myPOS vs AssemblyAI
A detailed comparison to help you choose between myPOS and AssemblyAI.
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Verdict: AssemblyAI wins
AssemblyAI scores 4.3/5, edging out myPOS at 3.8/5. Developers and product teams shipping speech-to-text, voice agents, or call-analytics features who want an API with published per-hour rates and built-in redaction.
myPOS Betaalterminals (EU) | AssemblyAI Speech AI models for developers | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 3.8 (1 review) | 4.3 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | paid | free |
| Starting Price | Pricing varies | Free |
| Best For | Small European merchants — market traders, cafés, taxis, salons — who want to buy a card terminal outright and see card takings in a spendable account within seconds, without a monthly contract. | Developers and product teams shipping speech-to-text, voice agents, or call-analytics features who want an API with published per-hour rates and built-in redaction. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | — | api accessfree tier |
| Visit AssemblyAI → |
myPOS
Pros
- + Zero fixed monthly costs and no contract on the pay-as-you-go plan; hardware is bought outright from £39 (Go 2, excl. VAT) rather than rented.
- + Card takings settle into the built-in myPOS business account within seconds — in my testing the balance updated before I had pocketed the terminal.
- + Published UK rates are low and transparent: 1.10% + £0.07 for domestic consumer card-present payments, with the full tariff on the public fees page.
- + One stack covers a lot of ground: terminal, IBAN merchant account, free first Business Mastercard, hosted checkout, payment links, cart plugins and a documented API.
- + FCA-authorised electronic money institution (reference 900826) with Mastercard, Visa and Amex scheme membership — not an unregulated reseller.
Cons
- - £15/month inactivity fee after 12 idle months, £15 per chargeback and £1.50 per GBP bank transfer out — the 'free account' has a tariff tail.
- - Cross-border cards cost materially more: EEA consumer cards jump to 2.20% + £0.07 and Amex to 2.45% + £0.07 on the UK plan.
- - A recurring complaint pattern on Trustpilot and PissedConsumer describes account restrictions and held funds during compliance reviews.
- - Balances are e-money, not bank deposits: safeguarded under FCA rules but not FSCS-protected.
- - Above £10,000 monthly card turnover pricing becomes quote-only, and PCI compliance and early-termination terms are not published on the UK pages.
AssemblyAI
Pros
- + Transparent, published rate card: $0.15/hr for Universal-2 and $0.21/hr for Universal-3.5 Pro at time of writing (assemblyai.com/pricing.md), with worked examples showing exactly how add-ons stack
- + $50 in free credits at signup with no credit card required, so I could benchmark real audio before paying anything
- + Guardrails (PII audio/text redaction, profanity filter, content moderation) are first-party add-ons instead of a second vendor contract
- + EU data residency at the same price as US processing — no GDPR surcharge in my review of the rate card
- + Voice Agent API bundles STT + LLM + TTS + turn detection at one $0.075/min rate, which I found cheaper than assembling the same pipeline by hand
Cons
- - No end-user app: everything runs through the API, so non-developers have no path in
- - Streaming bills by open-connection time, not audio sent — an idle socket left open after a call keeps charging in my testing
- - Add-ons stack on the base rate until a 'cheap' transcript approaches $0.40–$0.60/hr for the feature set most teams want
- - Long-file processing is async only; no synchronous option for large uploads
- - Legacy Auto Chapters and Summarization add-ons are deprecated and can fail silently on newer models per the vendor's own pricing reference
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, myPOS or AssemblyAI?▼
AssemblyAI scores higher at 4.3/5 vs 3.8/5 for myPOS, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between myPOS and AssemblyAI?▼
myPOS: myPOS sells card terminals and online payment services to European businesses, paying out into a built-in business account. AssemblyAI: AssemblyAI is a developer API that converts recorded or live speech into text, with speaker labels and options to summarise transcripts. Pay-as-you-go from about $0.15 per audio hour.
Is myPOS or AssemblyAI more affordable?▼
myPOS starts at €0/mo, AssemblyAI pricing varies. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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