Head-to-head comparison
Ai-Live vs Gladia
Two of the transcription tools podcasters reach for. Here's how they differ on pricing, features, audience, and the trade-offs that actually matter day-to-day.
Live captioning service for events and education
Best for: Conference organisers and universities that want a managed live caption service.
Multilingual Whisper-powered API with sub-300ms streaming.
Best for: Voice product developers
At a glance
The honest trade-offs
Ai-Live
Pros
- Hybrid AI plus human respeaker option
- Multi-channel delivery to web, mobile, venue displays
- Strong UK and EU presence
Watch-outs
- Booked per event, not API-driven
- Not for podcast post-production
- Quote-only pricing
Gladia
Pros
- Sub-300ms real-time latency
- 100+ languages with code-switching
- Free 10 hours/month evaluation
Watch-outs
- API-only, no editor for end users
- Higher async rate than raw Whisper
- Volume tiers need annual commits
Which one should you pick?
Pick Ai-Live if
You’re building around conference organisers and universities that want a managed live caption service.. Ai-Live, part of the Ai-Media group in the UK, focuses on live captioning for classrooms and conferences rather than broadcast. Captions can be delivered to projectors, web overlays, or directly to attendees' phones.
Pick Gladia if
You’re building around voice product developers. Gladia took Whisper and re-engineered it to work in production — sub-300ms streaming latency, code-switching across 100+ languages, diarization and translation in the same stream. For developers building voice products it's a serious Whisper-API upgrade.
Also worth comparing
Or see all Ai-Live alternatives.
Frequently asked
What does Ai-Live do better than Gladia?
Ai-Live's standout is "Hybrid AI plus human respeaker option". Gladia doesn't make that promise — it leans into "Sub-300ms real-time latency" instead. If the first sentence describes your workflow, pick Ai-Live; if the second does, pick Gladia.
What are the trade-offs?
Ai-Live: booked per event, not api-driven. Gladia: api-only, no editor for end users. Whether either matters depends entirely on what you actually need — neither is a deal-breaker by itself.
Can I use Ai-Live and Gladia together?
Both are transcription tools so most teams pick one. Some workflows do combine them — for example, using Ai-Live for one show or episode type and Gladia for another. Worth trying both free tiers before committing.