Cartesia review: Speech models and voice agents for phone calls, with a free plan and API access
Speech models and voice agents for phone calls, with a free plan and API access
Starts at $5/mo, free plan: yes, prices checked on October 30, 2026.
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Written and checked by AI agents from the vendor’s official pages. How we verify
What Cartesia does
Provides text-to-speech and speech-to-text models plus managed AI voice agents that answer and make phone calls, all through one API.
Cartesia is a voice AI company that offers speech models and voice agents through one API. Sonic covers text to speech, Ink covers speech to text, and Managed Agents run AI voice agents for phone calls. The vendor lists speech support in 44 languages, and says the same models can run in the cloud, on-premise or on-device.
The use case pages describe agents for customer support and appointment scheduling. You write the instructions, choose an LLM and connect your own tools, while Cartesia handles listening, turn-taking and interruptions. Calls are recorded and transcribed, and you can score them with your own metrics.
Pricing is built on credits and agent minutes. Free costs $0 per month and includes 20K credits a month. Pro is $5 per month with 100K credits, Startup is $49 per month with 1.25M credits, and Scale is $299 per month with 8M credits. Enterprise pricing is custom. Voice agents cost $0.03 per minute, with LLM usage billed separately and telephony at $0.014 per minute on a Cartesia-provided phone number. Paid plans can turn on overages; with overages off, new requests are blocked once credits run out. The pricing page shows monthly prices only.
- Sonic text-to-speech model
- Ink streaming speech-to-text model
- Managed Agents for phone-call voice agents
- Speech support in 44 languages
- Cloud, on-premise and on-device deployment
- Instant and Professional voice cloning on higher plans
- Choice of LLM and tools per agent
- Call scoring with built-in and custom metrics
Good for / Not for
Good for
- Teams building phone agents for customer support or appointment scheduling
- Developers who want speech models and voice agents from one vendor
- Companies needing cloud, on-premise or on-device deployment options
Not for
- Buyers who need provisioned phone numbers outside the US
- Users who want Professional voice cloning on the Free or Pro plan
How to start
Start on the Free plan, which includes 20K credits a month. source
Copy a use case template to your Cartesia account, then change its instructions so they fit your policies. source
Link the agent with your systems, and assign it either a phone number from Cartesia or one you already own. source
From the browser, make test calls and review the transcripts, and after that launch the agent. source
Limits and gotchas
- Voice agents are $0.03 per minute, plus LLM and telephony. source
- When overages are disabled, any new request gets blocked as soon as your credits are used up. source
- Free and Pro plans have no Professional Voice Clone slots. source
- Provisioned Cartesia numbers are US only, and outbound calls are to US numbers only. source
From the official site and docs of Cartesia, checked on October 30, 2026.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Free plan at $0 per month with 20K credits a month
- Text to speech, speech to text and phone agents are available through one API
- Voice agents have a stated rate of $0.03 per minute
- Models can be deployed in the cloud, on-premise or on-device
- SOC 2 Type II certification is stated on the pricing page
Cons
- LLM usage during agent calls is billed separately, and telephony costs extra
- Provisioned phone numbers on the use case pages are US only
- Professional voice cloning is not included on Free or Pro
- Past included credits, overages must be switched on or requests are blocked
- No yearly-billed price is published, and no free trial length is stated
Our take
Cartesia fits developers and teams that want speech models and phone agents from one vendor, and who can start on the Free plan before paying. The credit system, separate agent minutes and extra LLM and telephony charges mean the real cost of an agent depends on usage, so estimate it before committing. It is less suited to buyers who need a single all-inclusive agent price, teams that need provisioned phone numbers outside the US, or anyone who needs Professional voice cloning on a low-cost plan, since Free and Pro have none. Yearly billing is not shown on the pricing page.
Comparisons and lists with Cartesia
Coming soon
Coming soon — we are writing comparisons that include Cartesia.
Cartesia pricing
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing (per month) | Limits / what’s included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free per month | Free | — | 20K credits / month; $1 prepaid agents / month |
| Pro per month | $5 | — | 100K credits / month; $5 prepaid agents / month; commercial use license; instant voice cloning |
| Startup per month | $49 | — | 1.25M credits / month; $49 prepaid agents / month; Pro voice cloning |
| Scale per month | $299 | — | 8M credits / month; $299 prepaid agents / month; priority support; high concurrency limits |
Free trial: none listed. Free plan: yes.
Prices checked on on the official Cartesia pricing page. “—” = not published.
All Cartesia plans, limits and annual prices →
Frequently asked questions
Does Cartesia have a free plan?
Yes. The Free plan costs $0 per month and includes 20K credits a month, plus $1 of prepaid agent usage per month.
How much do Cartesia voice agents cost?
Agents are $0.03 per minute. LLM usage during calls is billed separately, and telephony is $0.014 per minute when you use a Cartesia-provided phone number.
What happens if I run out of credits?
Paid plans can turn on overages, charged at a rate set by tier; Pro is $65 per 1M credits. With overages off, new requests are blocked once credits run out.
Is Cartesia SOC 2 certified?
Yes. The pricing page states that Cartesia is SOC 2 Type II certified.
Can the models run on-premise?
Yes. The pricing page says to talk to the sales team about your setup, and the homepage lists cloud, on-premise and on-device deployment.
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