# Alternatives to Cartesia Cartesia builds the Sonic family of text-to-speech models using state-space models instead of transformers, delivering sub-100ms time-to-first-byte for real-time voice agents, and can clone a voice from as little as 3 seconds of audio. It's aimed at developers building live voice agents and interactive products rather than static narration. Cartesia ranks #1 of 10 in AI voice generation, with an Alt Score of 100. It is proprietary and freemium from $5/mo. 9 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/cartesia/ Category: AI voice generation ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Developers and companies building voice-enabled products—customer support and voice agents, gaming, media, healthcare, and content localization teams—who need to add text-to-speech, speech-to-text, voice cloning, or video dubbing to their applications via API. - **What you get**: API access to Cartesia's Sonic text-to-speech models and Ink speech-to-text models, instant voice cloning from a short audio sample (with a higher-fidelity 'Professional' cloning tier), voice output in 40+ languages and accents, AI video dubbing, and a 'Line' voice-agent building toolkit, available on a free tier with paid plans adding a commercial use license, higher usage limits, and enterprise features like SSO and self-hosted/VPC deployment. - **How it works**: Developers send text or audio to Cartesia's REST, Server-Sent Events, or WebSocket API endpoints (or use its client SDKs) and receive streamed synthesized speech—with a first-byte latency as low as 90ms—or real-time transcription in return; voice cloning works by uploading an audio sample (as short as 3 seconds for instant cloning) that the platform uses to generate a synthetic voice model for later text-to-speech generation. ## Profile - **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-30) - **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-30) - **Starts at**: $5/mo (verified 2026-07-30) - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-30) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [Speechify](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/speechify.md) | 100 | Proprietary | iOS, Android, macOS, Windows | | 2 | [Camb.ai](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/camb-ai.md) | 95 | Proprietary | Web | | 3 | [ElevenLabs](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/elevenlabs.md) | 95 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 4 | [Murf](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/murf.md) | 95 | Proprietary | Web | | 5 | [Resemble AI](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/resemble-ai.md) | 90 | MIT | Web, Browser extension | | 6 | [Fish Audio](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/fish-audio.md) | 85 | ? | Web | | 7 | [Hume AI](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hume-ai.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Web | | 8 | [WellSaid](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wellsaid.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Web | | 9 | [Lovo (Genny)](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/lovo.md) | 80 | ? | Web | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | AI voice generation checklist | Cartesia | Speechify | Camb.ai | ElevenLabs | Murf | Resemble AI | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | | Starts at | $5/mo | $29/month | $5/mo | $6/month | ? | $350/mo | | License | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | MIT | | Platforms | ? | iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web, Browser extension | Web | Web, iOS, Android | Web | Web, Browser extension | | Voice cloning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Languages & accents | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Emotional control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | API access | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Commercial license terms | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | | Free tier limits | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Real-time / streaming | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | | Dubbing (video translation) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Ethics & consent policy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ## Sources Sources for Cartesia. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **Starts at**: $5/mo — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: Cheapest paid tier (Pro). Free tier ($0/mo) exists with 20K credits/month but excludes commercial license and instant voice cloning. - Quote: “Pro $5 /mo Select Pro 100K credits / month $5 prepaid agents / month Everything in Free, plus Commercial use license Instant voice cloning” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: No explicit 'active/maintained' statement found; inferred from current, actively-versioned model releases (Sonic 3.5, Ink 2) referenced across docs and pricing pages as of this research. - Quote: “Sonic 3.5 is the world's fastest, most emotive, ultra-realistic text-to-speech model. ... Ink 2 is the world's fastest, most accurate, streaming speech-to-text model with native turn detection.” - **License**: Proprietary — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: look and feel" (e.g., text, graphics, images, logos), proprietary content, information and other materials, are protected under copyright, trademark and other intellectu" - Quote: “The Services, including their ” - **Pricing model**: Freemium — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Free $0 /mo Start free 20K credits / month ... Pro $5 /mo Select Pro 100K credits / month” - **Voice cloning**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: Instant voice cloning is included starting on the Pro plan ($5/mo); Professional voice cloning requires the Startup plan ($49/mo) per the pricing page. Not available on the Free tier. - Quote: “Instant voice cloning from just 3 seconds of audio, delivering highly similar and lifelike output quality.” - **Languages & accents**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: The legal/safety page separately states 'we support 13 languages with dozens of localized accents and dialects,' which appears to be an older/lower figure than the 40+ languages stated on the product - Quote: “Fluent and native, worldwide. Reach international markets with Sonic — 40+ languages and a wide range of accents, all with native-speaker quality voices.” - **Emotional control**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: The dedicated docs page for speed/emotion API controls (control-speed-and-emotion) states 'This feature has been deprecated. Please see the changelog for details,' describing an experimental __experim - Quote: “Sonic 3.5 is the world's fastest, most emotive, ultra-realistic text-to-speech model.” - **API access**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Our API enables developers to build real-time, multimodal AI experiences that feel natural and responsive.” - **Commercial license terms**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: Commercial use license is included starting at the Pro tier ($5/mo); not listed under the Free tier's features. - Quote: “Pro $5 /mo ... Everything in Free, plus Commercial use license” - **Free tier limits**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Free $0 /mo Start free 20K credits / month $1 prepaid agents / month Text to Speech Speech to Text” - **Real-time / streaming**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Sonic models take text input and and stream back ultra-realistic speech in response. ... It can stream out the first byte of audio in just 90ms, making it perfect for real-time and conversational expe” - **Dubbing (video translation)**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Fastest multilingual AI video dubbing. Explore AI Dubbing for video content. ... Multilingual support: Access a wide range of languages for dubbing, ensuring your content reaches a global audience.” - **Ethics & consent policy**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “You may only submit your own voice and audio recordings or those of others with explicit consent, and are solely responsible for ensuring that you have all of the necessary rights and consents for the” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/