Smallest Pulse vs Speechmatics Linden
Smallest Pulse is ahead on the Ocular Dataset and time to first text, and Speechmatics Linden on the Pipecat Dataset and final-text delay.
Quality and speed frontier
Every model's error rate on the public clips, against how long its transcript takes to settle.
The four metrics, side by side
Word error rate on 1,000 clips from Pipecat's STT benchmark dataset.
- Smallest Pulse
- 3.66%11th
- Speechmatics Linden
- 2.46%6th
Speechmatics Linden, 1.20 points lower
Word error rate on eight licensed recordings provided by Ocular.
- Smallest Pulse
- 3.46%3rd
- Speechmatics Linden
- 3.93%6th
Smallest Pulse, 0.48 points lower
Median delay before the first words arrive, from the first audio packet.
- Smallest Pulse
- 1.06s4th
- Speechmatics Linden
- 1.19s7th
Smallest Pulse, 133ms sooner
Median delay after the speaker stops before the transcript is final.
- Smallest Pulse
- 201ms8th
- Speechmatics Linden
- 147ms6th
Speechmatics Linden, 54ms sooner
Lower is better on every metric. The small figure is each model's place in the whole field.
First text and final text, at three percentiles
Both measured on the same 206 streamed Ocular Dataset turns. P90 and P95 say what a caller meets on a bad turn, which a median hides.
| Measure | Model | P50 | P90 | P95 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to first text | Smallest Pulse | 1.06s | 2.25s | 3.03s |
| Speechmatics Linden | 1.19s | 1.56s | 2.52s | |
| Final-text delay | Smallest Pulse | 201ms | 356ms | 773ms |
| Speechmatics Linden | 147ms | 192ms | 213ms |
Both against every other model
Open on the metric where the two sit furthest apart, with the other three a tab away.
Word error rate on 1,000 clips from Pipecat's STT benchmark dataset. Lower is better.
| # | Model | Pipecat Dataset | clips | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AssemblyAI Universal 3.5 Pro | 1.93% | 1,000 | |
| 2 | Google Chirp 3 | 2.00% | 1,000 | |
| 3 | Reson8 | 2.10% | 1,000 | |
| 4 | GPT Realtime Whisper | 2.16% | 1,000 | |
| 5 | Cartesia Ink 2 | 2.39% | 1,000 | |
| 6 | Speechmatics Linden | 2.46% | 998 | |
| 7 | Google Chirp 2 | 2.59% | 1,000 | |
| 8 | Inworld STT-1 | 2.72% | 1,000 | |
| 9 | GPT-4o Mini Transcribe | 3.35% | 1,000 | |
| 10 | Deepgram Nova-3 | 3.46% | 1,000 | |
| 11 | Smallest Pulse | 3.66% | 1,000 | |
| 12 | GPT-4o Transcribe | 3.90% | 1,000 | |
| 13 | Deepgram Flux English | 3.90% | 999 | |
| 14 | Deepgram Flux Multilingual | 4.96% | 999 | |
| 15 | Gradium | 6.48% | 1,000 |
Counts are the clips each model returned usable text for, so they differ between models and between datasets.
Both on the other two views
Pipecat vs Ocular accuracy
Every model's error rate on the public clips, against the same model on real conversations.
Transcription response time
How soon each model returns its first words, against how soon its transcript is final.
What the numbers rest on
| Model | Pipecat clips | Ocular recordings | Turns timed | Failed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smallest Pulse | 1,000 | 8 | 206 | 0 |
| Speechmatics Linden | 998 | 8 | 194 | 12 |
A clip counts only where the model returned usable text, so counts differ between models. Word error rate is measured the same way throughout: incorrect, missing, and extra words against the reference transcript.
Frequently asked questions
Is Smallest Pulse or Speechmatics Linden more accurate?
On the 1,000 public Pipecat clips, Smallest Pulse scores 3.66% and Speechmatics Linden 2.46%, so Speechmatics Linden makes fewer errors by 1.20 points. On the eight licensed Ocular recordings, Smallest Pulse scores 3.46% and Speechmatics Linden 3.93%, so Smallest Pulse makes fewer errors by 0.48 points. The two datasets disagree, so the better choice depends on whether your audio looks more like clean public clips or real conversations.
Which is faster, Smallest Pulse or Speechmatics Linden?
Smallest Pulse returns first text 133ms sooner, at 1.06s against 1.19s at the median. Speechmatics Linden has the final transcript 54ms sooner, 147ms after the speaker stops against 201ms. Both are measured on the same 206 streamed turns.
How were Smallest Pulse and Speechmatics Linden compared?
Both ran the same two datasets under the same conditions as every other model in the benchmark: 1,000 public clips from Pipecat's STT benchmark dataset and eight licensed conversation recordings from Ocular. Smallest Pulse returned usable text for 1,000 of the public clips and Speechmatics Linden for 998. Latency uses each provider's own supported finalization contract.