Cartesia
- Free tier
- Yes
- Limits tracked
- 2
- Last checked
- Last change
- None recorded
About Cartesia
Built around response speed for voice agents. One model, 44 languages.
Cartesia’s Sonic is a text-to-speech API for building voice agents for customer support, sales, hiring, training and similar work, and the company leads with how quickly the first audio arrives (its FAQ notes that actual latency depends on model, network and client). A single model handles 44 languages, switched by language code or locale such as en-GB. It adjusts pauses and intonation from context without SSML or explicit instructions. Voices can be cloned from about 10 seconds of audio, using only recordings you have rights to. Under its terms, use is personal and non-commercial unless your plan explicitly allows commercial use.
Characteristics
- One Sonic model covers 44 languages, selected by language code or locale
- Adjusts pauses and intonation from context, without SSML
- Voice cloning from about 10 seconds of audio
- Date, time and number reading (normalization) is set separately from the language
Summarized by TierDiff from the vendor's own documentation, checked on Oct 16, 2026. Sources: Cartesia docs — TTS models, Cartesia — Japanese, Cartesia — Text to speech, Cartesia — Terms
What the free tier includes
Each number is copied from cartesia.ai as it read on Oct 23, 2026. Open a quote to see the exact sentence.
| Limit | Free amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CreditsVendor credits each month | 20,000 credits / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…credits and agent minutes you use. Free $0 /mo Start free 20K credits / month $1 prepaid agents / month Text to Speech… |
| Usage creditFree usage each month | $1 / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…you use. Free $0 /mo Start free 20K credits / month $1 prepaid agents / month Text to Speech Speech to Text Pro… |
Cartesia next to other text to speech
The same limits for 10 services in this category. Cartesia is the highlighted row.
| Service | Credits | Usage credit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cartesia Speech API built around response speed for voice agents; one model covers 44 languages. This page | 20K | $1 | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 |
| Amazon Polly AWS speech with lexicons and speech marks (viseme timing); free tier lasts 12 months. Trial only | not published | not published | pricing.us-east-1.amazonaws.comchecked Oct 23 |
| Azure AI Speech Speech synthesis with fine SSML control of pitch, rate and pronunciation; custom voices. | not published | not published | azure.microsoft.comchecked Oct 23 |
| CoeFont Japanese-centered voice synthesis: 10,000+ voices incl. voice actors, or record your own. | not published | not published | coefont.cloudchecked Oct 23 |
| ElevenLabs Speech generation that can shape regional accents; voice cloning and Voice Design. | 10K | not published | elevenlabs.iochecked Oct 22 |
| Fish Audio Voice AI platform with text to speech, voice cloning and speech to text in a web app, API and SDKs. Not read automatically | not published | not published | fish.audio |
| Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Speech API with voice families chosen by use; JPY billing and a Tokyo region available. | not published | not published | cloud.google.comchecked Oct 23 |
| Murf AI Voiceover editor plus an API; Japanese voices with rate, pitch and pause controls. Not read automatically | not published | not published | murf.ai |
| Speechify Reader app that reads text, documents and web pages aloud; a separate API covers Japanese voices. Not read automatically | not published | not published | speechify.com |
| VOICEVOX Zundamon and other character voices, free on your own PC; commercial use with a credit. Free software | not published | not published | voicevox.hiroshiba.jpchecked Oct 16 |
Embed
A badge with the free-tier value, updated whenever TierDiff rebuilds. It links back to this page.
[](https://tierdiff.com/p/cartesia/)<a href="https://tierdiff.com/p/cartesia/"><img src="https://tierdiff.com/badge/cartesia.svg" alt="Cartesia free tier on TierDiff" height="20"></a>Badges for one limit: Usage credit, Credits
Other plans, as listed
Prices and limits of the paid plans, copied from the same page. The free tier above is what TierDiff tracks first.
Pro
| Limit | Listed value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CreditsVendor credits each month | 100,000 credits / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…month Text to Speech Speech to Text Pro $5 /mo Select Pro 100K credits / month $5 prepaid agents / month Everything in… |
| Price, monthly billingPer month | $5 / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…prepaid agents / month Text to Speech Speech to Text Pro $5 /mo Select Pro 100K credits / month $5 prepaid agents /… |
| Price per 1M charactersPay-as-you-go, per million characters | $65 | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…will vary by your subscription tier. At pro tier, it's $65 per 1M credits. At startup tier, it's $45 per 1M credits.… |
Startup
| Limit | Listed value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CreditsVendor credits each month | 1,250,000 credits / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…Instant voice cloning Startup $49 /mo Select Startup 1.25M credits / month $49 prepaid agents / month Everything in… |
| Price, monthly billingPer month | $49 / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…Commercial use license Instant voice cloning Startup $49 /mo Select Startup 1.25M credits / month $49 prepaid… |
| Price per 1M charactersPay-as-you-go, per million characters | $45 | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…pro tier, it's $65 per 1M credits. At startup tier, it's $45 per 1M credits. At scale tier, it's $38 per 1M credits.… |
Scale
| Limit | Listed value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CreditsVendor credits each month | 8,000,000 credits / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…voice cloning Organizations Scale $299 /mo Select Scale 8M credits / month $299 prepaid agents / month Everything in… |
| Price, monthly billingPer month | $299 / mo | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…in Pro, plus Pro voice cloning Organizations Scale $299 /mo Select Scale 8M credits / month $299 prepaid agents /… |
| Price per 1M charactersPay-as-you-go, per million characters | $38 | cartesia.aichecked Oct 23 Show the quote…startup tier, it's $45 per 1M credits. At scale tier, it's $38 per 1M credits. If your overages are off, new requests… |