow.

Security You Can Trust

Velma offers encryption in transit and at rest, as well as operational controls that are ISO 27001 compliant. Add live transcription to your application and rest easy.

Quickly Get to “Done

Don’t spend weeks tuning for the best accuracy. Access Velma Transcribe via API and start transcribing with minimal effort and engineering cycles.

What You Gain with Velma Transcribe

Real conversations, real results. Trained on over 500 million hours of conversational speech, Velma achieves 14.9percent Word Error Rate on the AMI Meeting Corpus benchmark and transcribes effectively in many real world scenarios.

No complex configuration or keyword tuning required to achieve strong performance out of the box.

Robust transcription, even on calls that go longer than one hour.

Handles difficult audio with ease. Speaker overlaps, interruptions? No problem. Improve your transcripts to poweryour analysis and compliance.

Clear, predictable pricing so you can scale with confidence.

Build on Transcription You Can Trust

Speed isn’t the only thing that matters when it comes to transcription. Cutting corners on small details can hurt the quality of your transcript.

That’s why Velma Transcribe is built to get it right. We deliver transcripts that better reflect the conversation, whether it’s coming from customer service, meetings, gaming, or anything in between. Make an API call, upload your audio, and receive clean transcripts you can count on.

Try Velma Transcribe Free

Get started with Velma Transcribe now.

Get immediate access to the API with up to 400 hours in free credits