PlayHT vs Cartesia: Voice APIs Pricing (2026)
Compare / PlayHT vs Cartesia
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Team size
25 seats

PlayHT vs Cartesia

Voice APIs (Text-to-Speech & Voice Cloning) pricing comparison · 2026

PlayHT pricing ranges from $0–$499/month, while Cartesia ranges from $0–$299/month. PlayHT is typically 34% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

Visit
See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit PlayHT pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Cartesia pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · Voice APIs (Text-to-Speech & Voice Cloning)
Side-by-side · live
PlayHT
PlayHT pricing starts at $0/month on the Free plan, with the Creator plan at $39/month ($2
verified 5mo ago
View pricing →
Cartesia
Cartesia is a text-to-speech API platform offering plans from $0/month (Free, with 10K cre
verified 11w ago
View pricing →
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$20 per 1M characters
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
Startup
$15K/yr
year 1 license · $49/seat
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 7 sourced facts
5 hidden-cost · 2 contract
Last verified 5mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 5 sourced facts
4 hidden-cost · 1 contract
Last verified 2mo ago
Confidence High confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
5 documented
  • API Access Limitations
    1 source
  • High-Fidelity Cloning Access
    1 source
  • Operational Time Costs
    1 source
  • Unexpected Auto-renewal Charges
    $950+
    1 source
  • Hidden 'Unlimited' Plan Limits
    1 source
4 documented
  • Overage Charges
    1 source
  • Pro Voice Cloning Training Fee
    1 source
  • Telephony Rates
    $0.06/minute
    1 source
  • Lack of Enterprise Features
    1 source
REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

PlayHT
Cartesia
Auto-renewal
Yes
—
Cancellation
24-hour
—
Commitment
Annual billing
one year to receive a 20% discount
Price escalation
—
—
Can downgrade
—
—
Based on 3 verified sources (Vendr · TrustRadius · BBB)
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
No public ratings yet
Best for
Testing the platform
Watch out
Painful or clunky UX compared to ElevenLabs
No public ratings yet
Best for
Starting free with basic text-to-speech and speech-to-text usage
Watch out
Limited Voice Library and Language Support
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit PlayHT pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Cartesia pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
Voice APIs (Text-to-Speech & Voice Cloning)

PlayHT

$0–$499
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Voice APIs (Text-to-Speech & Voice Cloning)

Cartesia

$0–$299
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

PlayHT and Cartesia are both voice apis competitors. This page compares their list pricing tier by tier so you can see which is cheaper for your workload shape.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan PlayHT Cartesia
Free Free /month Free /user/month
Creator $39 /month $5 /user/month
Unlimited $99 /month $49 /user/month
API (usage-based) Custom $299 /user/month
Enterprise $499 Custom

Cost at Scale

Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.

PlayHT

4 scenarios
$39/month
Solo Creator — Monthly Billing
$29/month ($348/year)
Solo Creator — Annual Billing
$69/month ($828/year)
High-Volume Producer — Annual Billing
See all 4 scenarios →

Cartesia

7 scenarios
$0/month (Free plan)
Individual Developer
$4/month (Pro plan)
Pro User
$48/year
$39/month (Startup plan)
Early-Stage Startup
$468/year
See all 7 scenarios →

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

PlayHT 5 hidden costs

medium
API Access Limitations
low
High-Fidelity Cloning Access
high
Operational Time Costs
critical
Unexpected Auto-renewal Charges $950+
high
Hidden 'Unlimited' Plan Limits
See all PlayHT hidden costs →

Cartesia 4 hidden costs

high
Overage Charges
medium
Pro Voice Cloning Training Fee
medium
Telephony Rates $0.06/minute
critical
Lack of Enterprise Features
See all Cartesia hidden costs →

Contract Terms

Term PlayHT Cartesia
Auto-renewal Yes —
Cancellation 24-hour —
Minimum commitment Annual billing one year to receive a 20% discount

Continue researching

PlayHT

Cartesia

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