Decision Support · Side-by-side
Compare pricing, strengths, and use cases so it is easier to pick the right fit.
Change tools
For everyday users, Gladia wins hands-down because it offers a free tier and works out of the box for transcribing audio on your computer — no coding required. Kaldi is a powerful research toolkit that requires expert programming skills and is not practical for non-technical people. The single biggest difference: Gladia is a ready-to-use service; Kaldi is a DIY framework.
Gladia
Kaldi
Scores at a glance
Choose Gladia if
Choose Kaldi if
Key differences
Facts side by side
| Gladia | Kaldi | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ||
| Mobile app | ||
| API access |
Common questions
Yes, absolutely. Gladia is a service you can use by copying an API key and sending audio files. Kaldi requires you to compile C++ code and write shell scripts — it's not usable by non-developers.
No. Gladia has no mobile app. You can use its API from a phone if you're a developer, but there's no tap-to-record interface for everyday users.
Yes, Kaldi is completely free and open source. You never pay a license fee, but you pay in time and expertise — expect to spend many hours just getting it installed.
Gladia, because it includes speaker diarization (who said what) out of the box. Kaldi can do it too, but you'll need to train and configure it yourself.
Yes, Gladia accepts MP3, WAV, FLAC, and M4A files. You can upload them via its API or use the real-time WebSocket for live audio.
Not easily. Kaldi is designed for Linux and macOS. Running it on Windows requires a virtual machine or Windows Subsystem for Linux, adding more complexity.
Gladia is the easy, ready-to-use speech-to-text service for everyday people; Kaldi is a powerful but complex toolkit best left to experts.
If you just want to turn audio into text without a headache, start with Gladia's free 10-hour tier — it's the only practical choice for non-developers. Leave Kaldi to the researchers and engineers who need total control and have the time to build from scratch.
