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Model infoModelsSnapshot: 15 Oct 2026

AssemblyAI / Universal

Universal-3.5 Pro

Asynchronous speech recognition for recorded audio, with model-specific language coverage and optional transcription add-ons.

availableClosed weightsSpeech-to-textTranscription
Official documentation (opens in a new tab)Reviewed 12 Oct 2026
8 of 20 specification fields collected
Audio durationAsync: up to 10 hoursSee specification notes below
File size limitTranscription URL: 5 GB; local upload: 2.2 GBSee specification notes below
Input billingSee ratesAssemblyAI API
Output billingSee ratesPublished units and conditions below

Specifications

Provider-documented facts. “Not collected” means we have not verified that field yet, not that the feature is unsupported.

Context / input limit
Not collected
Maximum output
Not collected
Reasoning
Not collected
Tool calling
Not collected
Structured output
Not collected
Streaming
Not collected
Batch processing
SupportedSource for Batch processing (opens in a new tab)

Asynchronous file jobs processed concurrently; this does not establish a discounted LLM Batch API.

Fine-tuning
Not collected
Knowledge cutoff
Not collected
Release date
Not collected
Parameters
Not collected
Architecture
Not collected
Languages
View all 21 entries
  • Global English
  • Australian English
  • British English
  • US English
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Portuguese
  • Arabic
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • Finnish
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Japanese
  • Mandarin
  • Norwegian
  • Swedish
  • Turkish
  • Vietnamese
Source for Languages (opens in a new tab)
Context caching
Not collected
Audio duration limits
Async: up to 10 hoursSource for Audio duration limits (opens in a new tab)
Maximum audio file
Transcription URL: 5 GB; local upload: 2.2 GBSource for Maximum audio file (opens in a new tab)
Published request quota
Default parallel jobs: free 5, paid 200+. HTTP: 20,000 requests / 5 minutes.Source for Published request quota (opens in a new tab)
Sync endpoint audio limits
80 ms–120 seconds; 40 MB; WAV or raw PCM S16LE; 16-bit mono/stereo.Source for Sync endpoint audio limits (opens in a new tab)

Access & pricing

Prices belong to an endpoint and billing tier. A provider listing does not guarantee access for every account or region.

API model ID
universal-3-5-pro
Access
POST /v2/transcript with speech_models array; poll the returned transcript ID or use webhooks.
Regions
Endpoint-specific regional availability has not been verified.

Prices retain their published currencies and billing units below.

Published billing units · original currency · observed 12 Oct 2026
CategoryUsageRateUnit
Pay as you goPre-recorded transcription1$0.21audio hour
Add-onSpeaker diarization1$0.02audio hour
Add-onMedical Mode1$0.15audio hour
Add-onKeyterms prompting1$0.05audio hour
Add-onContextual prompting1$0.05audio hour

Rate conditions

  1. Optional features are charged separately. Account-specific contracted rates may differ.
Pricing source (opens in a new tab)

Data & enterprise terms

Training use depends on contract and opt-out. EU processing, BAA coverage and opt-out affect training eligibility. Streaming and Sync zero audio/transcript retention require training opt-out; metadata is retained. Async artifacts have separate deletion schedules.

Read the service policy (opens in a new tab)
API model ID
universal-3-5-pro
Access
POST /v1/transcribe with model=universal-3-5-pro. Returns a completed transcript in one HTTP response; no partial transcript stream.
Regions
Endpoint-specific regional availability has not been verified.

Prices retain their published currencies and billing units below.

Published billing units · original currency · observed 12 Oct 2026
CategoryUsageRateUnit
Pay as you goSynchronous transcription1$0.30audio hour

Rate conditions

  1. Optional features are charged separately. Account-specific contracted rates may differ.
Pricing source (opens in a new tab)

Data & enterprise terms

Training use depends on contract and opt-out. EU processing, BAA coverage and opt-out affect training eligibility. Streaming and Sync zero audio/transcript retention require training opt-out; metadata is retained. Async artifacts have separate deletion schedules.

Read the service policy (opens in a new tab)

Caching

Caching can reuse earlier input processing. Availability, lifetime and billing depend on the endpoint. A cache hit still generates a new response.

01 / INITIAL INPUTProcess & retain

The system processes eligible input and retains reusable state.

02 / LATER REQUESTCheck available state

Reuse depends on matching input, session state and the cache policy.

03 / CACHE HITReuse & generate

Reusing state can reduce repeated work. Any charges follow the billing rules below.

AssemblyAI API

universal-3-5-pro
Not verified
How it works
Not collected
Minimum reusable input
Not collected
Lifetime & refresh
Not collected
How to enable it
Not collected
Usage fields
Not collected
Billing rules
Not collected
Limits & data boundaries
Not collected

No verified cache rate for this endpoint. An empty rate is not a zero charge.

AssemblyAI API · Sync

universal-3-5-pro
Not verified
How it works
Not collected
Minimum reusable input
Not collected
Lifetime & refresh
Not collected
How to enable it
Not collected
Usage fields
Not collected
Billing rules
Not collected
Limits & data boundaries
Not collected

No verified cache rate for this endpoint. An empty rate is not a zero charge.

What the measurements say

No benchmark observations have been added for this model. We do not turn a vendor description into a performance score.

Latency and throughput depend on the host, request size, reasoning settings and load. There is no measured speed or global usage figure in this record.

The record behind the model

Why it is included

AssemblyAI explicitly describes its Universal speech models as proprietary. These are native provider models, separate from hosted Whisper and third-party LLM Gateway models.

Classification evidence (opens in a new tab)

Sources reviewed