Cohere vs Deepgram Pricing (2026)

How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.

Cohere Deepgram
Starts at Custom Custom
Number of plans 3 3
Free plan
Free trial
Pricing model custom usage-based

North

Custom
  • Intuitive interface
  • Purpose-built generative models
  • Intelligent search
  • AI agents for routine tasks and complex workflows

Compass

Custom
  • Pre-built data connectors
  • Intelligent search
  • Document parsing
  • Managed index

Model Vault

Custom
  • Fully managed model deployment
  • No shared resources or multi-tenancy overhead
  • Seamless integration with Cohere North
  • Simple startup and self-serve model access
  • Fixed or Flex pricing plans available

Pay As You Go

$0/mo
  • No minimums. No expiration.
  • No credit card required.
  • Free $200 Credit
  • All endpoint in public models
  • Up to 50 for the REST API (Speech-to-Text)
  • Up to 150 for the WSS API (Speech-to-Text)
  • Up to 5 for Deepgram Whisper Cloud
  • Up to 45 for the REST API + WSS API (Text-to-Speech)
  • Up to 45 for the WSS API (Voice Agent API)
  • Up to 10 for the REST API (Audio Intelligence)
  • Community & Discord
  • Standard Uptime

Growth

Custom
  • With pre-paid credits for the year.
  • Credits are redeemed against actual usage.
  • Free $200 Credit
  • All endpoints in public models
  • Up to 50 for the REST API (Speech-to-Text)
  • Up to 225 for the WSS API (Speech-to-Text)
  • Up to 5 for Deepgram Whisper Cloud
  • Up to 60 for the REST API + WSS API (Text-to-Speech)
  • Up to 60 for the WSS API (Voice Agent API)
  • Up to 10 for the REST API (Audio Intelligence)
  • Community & Discord
  • Standard Uptime

Enterprise

Custom
  • For businesses with large volumes, data or deployment requirements, or support needs.

Cohere vs Deepgram FAQ

Which one is cheaper?
One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
Can I use either one for free?
Deepgram has a free plan. Cohere doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.
How do they charge?
Different approach here. Cohere uses custom pricing, while Deepgram goes with usage-based. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
Which one is a better deal?
Depends on what you need. Cohere: Cohere is squarely targeting enterprise and developer teams that can't or won't send data to OpenAI or Anthropic — data residency, security, and deployment flexibility are the pitch. They're not the cheapest option, but they're positioning as the serious infrastructure play for regulated industries and large orgs that need control. Deepgram: Deepgram positions as the developer-friendly, cost-efficient alternative to Google and AWS in the speech AI space — not the cheapest, but meaningfully cheaper than hyperscaler STT at scale. The no-credit-card free tier is a direct shot at winning developers before they default to an incumbent.

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