Every STT engine has trade-offs
Deepgram locks you into one engine
Deepgram delivers fast, reliable transcription but you're locked to their models with no engine flexibility. Their outage becomes your outage with no built-in failover. Separate from telephony means extra network hops add latency to real-time applications.
AssemblyAI is built for batch, not real-time
AssemblyAI offers limited streaming support because it's designed for batch processing, not live conversations. Requires separate integration from telephony infrastructure, adding complexity and latency to voice applications.
OpenAI Whisper trades speed for accuracy
Whisper delivers high transcription accuracy but with higher latency that breaks real-time conversations. No SLA guarantees or automatic failover means production reliability is uncertain. Manual language selection requires knowing the language upfront.
AWS and Google built for recorded audio
Hyperscaler STT services were designed for batch workloads and recorded audio, not live voice. Separate service integration adds network latency. Pick one optimization approach and you must stick with it: there is no per-request routing flexibility.
Router benefits
Why STT Router works differently
STT Router eliminates the trade-offs that force you to choose between accuracy, speed, cost, and language coverage. Our platform gives you intelligent access to every major STT engine through unified infrastructure designed specifically for voice applications.
Connect to multiple STT providers without managing separate vendor relationships. Switch between engines instantly based on your needs, and skip the usual required development work when better models emerge.
Support 100+ languages with automatic detection and intelligent routing to the optimal engine per language or dialect. Scale globally without managing separate integrations for each market.
Transcription happens where audio terminates: at the same facility as call processing. No internet round-trips means your users get instant results instead of waiting through network delays.
Route to the most cost-effective engine for each use case without sacrificing quality. Avoid premium pricing when basic transcription works, or use high-accuracy models only when critical, thereby optimizing spend automatically.
PRODUCT CAPABILITIES
What's under the hood?
Built on Telnyx's global network, STT Router eliminates the complexity of managing multiple speech-to-text providers by intelligently routing your audio to the optimal available engine for each request.
Multi-engine routing
Connect to multiple STT providers through one integration without managing separate vendor relationships.
Intelligent routing modes
Optimize each request automatically for the metric that matters most to your use case, such as latency, accuracy, cost, or language.
Automatic language detection
Skip language specification: we detect it and route to the best-performing engine.
Automatic fallback
Maintain continuous transcription with seamless failover when a provider has issues.
Single API surface
Use one consistent integration regardless of which STT engine processes your audio.
No vendor lock-in
Switch providers with configuration changes, not code rewrites or new integrations.
Co-located with telephony
Eliminate latency by transcribing where your calls terminate, avoiding extra network hops.
Multi-engine routing
Connect to multiple STT providers through one integration without managing separate vendor relationships.
Intelligent routing modes
Optimize each request automatically for the metric that matters most to your use case, such as latency, accuracy, cost, or language.
Automatic language detection
Skip language specification: we detect it and route to the best-performing engine.
Automatic fallback
Maintain continuous transcription with seamless failover when a provider has issues.
Single API surface
Use one consistent integration regardless of which STT engine processes your audio.
No vendor lock-in
Switch providers with configuration changes, not code rewrites or new integrations.
Co-located with telephony
Eliminate latency by transcribing where your calls terminate, avoiding extra network hops.
