Cartesia pricing explained (2026): the real cost
verified 2026-06-01TTS bills ~1 credit per character (about 900 credits per minute of speech), so the $4/mo Pro plan's 100K credits covers roughly 133 minutes of audio; voice agent calls are billed separately at $0.06/minute on top of plan credits. Prices verified 2026-06-01 against cartesia.ai. prices change often, verify live
The tiers
Monthly and annual. The unit you pay against, per plan.
| tier | monthly | annual | what's included | unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0verify live | $0 | 20K credits/mo (~27 min TTS, ~1h 51m STT) + $1 prepaid agents/mo, 1 agent slot, 2/8 concurrent TTS/STT | per month |
| Pro | $5verify live | $4/mo billed yearly (20% off) | 100K credits/mo (~133 min TTS, ~9h 16m STT) + $5 prepaid agents/mo, 3 agent slots; adds commercial license and instant voice cloning | per month |
| Startup | $39verify live | $31.20/mo billed yearly (20% off) | 1.25M credits/mo (~1,667 min TTS, ~115h STT) + $49 prepaid agents/mo, 5 agent slots; adds professional voice cloning and organizations | per month |
| Scale | $239verify live | $191.20/mo billed yearly (20% off) | 8M credits/mo (~10,667 min TTS, ~740h STT) + $299 prepaid agents/mo, 10 agent slots; priority support, high concurrency | per month |
| Enterprise | Custom (contact sales)verify live | Custom (contact sales) | Custom credits/agent usage and concurrency, DPAs/BAAs, SSO, shared Slack, volume discounts | custom |
// pools and per-unit rates are volatile · verified 2026-06-01 · cells flagged verify live link to the live vendor page
Included credits sound large but burn fast at ~900 credits per minute of TTS, and voice agent calls ($0.
Included credits sound large but burn fast at ~900 credits per minute of TTS, and voice agent calls ($0.06/min) plus telephony ($0.014/min) are charged on top of your plan via prepaid agent balances, so real-world voice-agent costs scale with usage well beyond the headline subscription price.
See live pricing on Cartesia →Worth it if
- You want to build real-time voice agents or apps with fast, high-quality text-to-speech and speech-to-text via API.
- Your usage stays inside the included allowance.
- You value Low-latency real-time voice apps over raw lowest cost.
Look elsewhere if
- Included credits sound large but burn fast at ~900 credits per minute of TTS, and voice agent calls ($0.06/min) plus telephony ($0.014/min) are charged on top of your plan via prepaid agent balances, so real-world voice-agent costs scale with usage well beyond the headline subscription price.
- You're highly cost-sensitive at scale.
- A cheaper tool in the comparison covers your use case.
Ready to try Cartesia?
Start on the free tier (Free plan: $0/mo with 20K credits/month (~27 min TTS, ~1h 51m STT) plus $1 prepaid voice-agent usage, 1 agent slot, and 2/8 concurrent TTS/STT requests.), then size your plan with the numbers above.
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Questions
How much does Cartesia really cost?
TTS bills ~1 credit per character (about 900 credits per minute of speech), so the $4/mo Pro plan's 100K credits covers roughly 133 minutes of audio; voice agent calls are billed separately at $0.06/minute on top of plan credits.
Does Cartesia have a free tier?
Free tier: Free plan: $0/mo with 20K credits/month (~27 min TTS, ~1h 51m STT) plus $1 prepaid voice-agent usage, 1 agent slot, and 2/8 concurrent TTS/STT requests..
What's the catch with Cartesia's pricing?
Included credits sound large but burn fast at ~900 credits per minute of TTS, and voice agent calls ($0.06/min) plus telephony ($0.014/min) are charged on top of your plan via prepaid agent balances, so real-world voice-agent costs scale with usage well beyond the headline subscription price.
Is Cartesia worth it?
Cartesia is worth it if you specifically need Low-latency real-time voice apps. That's where it beats the alternatives. TTS bills ~1 credit per character (about 900 credits per minute of speech), so the $4/mo Pro plan's 100K credits covers roughly 133 minutes of audio; voice agent calls are billed separately at $0.06/minute on top of plan credits. If your usage is high-volume or budget is the priority, a cheaper tool in the comparison will do the same work for less.